Bits + Bips: Bitcoin Miners Turn to AI for a Boost as BTC Falls

Unchained

Laura Shin

News, Tech News, Business News

4.6 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 16 February 2026

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

As miners approach historical stress zones, Bitcoin’s correlation with tech stocks is hitting at the worst possible moment. Enter AI. Thank you to our sponsor Crypto Tax Girl! Public mining companies are once again approaching breakeven territory, a zone that in prior cycles preceded forced selling and capitulation. But unlike past downturns, balance sheets today are cleaner, leverage is lower, and many operators are pivoting toward AI data center hosting as a structural offramp. At the same time, Bitcoin has been trading alongside frontier technology stocks. That correlation is resurfacing at precisely the wrong moment, as growth equities face renewed pressure. If growth portfolios were the marginal buyers during the rally, they may now be the marginal sellers. In this episode, Steven Ehrlich speaks first with John Todaro about miner economics, hash rate dynamics, and whether another round of selling could emerge if Bitcoin remains near breakeven levels. Then Zach Pandl joins to examine Bitcoin’s correlation with tech stocks, the mechanics behind recent gold volatility, and why the next phase for crypto may be driven by differentiation rather than broad beta. Hosts: Steven Ehrlich, Host of Bits + Bips: The Interview Guests: Zach Pandl, Head of Research at Grayscale John Todaro, Managing Director, Crypto & HPC/AI Equity Research at Needham & Company Links: Bitcoin Miner Danger Zone Major Bitcoin Miners Face Shutdown Risk If BTC Falls Below $70,000 Miner Pivot to AI America’s Biggest Bitcoin Miners Are Pivoting to AI The Tech Selloff Wall Street’s Anything-But-Tech Trade Shakes Up US Stock Market Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Could AI help you do more of what you love? Workday is the next-gen ERP powered by AI that actually
0:06.8	knows your business. We help you handle the have-to-dos so you can focus on the can't-wait-to-dos.
0:13.2	It's a new workday. But I've always considered it somewhat of a danger zone when you're at your
0:19.4	break-deban cost. But if you get, you know,
0:21.8	the 50s, low 60s, you know, you're putting that margin a little bit more under pressure.
0:27.6	And then you have to think what the next halving is coming up. That's starting to loom, right?
0:30.7	So that's another thing these guys have to start considering. There's not something wrong
0:35.5	with Bitcoin per se. You know, nothing has changed about the function of the network and all the particulars and we can talk about all those things. But what changed was risk taking in markets.
0:49.5	Hi, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Bits and Bips, the interview. I'm your host, Steve Rilick, and we've got a lot to talk about today. But first, I'd like to introduce to my guest, John Todaro from Needham and Company. He is their point man on all things crypto equities. And in particular, he has a unique expertise in mining, and we're going to get into all of it.
1:11.3	So, John, welcome.
1:12.8	Thanks for having me on. Good to be back.
1:14.8	Yeah. I mean, you are a repeat guest, and I'm really interested to kind of see how the conversation is going to be different than it was a few months ago when all the Bitcoin miners were kind of re-rating as part of this whole AI HBC buzz,
1:28.3	whose I guess Luster has worn off a little bit. But before we get to all that, just a quick
1:35.0	disclaimer, nothing that you guys see or hear today is financial or investment advice.
1:41.4	For more disclosures, please see Unchained.com backslash bits and bibs.
1:46.7	And with that, one more thing before we really get started,
1:50.3	we need to take a very quick break so we can hear from some of the sponsors who make this show possible.
1:54.5	This episode is brought to you by Adaptive Security,
1:58.8	the first cybersecurity company, backed by OpenAI. As AI makes deep fakes and synthetic
2:04.2	identities easier than ever, Adaptive helps companies test and strengthen their defenses. Learn more
2:10.8	at Adaptivesecurity.com. If crypto taxes feel overwhelming, you are not alone. That's why Crypto Tax Girl, a team that's been helping crypto investors since 2017,
2:21.5	is offering $100 off on one-on-one crypto tax help.
	...

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