Miners of Bitcoin and other crypto are offering their high performance computing (HPC) services to the AI market in a bid to reduce reliance on cryptocurrency to stay profitable, finds a new report by JPMorgan. 

The shift comes on the backdrop of miners selling off their crypto holdings in recent quarters. In just the past few days, Bitcoin’s price declined by thousands of dollars, leading to the liquidation of over $1 billion USD (£783 million) in the overall crypto market, according to Bitcoinist. 

This has bolstered the need for crypto miners to diversify their revenue streams, and AI was the perfect opportunity for many. AI algorithms require significant computational power to train and run machine learning models. For example, the amount of energy it took to train Open-AI’s GPT-3 is equivalent to the energy 120 homes would use in an entire year. 

HPCs used for mining cryptocurrency are able to effectively handle the large datasets and run AI algorithms. The report from JPMorgan points out that the heightened demand for AI and its continued involvement could eventually become more profitable than mining crypto. 

Another push factor towards AI was the recent Ethereum blockchain merge, which saw the network’s consensus method transition from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake. This resulted in GPUs being less useful in Ethereum mining, pushing owners to find new sources of revenue from their tools. The most profitable option in the long term is in the world of AI, according to the report. 

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While the computing hardware for HPC and AI is different from crypto, the electrical power, physical infrastructure, and security remains the same. In fact, some of the GPUs used for Ethereum mining are not up to par for the AI computing business, but proper investment in the right equipment could see these blockchain companies once again get in at the ground floor of a transformational technology.

In an effort to lean into the diversification strategy, some mining firms have rebranded themselves. Hive Blockchain Technologies (HIVE), has become Hive Digital Technologies, and Riot Blockchain (RIOT) is now Riot Platforms. 

Both of the aforementioned companies have reported negative financial results from the last quarter, down heavily from their peaks in 2021 when the price of Bitcoin hit an all time high.