Firm exits Bitcoin business after crash, moves into AI

A PROMINENT North American cryptocurrency mining company, Bitfarms Limited, has announced it is exiting Bitcoin mining and rebranding itself as an AI and high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure company.

According to The Street.com, the decision follows a strategic review and comes amid rising energy costs, declining Bitcoin mining profitability, and the recent cryptocurrency market downturn. Chief Executive Officer, Mr Ben Gagnon, described the move as a natural evolution for the company, stating, “We are no longer a Bitcoin company. We are an infrastructure-first owner and developer for HPC/AI data centers across North America. Our focus is building the infrastructure for the compute of the future.”

As part of the transformation, Bitfarms plans to redomicile from Canada to the United States, incorporating in Delaware under the new name Keel Infrastructure. The company will trade under the ticker KEEL on both Nasdaq and the Toronto Stock Exchange. A shareholder vote on the redomiciliation is scheduled for March 20, with completion expected around April 1, pending regulatory approvals.

READ ALSO: Bitcoin slips below $87,000 as U.S. shutdown worries, tariff risks rattle markets

Bitfarms has already started repaying its $300 million credit facility from Macquarie Group and maintains a robust liquidity profile, with $698 million in unrestricted cash and Bitcoin as of February 5 to support ongoing operations.

The company had signaled its pivot earlier in November 2025, announcing plans to gradually wind down Bitcoin mining over 2026 and 2027 in favour of AI/HPC projects. The move aligns with a broader industry trend, where several cryptocurrency miners are leveraging their existing computing infrastructure to enter AI workloads.

This development comes shortly after Bitfarms ceased its Bitcoin mining operations in Uruguay due to high energy costs, reflecting the mounting economic pressures on traditional crypto mining ventures.

Bitcoin mining involves using specialised computing hardware to solve cryptographic puzzles that validate transactions on the blockchain. Miners are rewarded with Bitcoin for securing the network. However, multiple Bitcoin halvings and rising operational costs have made mining less profitable for many companies.

Bitcoin’s fall

Bitcoin reached a record peak of over $127,000 in late 2025 but has tumbled sharply since October 2025. Recently, BTC has slid below key levels like $70,000 and $64,000, with episodes dipping toward $60,000–$61,000, according to CoinDesk.

The drop has erased much of the gains seen since late 2024 and early 2025. Some crypto firms and major holders (like corporate BTC treasuries) are showing large unrealised losses. Bitcoin, like other risk assets, has been hit by broader equity sell‑offs and tech market weakness.

READ ALSO: Bitcoin slides to $84,000 as Fed stance, liquidations and market fear rattle crypto investors

Forced selling and leveraged positions being closed have pushed price down quickly. Investor sentiment has also reduced, as indicators like fear indexes show very low confidence right now.

Bitcoin today is more tied to stocks and macro risk sentiment than in earlier cycles. So when tech shares slide, BTC often follows, according to Reuters.

Analysts argue that a sell-off of global stocks amid geopolitical uncertainty and recent volatility in the price of gold and silver are part of the reason for the fall in the price of Bitcoin.

“Institutional demand has reversed materially,” CryptoQuant, an organisation which provides analysis of global markets to cryptocurrency investors, wrote in a report recently.

Product specialist at Kaiko, an organisation that provides crypto market data and analyses, Mr Adam Morgan McCarthy, told Al Jazeera that the fall in Bitcoin prices had been largely tied to less interest in the markets and lower trading volumes. “This leads to less liquidity, so any move higher or lower is exacerbated,” he said.

He explained that the crypto market relied heavily on ‘hype-driven’ cycles where people would buy due to a fear of ‘missing out’ on an opportunity.

“This hype forms the foundation of trading volumes, and that is what we mean by liquidity. Essentially, more trading volumes mean more liquidity, as it makes it easier to quickly buy and sell Bitcoin,” he said.

“Right now, that foundation is disappearing and this tends to happen during bear markets or ‘crypto winters’, making it much harder to effectively trade assets, and they become even less appealing then. So it’s quite a vicious circle that leads to these downward spirals,” he added.