Public Miners Just Unplugged $1.5B of Hardware for AI [NEWS]

<p>Public Bitcoin miners shed about 75 EH/s in the first half of 2026, roughly $1.5 billion worth of mining hardware, as their power moves to AI. In this NEWS episode, Jesse breaks down who is leaving, where the hashrate is going and what it means for the miners who stay.</p><p><br></p><p>Hashprice is back at $38.88, but a +6.3% difficulty adjustment is coming. Ethiopia cuts miners&#39; power by 75%, CleanSpark&#39;s $6.6B lease turns out to be with Meta, and public miners carry $35B in AI debt. Meanwhile the US keeps losing hashrate while Pakistan, Venezuela and Paraguay come back online, Foundry&#39;s founding CEO steps down and Binance shuts its mining pool.</p><p><br></p><p>Nothing discussed is financial advice. Do your own diligence before making mining or hosting decisions.</p><p><br></p><p>Sources:</p><p>Ethiopia cuts miners&#39; power by 75%: https://news.bitcoin.com/mining/ethiopias-bitcoin-mining-boom-just-ran-into-a-water-problem/</p><p>AI infrastructure debt reaches $35B: https://forklog.com/en/news/debt-financing-for-miners-and-ai-firms-reaches-35-billion</p><p>CleanSpark names Meta as Sandersville tenant: https://thedeepdive.ca/cleanspark-reveals-meta-behind-6-6-billion-ai-lease-requires-2-23-billion-financing/</p><p>Bitcoin&#39;s Great Unplug: https://news.bitcoin.com/bitcoins-great-unplug-1-5-billion-in-hardware-behind-the-ai-pivot/</p><p>Global Hashrate Heatmap Q4 2026: https://hashrateindex.com/blog/global-hashrate-heatmap-update-q4-2026-c/</p><p>Foundry CEO steps down: https://cryptobriefing.com/foundry-ceo-mike-colyer-steps-down/</p><p>TeraWulf expands Muskie to 1 GW: https://news.constructconnect.com/terawulf-expands-kentucky-data-center-power-commitment-to-1-gw</p><p>Binance shuts down its mining pool: https://cointelegraph.com/news/binance-shut-down-crypto-mining-pool-november</p><p><br></p><p>Timestamps:</p><p><br></p><p>0:00 Hashprice $38.88 and a +6.3% difficulty adjustment</p><p>0:00 Hashrate back to May levels</p><p>0:00 Ethiopia cuts mining power by 75%</p><p>0:00 $35B in debt behind the AI build-out</p><p>0:00 CleanSpark&#39;s $6.6B Meta lease</p><p>0:00 Sponsor: Altair Technology</p><p>0:00 Bitcoin&#39;s Great Unplug: $1.5B in hardware</p><p>0:00 Where hashrate is moving: Q4 heatmap by country</p><p>0:00 Foundry CEO steps down as block share falls</p><p>0:00 TeraWulf expands to 1 GW</p><p>0:00 Binance shuts down its mining pool</p><p>0:00 Hydro hosting aggregation, starting from one machine</p><p>0:00 Outlook: hashrate vs dif