Core Scientific says it will end bitcoin mining by end of 2026
Core Scientific told investors it will finish exiting bitcoin mining in Q4, with colocation now the bulk of its $232.9 million quarterly revenue.
Core Scientific, once the largest publicly listed bitcoin miner, plans to finish exiting bitcoin mining by the end of 2026 and start 2027 as a pure colocation provider for high-performance computing. According to Bitcoin Magazine, management said so on its third-quarter earnings call. CEO Adam Sullivan said the company expects to complete the exit by year-end, and CFO Jim Nygaard said the wind-down should finish in the fourth quarter.
Wu Blockchain and Bitcoin Magazine both report that the number of miners online at the end of September was nearly 50% lower than at the end of 2025.
Colocation now dominates revenue
Total revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 30 was $232.9 million, according to the earnings exhibit cited by Bitcoin Magazine. Colocation brought in $215.4 million, up nearly 60% from the previous quarter. Self-mining revenue was $12.3 million, down about 79% from $57.4 million a year earlier, and hosted mining for third parties added $5.2 million.
Bitcoin Magazine reported that self-mining posted a $7.5 million gross loss, while colocation gross profit was $128.4 million. Adjusted EBITDA rose to $133.6 million, and the margin widened to 57% from 25%. Cointelegraph put mining at 7.5% of quarterly revenue, and ICO Drops, citing the filing, put colocation at 92.5%. Bitcoin Magazine rounded the colocation share to about 92%.
Bitcoin holdings and funding
Bitcoin is nearly gone from the balance sheet. Bitcoin Magazine reported that digital assets were $2.7 million on Sept. 30, down from $49.7 million three months earlier and $222 million at the end of 2025. ICO Drops, citing the company's filing, said bitcoin sales raised $286.8 million from January to September to fund capital spending and other cash needs. Third-quarter capital spending was $985.1 million, and the filing says no new mining equipment is being bought.
Bitcoin Magazine also reported a $41.9 million loss on contract termination in the second quarter, tied to ending a chip supply agreement with Block/Proto. Liquidity at the end of September was about $1.7 billion, including roughly $800 million in cash.
The Block reported a similar move at another miner, IREN. Its bitcoin mining revenue fell 58%, and the company plans a full exit by year-end as its AI cloud revenue rose 182% to $200 million last quarter. The sources describe Core Scientific and IREN separately and do not give a combined effect on the bitcoin network.
What is still open
The sources differ on documentation of the timeline. ICO Drops said the filing does not specify a completion date for the mining exit, while the year-end target comes from management's remarks on the call.
According to Bitcoin Magazine, about 100 MW of the CoreWeave buildout is in commissioning and should start generating revenue over the next few months. Core Scientific also has a 530 MW agreement backed by AMD, with initial delivery targeted for the first half of 2027 and full delivery by the end of 2028. Management expects those two relationships, covering about 1.1 GW, to produce $1.8 billion in average annual run-rate revenue once fully delivered.
Sources
- Core Scientific, Once the Largest Bitcoin Miner, Plans to Fully Shut Down Bitcoin Mining by Q4 2026 Wu Blockchain
- Core Scientific (CORZ) to Exit Bitcoin Mining by Year-End as Colocation Hits $215 Million Bitcoin Magazine
- Core Scientific winds down mining for colocation ICO Drops
- Core Scientific to quit Bitcoin mining by year-end as AI business surges Cointelegraph
- IREN’s bitcoin mining revenue drops 58% as firm plans full exit by year-end The Block
Written with AI assistance from the sources above and checked against them. Not investment advice.