Vitalik Backs Anti-Data-Center Push: What It Means for Miners
Vitalik Buterin data centers comments landed on November 8. In a post on X, the Ethereum co-founder defended the movements against new AI data center construction. crypto.news and Crypto Briefing both report it. The reason it matters here: several bitcoin miners are now AI landlords, and local opposition to data centers is a risk to that plan.
What Vitalik Buterin said about data centers
However, he did not call for closing existing facilities or back a specific government ban. Both outlets say so. crypto.news quotes him: “A slowdown in compute hyper-scaling seems quite net good.” Likewise, he wrote that nothing “remotely apocalyptically bad” would follow even extreme success by anti-data-center campaigners.
His argument has two parts. First, society needs more time to build defenses against cyber and biological risks from stronger AI. Second, algorithmic progress means work that would need bigger facilities in two years could run on today’s infrastructure within four years, or sooner. Crypto Briefing adds that the forecast depends on that progress continuing. One headline, from COINOTAG, says the buildout “could wait four years.” The other two outlets frame it more narrowly, so we use their wording.
Why bitcoin miners are in this story
crypto.news ties it to two miners. It says Riot Platforms reported a 15-year lease for 910 MW at Corsicana, Texas, worth about $28 billion over the initial term. Moreover, it puts Riot’s total contracted capacity at 1,151 MW and about $38 billion. It also says that Riot sold 20,264 BTC in the first nine months of 2026, raising about $1.5 billion, mainly for data center development.
For Cipher Digital, crypto.news cites a Barber Lake lease extended to 20 years, with about $9.1 billion of expected revenue. Also, it says Cipher shares fell nearly 19% on November 4 after the Texas election. Only crypto.news reports these figures, so we have not checked them against the filings. Treat them as that outlet’s numbers.
Texas is the pressure point. crypto.news says Governor Greg Abbott directed regulators on September 21 to pause permits for data center projects. Then it adds that Gina Hinojosa, who won the November 3 governor’s race, proposed suspending new approvals until protections are in place. That is not law yet. For the margin maths behind this, see our mining economics guides.
Miner math: if more miners turn machines off for AI
Here is the live maths on November 8. Bitcoin is $75,833 and the network is 983 EH/s, so hashprice is about $34.94 per petahash per day. That is what one PH/s of hashing earns before power.
| Machine | 5c/kWh | 8c/kWh | 12c/kWh | Break-even |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antminer S19 (95 TH/s, 3250 W) | -$0.58 | -$2.92 | -$6.04 | 4.3c |
| Antminer S19k Pro (115 TH/s, 2645 W) | $0.84 | -$1.06 | -$3.60 | 6.3c |
| Antminer S19 XP (141 TH/s, 3010 W) | $1.32 | -$0.85 | -$3.74 | 6.8c |
| Antminer S21 Pro (234 TH/s, 3510 W) | $3.96 | $1.44 | -$1.93 | 9.7c |
Numbers are profit per day after electricity, at the three power prices shown. Break-even is the most you can pay per kilowatt-hour before the machine loses money. Specs are the manufacturer ratings; network data comes from mempool.space. Try your own power price in our free bitcoin mining profit calculator. See what these machines really sold for in our used ASIC miner price index. Want to run the same numbers on a machine you can buy today? See our used ASIC miners, or buy several at once through bulk lots.
If another 3% of network hashrate switches off for AI work: the break-even power price on an S19k Pro rises from 6.3 to 6.5 cents per kilowatt-hour. At 8 cents, daily profit goes from -$1.06 to -$0.94.
What Vitalik Buterin data centers talk means for ASIC owners
We read it two ways. First, if data center approvals slow, miners that planned to convert sites may keep their machines running longer, which holds hashrate up near 983 EH/s. Second, if the conversions go ahead, hashrate falls and hashprice rises for everyone left. Neither outcome is certain, though. Our view is that cheap power is still the one edge a small miner controls.
If your machines no longer pay, you can sell us your used miners. If you want to buy, see all miners.
-Nick
ING Mining
This is general information, not financial advice. Crypto is volatile, and exchanges can fail. Please do your own research.
How this story was made: drafted with the help of AI tools from public sources, then edited by Nick Squires. See our editorial policy. Spot an error? Email ns@ingmining.com.