Bitcoin mining companies under pressure: Core Scientific's earnings report falls short of expectations, stock price drops, Riot Platforms' revenue is also disappointing

On March 3, after Bitcoin mining and artificial intelligence computing service company Core Scientific announced its Q4 2025 earnings, the stock price declined. The earnings report showed that the company’s quarterly revenue and profits both fell short of market expectations, reflecting the impact of cryptocurrency market volatility and rising mining industry costs on business operations.

Data shows that Core Scientific achieved $79.8 million in revenue in Q4, down approximately 16% year-over-year, significantly below Wall Street’s forecast of $90.4 million. Among this, revenue from cryptocurrency mining dropped to $42.2 million, nearly halving compared to the same period in 2024. Although the company reported a net profit of $216 million, this was mainly due to approximately $330.3 million in non-cash asset fair value gains; its adjusted EBITDA recorded a loss of $42.7 million.

Market analysts believe that the sharp fluctuations in Bitcoin prices are a key factor putting pressure on miners’ profitability. Bitcoin’s price previously surged past $126,000 at the end of 2025, reaching a historic high, but then experienced a significant correction, currently around $67,000, a substantial decline from the peak. The price drop, combined with rising electricity and computing costs, has significantly squeezed profit margins for many mining companies.

In response to industry cycle changes, Core Scientific is accelerating its business transformation. CEO Adam Sullivan stated that more than half of several infrastructure projects have been completed, and the company plans to expand its hosted computing platform to about 1.5 gigawatts of leasable capacity to meet high-performance computing demands for artificial intelligence.

Meanwhile, the company continues to expand its data center network. Core Scientific is enlarging its data center in Texas, aiming to support a total power capacity of approximately 430 MW, and adding about 300 MW of power capacity at other facilities in Georgia and Texas.

Following the earnings release, Core Scientific (CORZ) stock closed down about 2.8% at $16.49 on Monday. After-hours trading briefly dipped to $14.69 but then rebounded. Despite short-term volatility, the company’s stock has still increased over 13% since 2026.

Meanwhile, another Bitcoin mining company, Riot Platforms, also released its quarterly earnings. The data shows that the company’s Q4 revenue was $152.8 million, up about 7% year-over-year but still below the market expectation of $157 million. After the earnings report, Riot Platforms (RIOT) stock remained roughly flat at $16.43, with slight fluctuations around $16.28 in after-hours trading.

Industry insiders point out that as demand for AI computing power rapidly grows, some Bitcoin miners are trying to expand new revenue streams through high-performance computing hosting services. This “mining + AI computing power” business model is becoming an important industry transformation direction.