AI could drive crypto activity without driving token value, Fidelity says

Fidelity Digital Assets’ recent research output, including its May 2026 report “6 Key Trends Shaping Digital Assets in 2026” and its earlier January outlook, lays out a picture where AI and crypto are increasingly entangled. The great mining migration The most concrete finding in Fidelity’s research centers on a trend that’s been building for over a year: Bitcoin miners are pivoting their infrastructure toward AI data centers. The economics make the decision almost obvious, as AI workloads currently offer better profitability than proof-of-work mining for many operators. The consequences are already measurable. Bitcoin’s average 30-day hash rate has declined approximately 8.8% year-to-date, according to Fidelity’s May report. Mining difficulty has dropped by roughly 7.8% over the same period. The difficulty adjustment, Bitcoin’s built-in mechanism for keeping block times consistent regardless of how much computing power is on the network, has responded accordingly. A 7.8% decline means the network is recalibrating to a world where fewer machines are dedicated to securing it. What this means for Bitcoin’s security model Bitcoin’s security relies on hash rate. More computing power de...