While most Bitcoin mining operations limped through 2025 nursing razor-thin margins, Hut 8 took a different path. The company got approval to borrow up to $200 million from Coinbase, giving it extra cash to expand, after a year where its stock more than doubled, and it started focusing on AI infrastructure. Hut 8 is a public Bitcoin mining company that has expanded into large-scale energy and AI data center infrastructure.
The expanded borrowing, secured against Bitcoin held at Coinbase Custody Trust Company, gives Hut 8 immediate access to fresh capital for corporate operations. The mining company revealed in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it had already borrowed $130 million from its Coinbase credit line at a 9% interest rate by the third quarter.
Running While Others Struggle
Hut 8’s performance stands apart in an industry that’s been struggling on multiple fronts. The April 2024 halving cut mining rewards in half, dropping the block subsidy from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. Energy costs climbed. Macroeconomic pressures mounted. Then came warnings about potential tariffs under U.S. President Donald Trump that could drive up ASIC hardware costs and mess with supply chains tied to Chinese manufacturers.
The company didn’t just ride out these headwinds. But it changed direction entirely. December brought a $7 billion deal with AI cloud platform Fluidstack to deliver 245 megawatts of power for an AI data center over 15 years. Industry watchers have called it one of the biggest agreements ever struck between a crypto-native firm and an AI infrastructure provider.
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Hut 8 also grabbed majority ownership in American Bitcoin, a mining and crypto treasury company, expanding its footprint while competitors pulled back. The company now ranks ninth among the top 100 Bitcoin treasury holders with 13,696 BTC worth over $1.2 billion.
The credit deal mostly keeps the same repayment schedule and terms. Interest rates are tied to a “base spread,” which Hut 8 says is in the high single digits. If anything goes wrong, Coinbase can only claim the Bitcoin the company has pledged as collateral.
Industry-Wide Squeeze
Mining companies across the board have turned to outside financing as operational margins have been squeezed. The combination of halved rewards and rising costs created what analysts are calling one of the toughest profit environments in Bitcoin mining history.
Yet Hut 8’s push into high-performance computing and AI infrastructure—combined with steady Bitcoin accumulation—shows management betting on opportunity where others see mainly trouble. Whether that gamble pays off depends largely on how fast the AI data center business grows and whether Bitcoin’s price can offset the structural pressures hitting pure-play miners.
