Bitcoin mining company Hut8 suffered a net loss of $240 million last year, but it's not afraid; its three-step strategy to transform from a miner to an AI power plant is underway.

Bitcoin mining company Hut 8 reported a net loss of $248 million for the fiscal year 2025. While the figure looks alarming, $220 million of that was unrealized market value loss on its Bitcoin holdings (accounting standards require Bitcoin to be measured at fair value).

In comparison, full-year revenue grew from $162 million to $235 million, an increase of 45%, and gross margin also improved from 47% to 54%. Q4 revenue was $88.5 million, nearly three times the $31.7 million in the same period of the previous year.

Comparing the $331 million net profit in 2024 (benefiting from the book value appreciation of Bitcoin) makes it clear that using net loss figures to judge a mining company that holds a large amount of Bitcoin is not a good standard.

Splitting Bitcoin mining

It is worth noting Hut 8's key decision in 2025: to spin off its Bitcoin mining business.

In March 2025, Hut 8 and Eric Trump co-founded American Bitcoin Corp., injecting their Bitcoin mining assets into the new company, which was then independently listed on Nasdaq, with Hut 8 holding a majority stake. As of the end of 2025, American Bitcoin held 3,865 bitcoins, with book reserves of approximately $473 million; combined with the cash and bitcoins held by Hut 8 itself, the total liquidity reached approximately $1.4 billion.

The logic behind this spin-off was clearly stated by Hut 8 CEO Asher Genoot during the earnings call: different types of businesses should correspond to different costs of capital. Bitcoin mining is a cyclical industry with high volatility and high capital expenditure, suitable for specific investors attracted by the Bitcoin narrative; AI infrastructure is a long-term, fixed-income asset with near-real estate logic, attracting institutions seeking predictable cash flow. Mixing the two on a single balance sheet only confuses investors on both sides about what they are buying.

After the split, Hut 8 can raise funds using the valuation logic of an "AI data center developer" instead of being dragged down by Bitcoin volatility; American Bitcoin can operate and be valued independently as a "pure Bitcoin accumulation platform".

A $7 billion lease, but the data center won't open until 2027.

In December 2025, Hut 8 signed a 15-year, $7 billion IT capacity lease with Fluidstack, delivering 245 megawatts of data center capacity (River Bend Project). The lease is financially guaranteed by Google, which holds approximately a 14% stake, while Anthropic is the end user of this infrastructure.

The lease is expected to contribute an average annual net operating income of $454 million, and with the addition of three five-year renewal options, the total contract value could reach approximately $17.7 billion.

In addition to the 245 MW already contracted, Fluidstack also has a right of first refusal to purchase up to 1,000 MW of capacity for future expansion of the project.

However, the timeline is noteworthy: River Bend's first data center is scheduled for completion and operation in Q2 of 2027. In other words, this $7 billion contract will not contribute a single penny of revenue throughout 2026, and its financial story will not begin to "cash in" until 2027.

Management stated that its four priorities for 2026 are: prudent use of equity, reducing corporate risk, diversifying liquidity sources (including the private market), and maintaining a sufficiently strong balance sheet to move toward an investment-grade credit rating.

The miner's life is over; the test of becoming a power plant developer has just begun.

Hut 8's 2025 financial report can be simply described as a "change of status application".

The $248 million loss on paper is a reflection of Bitcoin's performance; the real operational improvements are hidden within a 45% revenue increase and a 54% gross margin. The spin-off of American Bitcoin clearly defined two distinct business logics. River Bend's planned $7 billion lease, leveraging Google's credit, transformed an unbuilt data center into a long-term, financeable contract.

However, none of this has yet generated actual cash flow for the AI ​​data center. Q2 of 2027 will be the time when Hut 8 must deliver on its promises.

The market is willing to price in the story of miners turning to mining, but the real test for power plant developers will not begin until 2027.