Back in 2017, we did the math to figure out how much oil it takes to mine a single Bitcoin. The answer then was about 20 barrels of oil equivalent per coin. Today it's closer to 500.
The Bitcoin network now draws somewhere between 138 and 175 terawatt-hours a year, depending on whose model you trust…
Split across the roughly 164,000 coins minted annually since the last halving, that lands at around 500 barrels of oil equivalent at today’s prices per Bitcoin, and past 600 on the higher estimates.
But Bitcoin is the warm-up act. The real energy story is artificial intelligence.
Data centers pulled about 415 terawatt-hours off the world's grids in 2024, according to the IEA.
Run that through the same conversion, and you get roughly 670,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day, every day, just to keep the servers humming.
By 2030 the agency expects that to more than double to 945 terawatt-hours, the equivalent of about 1.5 million barrels of oil equivalent a day…
That's the daily output of a mid-sized oil producer, burned to train models and answer questions.
And the grid isn’t ready for it.
That’s why. Shark Tank's "Mr. Wonderful" is backing Bitcoin with a big twist: using Bitcoin mining cash to build out low-carbon power facilities for AI data centers.
Kevin O'Leary, famous for his advocacy of capital discipline in energy-intensive businesses, has gone in on Bitzero Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: AIBZ).
"If I want exposure to crypto, I only need three positions now … I own Bitzero because they mine Bitcoin and they're actually a power company."
Years before artificial intelligence triggered a global race for power capacity, Bitzero Holdings was using cash flow from Bitcoin mining operations to secure large amounts of low-cost electrical power across Norway, Finland, and the United States.
And on May 5th, O'Leary's expectations became a reality when Bitzero announced a deal with OneQode Networks for the full power-generation capacity from its Norway facilities first phase, marking Bitzero's debut in the large-scale AI data center infrastructure market."We aren't moving into data centers—we're the backbone," said Bitzero chief executive Mohammed Bakhashwain.
AI Infrastructure Is Becoming a Global Power Grab
AI companies are now scrambling for the same thing oil companies have fought wars over: secure access to energy.
JLL estimates global data-center capacity will nearly double by 2030, requiring almost 100 gigawatts of new supply and as much as $3 trillion in combined infrastructure and GPU spending. The International Energy Agency (IEA) projects global data-center electricity demand could surge toward 945 terawatt-hours by the end of the decade.
But power supply isn't scaling at the same speed as data center plans, let alone AI demand.
Grid connection wait times in major markets are already stretching beyond four years. Transformer shortages are worsening. Transmission bottlenecks are emerging across major data-center corridors. Utilities are increasingly struggling to accommodate hyperscale AI campuses demanding hundreds of megawatts at a time.
Before the scramble for data-center power even began, Bitzero had secured more than a gigawatt of power across Norway, Finland, and North Dakota. That's why O'Leary calls Bitzero a "real estate power company".
And it's all made Norway suddenly one of the most strategically important AI infrastructure markets in the world.
Norway and Finland, home to immense hydroelectric and nuclear baseloads, have quietly become the new gravity centers for digital infrastructure.
Hydroelectric plants that once exported surplus energy south now feed mining clusters north of Trondheim and near Pori, where ambient air cools thousands of ASICs without mechanical chillers.
Securing an energy-generating crypto mining facility here means a clear advantage: industrial rates under 5 cents per kWh, grid stability that dwarfs U.S. volatility, and a reputational halo that comes from producing every coin on 100% renewable energy.
The same megawatts that power Bitcoin are increasingly being allocated to AI computing and high-performance data centers, a collision of two of the most power-hungry industries on the planet.
As hyperscalers scramble for clean capacity, the line between crypto mining and AI infrastructure is dissolving.
That's where Bitzero (NASDAQ: AIBZ) has positioned itself years ahead of the curve, designing modular, mining facilities that are able to accommodate compute hubs for AI and scientific workloads.
And on May 5th, the company received its biggest vote of confidence yet, with a deal that catapults it into the world of AI power infrastructure and validates everything it's been working towards.
Bitzero: Mining for AI Gold
Founded in 2021, Bitzero has quietly assembled one of the most scalable clean-energy portfolios in the digital infrastructure sector.
It now boasts over 1 gigawatt of growth capacity spread across four strategic sites in Norway, Finland, and North Dakota.
Its flagship hydro-powered operation in Namsskogan, Norway, is already producing 40 MW of self-mining capacity with a cost per kilowatt-hour below $0.05, among the lowest of any industrial miner globally.
The economics are ruthless.
According to CEO Mohammed Bakhashwain, every million dollars of capital deployed into Bitzero's grid and equipment in Norway generates roughly $700,000 in annual net profit. That efficiency comes from vertical integration: the company owns its high-voltage connections and operates as a licensed grid operator at the 132 kV level, eliminating middle-layer grid fees that most competitors still pay.
Its expansion pipeline dwarfs typical crypto startups.
The letter of intent signed on May 5th with OneQode Networks covers the full 110 MW capacity of its Namsskogan, Norway data center site under a 15-year lease tied to GPU-based AI workloads.
The agreement carries an implied value of roughly $2.6 billion over the lease term, and marks Bitzero's formal entry into the large-scale AI data-center infrastructure market.
For Bitzero, the deal means that it will generate revenue by leasing the site's power capacity and infrastructure to OneQode. But at the same time, OneQode pays the electricity bill tied to running the AI systems inside the facility.
That means Bitzero captures the recurring infrastructure revenue from the site without directly absorbing the massive ongoing power costs associated with operating large-scale AI workloads.
That places Bitzero at an advantage to its peers, based on internal company research.
According to management, the OneQode agreement is structured at roughly $135 per kilowatt per month with a 3% annual escalator. At full utilization, the 110 MW Namsskogan site could generate roughly $176 million to $178 million in annual revenue. A recent shareholder analysis modeling the agreement estimated potential annual NOI of roughly $151 million based on an 85% margin profile tied to the lease structure.
The Norwegian site, built on a former UN airbase adjacent to an offshore-wind-fed grid, is designed solely for AI computing clients. Located near the Atlantic cable landing stations, the site sits one hour from Kristiansand and 90 minutes from Stavanger. That means easy workforce access, yet far enough to avoid urban restrictions. With offshore wind expansion already funded, the project could become one of northern Europe's largest clean-power data campuses.
With one lease deal in the pipeline, Bitzero is also eyeing the future of its Finland venue, where it has secured a one-gigawatt campus: almost a million square meters of industrial land tied directly into nuclear and hydro sources, capable of hosting both Bitcoin mining and AI compute clusters.
In North Dakota, the company holds a 225,000-square-foot complex on 184 acres, backed by letters of intent for 300 MW of staged delivery.
Collectively, these assets represent something most miners lack: energy sovereignty.
Bitzero isn't just leasing capacity — it builds and owns the infrastructure beneath it. That makes its cost curve largely immune to grid congestion, curtailment penalties, or the political whiplash.
The Efficiency Race
Bitcoin's economics now favor miners who control their energy destiny. At today's hash difficulty, every percentage point shaved from power costs translates directly into margin.
According to the company, Bitzero's current cost per Bitcoin sits near $50,000, falling to below $40,000 once new hardware is fully deployed. That's less than half the global average.
Its all-in energy cost of 4.3 cents per kWh includes taxes, grid fees, and maintenance.
For comparison, Riot Platforms and Marathon Digital (two of the largest U.S. miners), operate on power costs estimated between 7-10 cents, depending on the site.
The company's operational lean-ness is equally extreme: five staff run a 40 MW facility that other miners would staff with 20 workers. Automated software monitors every ASIC's hash rate and power draw in real time, rebooting or flagging faults before they become downtime.
That precision and streamlining gives Bitzero significant leverage as the industry pivots toward AI-ready data centers.
"Bitcoin mining allows us to monetize power immediately while AI and data center workloads are phased in over time," Bakhashwain said.
McKinsey estimates AI infrastructure spending could approach $7 trillion globally by 2030, including more than $5 trillion tied directly to AI workloads. But that spending wave could hit a power wall as the industry discovers that building AI infrastructure isn't just a money problem — it's a power access problem.
The OneQode agreement officially ushers Bitzero into the lucrative world of data center power, and its cost efficiency will allow it to keep expanding there.
The Real Energy Equation
For the first time, the energy fueling Bitcoin's creation is beginning to mirror the future, not the past. Now, we're talking about hydroelectric rivers instead of oilfields, nuclear baseload instead of diesel generators, and operators who think like power developers rather than hobbyist miners.
Bitzero's (NASDAQ: AIBZ) portfolio demonstrates that evolution: one gigawatt of clean capacity positioned where climate, grid, and economics converge.
And energy is the real commodity here.
Bitcoin's proof-of-work is, at its core, a competition for electrons. Every miner is an energy trader disguised as a technologist. But things have changed. The advantage no longer goes to the algorithm. It goes, instead, to geography, infrastructure, and grid access.
Those who command cheap, clean megawatts will dominate the next cycle. Those who don't will be priced out by physics itself. The importance of that advantage is becoming increasingly clear as AI spending accelerates across the technology sector. Companies such as Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) are helping drive a wave of investment worth hundreds of billions of dollars into AI infrastructure, but every new training cluster, inference engine, and hyperscale data center ultimately depends on one thing: access to reliable power. As the industry discovers that electricity is becoming as critical as advanced semiconductors, ownership of low-cost, scalable energy infrastructure is emerging as one of the most valuable assets in the digital economy. In that environment, Bitzero's roughly 4-cent power costs and more than one gigawatt of secured capacity do not simply represent a competitive advantage—they position the company at the intersection of Bitcoin's historic energy demands and AI's rapidly expanding appetite for electricity.
Those who command cheap, clean megawatts will dominate the next cycle. Those who don't will be priced out by physics itself.
In that race, Bitzero's roughly 4-cent power and gigawatt runway doesn't just represent a cost advantage — it represents an existential advantage. The company's assets stand at the intersection of Bitcoin's old energy problem and the world's new digital demand.
If the last decade of Bitcoin was powered by oil, the next one will be powered by hydro, wind, and nuclear, and it's already being built in Norway.
By. James Stafford
