Source time Edition date
Bitcoin miners pay Paraguay $350 million a year, but AI is pushing them out
比特币矿工每年向巴拉圭支付3.5亿美元，但AI正将他们挤出
Paraguay's state utility ending cheap $44/MWh contracts on Dec. 31, 2027, and redirecting that power to a Founders Fund-backed AI campus shows how AI demand is crowding out bitcoin miners in low-cost power markets.
Judgment
HIVE Digital must decide whether to bid into the engineers’ proposed $56/MWh auction and accept 3–5 year contracts to keep its 297 MW Paraguayan fleet, or risk losing about 77% of operating capacity after Dec. 31, 2027; the trade-off is higher power costs versus relocation.
Basis
ANDE officials call Dec. 31, 2027 nonnegotiable; the utility’s engineers’ group proposed capping crypto, AI and data centers at 700 MW from Jan. 1, 2028 and auctioning power with a $56/MWh floor on 3–5 year contracts. Spokesman Ubaldo Fernández called a 2,000 MW load on a ~5,000 MW system “una carga disruptiva.” HIVE’s annual report says its 200 MW Yguazú and 100 MW Valenzuela agreements run to Dec. 31, 2027; about 297 of 385 MW in use sat in Paraguay as of April 30, roughly 77%. HIVE’s Gabriel Lamas said in September it wants at least 10-year extensions and growth from 300 to 1,000 MW, but HIVE declined to discuss ANDE talks or confirm the $140 million payment figure. Mechanism: if the deadline holds and the auction floor applies, HIVE’s current flat $44/MWh rate rises by $12/MWh, and winning capacity would be contracted for only 3–5 years—so HIVE must weigh higher power costs and shorter contract life against losing most of its operating capacity.
Unclear The source does not say whether HIVE will actually bid in the proposed auction, what bid price it would accept, or which alternative sites and relocation costs it would consider if the contracts lapse.
Next Watch whether ANDE formally adopts the engineers’ sealed-bid tender and $56/MWh floor, or publishes auction rules, before HIVE’s Dec. 31, 2027 contract expiry.