Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin posted cost tables on October 17, 2026, comparing Bitcoin mining with AI inference. His estimates put the cost of mining one bitcoin near $93,700, with electricity accounting for about 45.9% and compute capital costs about 40%. For AI inference, the tables put annual costs per GPU near $26,260, with compute capital costs at roughly 76% and electricity at 4.8%. Buterin presented the figures as a contrast, not a criticism of either model; the source argues separately that miners with flexible power contracts may have an advantage in AI hosting.
