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Jinse Finance reported, according to CoinDesk, that Fred Thiel, CEO of MARA Holdings, stated that the bitcoin mining industry is entering a challenging period, with intensified competition, rising energy demand, and shrinking profits. He noted that bitcoin mining is a zero-sum game; as hashrate increases, mining difficulty and energy costs rise, compressing profit margins. The industry is becoming increasingly brutal, and only mining companies that secure low-cost, reliable energy or adopt new business models can survive. Many mining companies are shifting towards artificial intelligence or high-performance computing infrastructure, while some are being squeezed out of the market by participants who can deploy their own hardware at lower costs. Thiel warned that after the next bitcoin halving in 2028, the survival environment for mining companies will become even harsher, with block rewards dropping to just above 1.5 bitcoins. Unless transaction fees rise or the coin price surges, the mining economy will be difficult to sustain. Bitcoin's design philosophy is that transaction fees will eventually replace block subsidies, but this has not yet happened. Currently, transaction fees remain generally low, and even brief surges are not enough to replace block subsidies. In this environment, small mining companies face tremendous pressure. Large mining companies are adapting by controlling energy sources and investing in AI-specific infrastructure, while more streamlined miners may be forced to shut down. Thiel expects the market to self-regulate, stating: "By 2028, mining companies will either become power producers, be acquired by power producers, or cooperate with power producers."