Public miner audit · Oct 12, 2026 · 5 min read
IREN in the first half of 2026: 2.8¢ per kWh all-in, and $25,100 per bitcoin
IREN mined 2,372 BTC in the first half of 2026 while it wound its mining down to make room for AI cloud. Read from its own filings, its power cost an estimated 2.5¢ per kWh, 2.8¢ all-in, and each bitcoin took $25,100 to make before overheads.
TL;DR
- 2,372 BTC mined in January to June 2026: 1,450 in the first quarter, 922 in the second, as miners were switched off for AI cloud.
- Power cost an estimated 2.5¢ per kWh, 2.8¢ all-in with site staff and other direct costs. IREN does not report its energy use, so the kWh are our estimate.
- Each bitcoin cost $21,900 in power and $25,100 all-in, against $75,000 of revenue per bitcoin.
- With company overheads allocated by revenue share, $58,800 per bitcoin. That allocation is rough here, because most of IREN's overheads now serve AI cloud.
- Hardware is shown separately: $590.8m of impairments in the half, mostly on retired miners.
What they reported
IREN Limited files as a US domestic filer with a fiscal year ending 30 June. Calendar Q1 2026 is its fiscal Q3, reported in the 10-Q for the quarter to 31 March 2026. Calendar Q2 is its fiscal Q4. The FY26 10-K gives only the full year, so the quarter is the year minus the first nine months. Those derived figures match the quarterly statement in the FY26 results release.
IREN reports two segments: Bitcoin mining and AI Cloud Services. It is winding mining down. The 10-K says it aims to substantially complete the move from mining to AI cloud by 31 December 2026, and that it does not expect further material investment in mining hardware. Installed hashrate fell from about 38 EH/s at 31 March to about 23.2 EH/s, around 380MW of data centre capacity, at 30 June. Average operating hashrate was 36.0 EH/s in the March quarter and 36.5 EH/s for the fiscal year. IREN sells the bitcoin it mines daily and held none at 30 June.
Mining was 77% of revenue in the first quarter and 49% in the second, as AI cloud revenue rose from $33.6m to $70.5m. Most of the hashing is at Childress, Texas, which buys power at ERCOT spot prices.
The power bill
The segment note splits electricity by segment. Mining electricity was $30.6m in the first quarter and $21.2m in the second, $51.8m for the half. IREN earns demand-response income at Childress, but books it in other operating income, not against electricity: $10.4m for the fiscal year, of which $4.8m fell in January to June 2026 (the year less the December 10-Q's six months). It is not given by quarter, so our power figures are before those credits.
IREN does not disclose energy consumed, a rate per kWh or its fleet's J/TH. We estimated it. Bitcoin mined, grossed up for a 2% pool fee and divided by the network's hashprice over the quarter, gives the hashrate that actually ran: 36.5 EH/s in the first quarter (IREN reports 36.0) and 22.5 EH/s in the second. We multiplied that by 16.38 MW per EH/s, from the 10-K line that 23.2 EH/s represents about 380MW of data centre capacity, and by the hours in each quarter. That gives 1.29 million MWh and 0.80 million MWh.
On that estimate power cost 2.4¢ per kWh in the first quarter and 2.6¢ in the second. Treat both as a floor rather than a point. The 380MW is site capacity including cooling and any headroom, so it may overstate the energy the miners drew, which would make the true rate higher.
IREN used to publish its own measure, net electricity cost per bitcoin mined: $34,400 for October to December 2025, net of demand-response income, in its December 10-Q. It stopped publishing it after that. Our power cost per bitcoin for January to March is $21,100, lower in line with IREN's statement that electricity costs fell on lower spot prices.
Everything else it takes to run the sites
Mining's other direct costs are site staff and other direct expenses: $4.7m in the first quarter and $2.9m in the second. With power, that is an all-in rate of 2.7¢ per kWh and 3.0¢, 2.8¢ for the half. Insurance, property tax, repairs and renewable energy certificates sit in company-wide SG&A, so they are not in the all-in rate.
SG&A was $81.8m and $128.3m. We take out stock-based pay and allocate the rest to mining by its share of revenue: $38.6m and $41.5m. That gives a fully loaded rate of 5.7¢ and 8.2¢ per kWh. The allocation is rough for IREN. Its overheads now mostly serve the AI cloud build-out, so a revenue share likely puts more on mining than mining uses, and the cash SG&A still includes payroll taxes on stock awards.
| Period | Power | Site staff | Other direct | Cash SG&A allocated | Stock pay allocated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 2026 | $30.6m | $3.5m | $1.1m | $38.6m | $24.2m |
| Q2 2026 | $21.2m | $1.8m | $1.1m | $41.5m | $20.9m |
| H1 2026 | $51.8m | $5.4m | $2.2m | $80.1m | $45.0m |
What a bitcoin cost them
Each bitcoin took $21,900 of power and $25,100 all-in over the half, against $75,000 of mining revenue per bitcoin. Cost per bitcoin rose from the first quarter to the second. With allocated cash overheads it was $58,800, and $77,800 with stock-based pay as well.
| Period | Bitcoin mined | Power ¢/kWh | All-in ¢/kWh | Loaded ¢/kWh | Power $/BTC | All-in $/BTC | Loaded $/BTC | Revenue $/BTC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 2026 | 1,450 | 2.4¢ est. | 2.7¢ est. | 5.7¢ est. | $21,100 | $24,400 | $51,000 | $76,700 |
| Q2 2026 | 922 | 2.6¢ est. | 3.0¢ est. | 8.2¢ est. | $23,000 | $26,200 | $71,200 | $72,400 |
| H1 2026 | 2,372 | 2.5¢ est. | 2.8¢ est. | 6.7¢ est. | $21,900 | $25,100 | $58,800 | $75,000 |
The hardware
Depreciation and amortisation was $121.2m and $112.1m, impairments $140.4m and $450.4m. Neither is split by segment: depreciation includes GPUs and data centres, and the impairments are mostly retired miners plus electrical and IT equipment displaced by AI retrofits. Miners held for sale also lost $2.0m and $102.1m of fair value. Mining capex is not separable from GPU purchases in the cash-flow statement.
We keep hardware out of cost per bitcoin. A machine is the roof over the operation, not what each bitcoin costs to make. It is shown here in full so nothing is hidden.
| Period | Depreciation (company) | Impairments | Miners held for sale, fair value loss | Mining capex |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 2026 | $121.2m | $140.4m | $2.0m | Not separable |
| Q2 2026 | $112.1m | $450.4m | $102.1m | Not separable |
| H1 2026 | $233.3m | $590.8m | $104.2m | Not separable |
What it means
IREN mined 2,372 BTC in the half at an estimated 2.8¢ per kWh all-in, or 6.7¢ with allocated overheads. Hosting at Firsthand's sites runs from 3.9¢ to 6.5¢ per kWh all-in, on our sites page. IREN's all-in rate, on our estimate, sits below that range. Its fully loaded rate sits just above it, on an overhead allocation that is rough for a business now mostly building AI cloud. Mining output depends on bitcoin's price, difficulty and uptime, and isn't guaranteed. This is our analysis of the company's public filings, not an audit in the accounting sense.
Method and sources
Bitcoin mined, mining revenue, electricity, staff and other direct costs come from the cost of revenue and segment notes of the March 10-Q and the FY26 10-K. The April to June quarter is the 10-K year less the 10-Q nine months, checked against the FY26 results release. The Q3 FY26 results release was also read.
Energy is estimated, not reported. Hashrate that ran = bitcoin mined ÷ 0.98 ÷ the network's hashprice summed over the quarter. Energy = that hashrate × 16.38 MW per EH/s × hours (2,160 and 2,184). The 16.38 comes from the 10-K: about 380MW of data centre capacity for 23.2 EH/s. It is a site capacity figure, including cooling, so it probably overstates energy and understates the rate per kWh. The pool-fee gross-up leans the same way.
Power is before demand-response income, which IREN books outside cost of revenue and does not give by quarter. SG&A is allocated to mining by revenue share, with stock-based pay shown separately. Depreciation, impairments and capex are not separated by segment in IREN's filings.
Sources and further reading
- IREN Form 10-Q, quarter ended 31 December 2025 — IREN, 2026-02-05
- IREN Reports Q3 FY26 Results (8-K Exhibit 99.1) — IREN, 2026-05-07
- IREN Form 10-Q, quarter ended 31 March 2026 — IREN, 2026-05-08
- IREN Reports FY26 Results (8-K Exhibit 99.1) — IREN, 2026-08-27
- IREN Form 10-K, fiscal year ended 30 June 2026 — IREN, 2026-08-27
Disclosure
Firsthand Bitcoin sells and hosts mining hardware. This is our analysis of the company's public filings, not an audit in the accounting sense, and it is not investment advice. Every reported figure links to the filing it comes from; figures we estimated are labelled, with their inputs. No company paid for or reviewed this page. Corrections are published with the date they were made.