Crypto mining has always been a rollercoaster. Prices spike, miners expand like crazy, then the crash comes and half the industry goes dark. HIVE Digital Technologies (HIVE) thinks there's a better way.

The company isn't trying to time Bitcoin (BTC) anymore. Instead, it's building what co-founder and executive chairman Frank Holmes calls a business designed to perform no matter where we are in the cycle.

In an exclusive email interview, Holmes pointed to HIVE's rapid expansion in Paraguay as the model for where the company wants to be heading into 2026. "Paraguay demonstrates how we want HIVE positioned going into 2026: as a disciplined, global operator converting renewable energy into high-value digital infrastructure rapidly and responsibly," he said.

Efficiency First, Scale Second

That's a meaningful shift from how crypto mining used to work. "In earlier cycles, scale often came before efficiency," Holmes explained. "Today, efficiency comes first."

Rather than racing to add hash rate at any cost, HIVE is leaning into low-cost renewable power, disciplined capital allocation, and flexible infrastructure. Holmes described the result as "a flywheel effect that compounds growth" instead of a model built around short-cycle speculation.

The subtext here is pretty clear: HIVE doesn't want to be the company that overextends during bull markets and burns cash during bear markets. It wants to be the one that stays profitable through both.

Hydropower As Strategy, Not Just PR

For HIVE, hydropower isn't a feel-good talking point. Holmes says it's a competitive advantage. "Running on nearly 100% hydropower gives HIVE a first-mover advantage in sustainable digital infrastructure," he said, adding that it positions the company as a credible partner for governments, utilities, and enterprise customers.

That matters more as regulators and institutions start paying attention to how much energy crypto mining consumes. Being able to say you're running on renewables opens doors that coal-powered operations can't access.

Margins Matter More Than Hash Rate

Looking toward 2026, Holmes made it clear that raw capacity growth isn't the target. "The priority is protecting margins through efficiency and discipline," he said. "Capacity only matters if it is profitable and resilient."

Success, he added, will be measured by perception as much as production. HIVE wants to be recognized as "a trusted, durable digital infrastructure company" known for "operational excellence, renewable energy leadership, compliance, and the ability to deliver secure compute at scale."

That flexibility also creates room for AI and high-performance computing, which Holmes said are "already meaningful opportunities" that create "a dual engine for growth." Translation: HIVE isn't putting all its chips on Bitcoin price appreciation. It's building infrastructure that can serve multiple customers and use cases.

Holmes summed it up this way: "We turn renewable energy into resilient, revenue-generating digital infrastructure built to perform across market cycles."

Whether that flywheel actually spins faster than competitors remains to be seen. But at least HIVE seems to have learned something from past cycles: surviving matters more than sprinting.