Bitcoin Miners Navigate Challenges Amid Rising Costs and Lower Rewards
Bitcoin miners are currently facing rising operational costs and lower rewards, but a complete market collapse appears unlikely. Cryptocurrency analyst James Check, also known as “Checkmatey,” shared insights on this situation in a recent video on X, according to Cointelegraph..
“We are in a period of hash ribbon inversion, and blocks are coming in about 14 seconds slower than they should do. That tells you that there is less hashrate online, blocks are being found slightly slower,” Check explained. He added that approximately 5% of the mining hashrate is struggling, indicating a decline in the processing power dedicated to the network.
A hash ribbon inversion occurs when the 30-day moving average of the hashrate crosses below the 60-day moving average, signaling increased mining difficulty. This can result from higher operational costs, a decrease in Bitcoin’s price, or equipment issues.
Following the Bitcoin halving on April 20, which reduced mining rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC, the hash rate began to decline. Many mining firms turned off unprofitable rigs. Currently, the Bitcoin network’s hashrate is 586 exahashes per second (EH/s), down 2% over the past 30 days, according to Blockchain.com.
Check suggested that miners are likely breaking even, mining just enough Bitcoin to cover operational costs. “Miners might be treading water up here, they may not be full-scale bear market level capitulating, probably just treading water, they mine 10 Bitcoin, they sell 10 Bitcoin,” he said.
Other analysts echo this sentiment. In a recent X post, Panos noted, “Bitcoin miners are selling most of their coins to pay the bills.” Additionally, Check highlighted that transaction fees are becoming a larger portion of miner revenues, forcing the industry to innovate and manage capital efficiently.
“Miners must adapt and adjust to fees becoming their primary revenue stream,” Check wrote on X.
Matthew Sigel, head of digital assets research at VanEck, pointed out that while most miners are selling all their coins to manage costs, companies like CleanSpark (CLSK) are holding onto their BTC and using their USD balance sheets to expand capacity.
