By George Ward
The crypto market has encountered some drawbacks. But it has been stable over the last four weeks, with the leading digital asset, BTC, establishing support around the $19,000 price region.
Bitcoin is being deployed as a reserve currency around the globe amidst declining value in global fiat currencies. Also, it has emerged as a preferred choice for investors to beat inflation and safeguard the purchasing power of their fiat money.
However, the Bitcoin mining industry continues to face a challenging year as the price of Bitcoin BTC struggles around the $20,000 level. Also, Bitcoin miners are facing the challenge of rising energy costs in North America and Europe.
There have been various reasons for the decline in mining revenue per tetrahash (TH), negatively impacting miners’ profitability. At the start of this year, revenue per TH was $0.25/TH but has since dropped to about $0.10/TH.
By contrast, Sats/TH, a measure of the amount of nominal mineable Bitcoin units instead of the dollar equivalent, has remained constant in the 400 – 435 Sats/TH range. Again, the reason is that older-generation machines are no longer profitable and continue to come offline.
A recent report from the Bitcoin Mining Council (BMC) states that Bitcoin has seen a 41% increase in energy consumption year-on-year (YoY). As a result, many crypto-mining companies have been forced to sell off equipment, while others have filed for bankruptcy.
There has been a noticeable divergence in Bitcoin price and network difficulty, with Bitcoin price declining while mining difficulty has steadily increased. In addition, large public miners with long-term ASIC buy orders provided the industry with positive insights about the hash rate for the first time.
However, miners’ growth plans must include a custom hash rate plan for expansion and an analysis of their competition’s expansion plans. Doing this will help them to determine their economic viability.
Thriving During The Bear Market
An alternative energy source is another approach most Bitcoin miners adopt to survive the bear market. As a result, miners like CleanSpark and White Rock Management continue to grow, while others may need to revise their business strategies.
In a recent interview, Elliot David, a top-level executive with Sustainable Bitcoin Protocol — a green Bitcoin mining firm, stated that things would relatively get worse for some miners. However, he stressed the need for Bitcoin miners to improve their strategies.
David also advised that Miners should not just focus on building a Bitcoin mine. Instead, they should aim to create something sustainable that can be carbon negative. David also identified regulation as a critical factor that could enable Bitcoin miners to achieve sustainability.