While the crypto country is currently turned upside down by the war path of the American Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the counter towards the Bitcoin halving just expire. The BTC miners will receive only 3,125 BTC instead of the current 6,25 BTC sometime from April next year for their work. This ensures that, depending on certain external factors, only the most efficient miners will survive
Bitcoin halving
This Bitcoin halving is part of the Bitcoin (BTC) protocol and will take place every 210,000 blocks anyway, which is equivalent to about four years. Miners are an indispensable link in the Bitcoin network as they are the ones competing to add a new transaction block to the blockchain. As a reward for this work, they are paid in bitcoin. To be precise, they receive the so-called block reward and the transaction costs paid.
This block reward is cut in half during the halving, halving the number of new bitcoins put into circulation. Currently lessers still earn 6.25 BTC per transaction block generated, but in less than a year this will drop to 3,125 BTC.
Efficient BTC miners survive
You can imagine that halving the yield has a major impact for the miners. Wolfie Zhao, head of research at mining consultancy Blocksbridge, said listed miners currently cost between $10,000 and $15,000 per bitcoin. After the halving, however, this will double to between $20,000 and $30,000 per bitcoin.
Recently it appeared in the Bitcoin news that JPMorgan predicted that the cost could rise to $ 40,000 per bitcoin after the halving.
With such high mining costs and the lack of a significant rise in the BTC price, only the most cost-efficient miners will survive. In other words: the miners with higher production costs per bitcoin will have a harder time staying afloat after the halving.
A rally however, in the bitcoin price or a major drop in energy prices could increase the profitability of the miners.
Out data from TheMinerMag it turns out that Stronghold Digital Mining (SDIG), Cipher Mining (CIFR), and Riot Platforms (RIOT) currently have the lowest production costs per bitcoin, with $8,200, $8,600, and $10,400 respectively in the first quarter.