Last week, the Bitcoin network hash rate hit an all-time high, the umpteenth this year. This means that the network is now extra secure, but also that competition for miners is fierce. The renewed increase is already noticeable because sales have fallen sharply.
Bitcoin miner sales are falling again
The mining difficulty rose to a new record last week, but the hashrate has since dropped slightly, according to Blockchain.com. After all, nothing is going up in a straight line, and the higher value means miners are less likely to do their thing.
They compete for the same number of coins, leaving the miners with the lowest cost. The lower hash rate suggests that some miners have already powered off and possibly even stopped their devices.
We can also see this in the miner earnings estimated by Blockchain.com. This is the lowest level since late June. Shortly before, these parties were still forced to send many of their coins to exchanges.
Estimated total miner revenue per day in mid-August was $29.8 billion per day, and is now around $24.5 billion per day — a decline of almost 18%. It peaked at around $35.3 billion in mid-May, and sales have already fallen 30% since then. This suggests that miners are suffering from heavy competition.
Bitcoin halving will be difficult for miners
Many analysts anticipate that companies in the bitcoin mining sector will have a much harder time as the next bitcoin halving is scheduled to take place in May next year. This means that from then on, miners will earn half as much bitcoin as they do today.
For example, the American investment bank JPMorgan assumes that many miners will not be able to cope with it. While the bank notes that many miners are still making profits, as the average production cost for 1 BTC is currently around $20,000.
Meanwhile, former Dutch institutional investor PlanB is still very optimistic. His model now seems to be correct again, and he assumes that the price can only be higher next year. In fact, the next bull market would have started right now.