Miners Feel the Weight of $66K Bitcoin
The bitcoin mining sector is grappling with hashprice levels not seen since early April, with the daily value per petahash per second (PH/s) slipping 17.82% from a month ago. Data from hashrateindex.com indicates the daily revenue generated by 1 PH/s was $37.44 just 30 days ago, whereas today that figure has eased to roughly $30.77.
Outside of the current period, April, and much of the stretch between Feb. 18 and late March, hashprice maintained noticeably stronger levels. Tuesday’s intraday low of $65,362 is more than enough to make miners uneasy, as low prices continue to place significant strain on profitability. This is gradually affecting hashpower as the hashrate has dropped from the 1,000 EH/s range to below 975 EH/s.
One factor working in miners’ favor is that a reduction in computational power has pushed block intervals beyond the network’s 10-minute target. At press time, 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday, blocks were being produced at an average pace of 10 minutes and 49 seconds. If the current pace holds through roughly June 13, the network’s mining difficulty is expected to adjust downward.
Current estimates point to a potential 7.5% decrease in network difficulty.
Miners Enter June With One Strong Month and One Big Question
Bitcoin miners enjoyed a strong May from a revenue standpoint, with monthly earnings climbing above the $1 billion mark for the first time since January. According to newhedge.io stats, miners generated $1.086 billion during the month, with $1.079 billion of that total derived from the 3.125 BTC block subsidy. In other words, transaction fees contributed virtually nothing to the month’s revenue haul.
Miners Have Little to Lean on Unless the Price Moves North
More recently, transaction fees have ticked up slightly after accounting for less than 0.6% of the total block reward for an extended period. Over the past 24 hours, average fee revenue has edged higher, representing roughly 1.16% of the overall block reward. That modest increase in fees, coupled with a likely difficulty reduction, provides miners with a small buffer while BTC prices remain under pressure, though it does little to alter the broader economic reality facing the industry.
Miners came into June with a strong May at their backs. Whether that carries them through the next few weeks depends on where bitcoin goes from here.
