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Bitcoin Mining Profitability Declines in August Amid Rising Hashrate
Explore the decline in Bitcoin mining profitability in August as rising hashrate impacts earnings. Understand the key factors influencing this trend and what it means for miners in the ever-evolving cryptocurrency landscape.
Bitcoin Mining Profitability Declines in August
In August, the profitability of Bitcoin (BTC) mining experienced a notable decline compared to July, as highlighted in a recent research report by investment bank Jefferies. The average price of Bitcoin fell by over 4%, while the average network hashrate increased by approximately 2.7%. As a result, miners saw their average daily revenue per exahash drop by 11.8% from the previous month.
Analysts Jonathan Petersen and Joe Dickstein from Jefferies noted, “September is shaping up to be another challenging month as BTC remains below the $60K mark and the network hashrate continues to rise.” The Bitcoin hashrate serves as a key indicator of competition within the mining industry and the overall mining difficulty.
Interestingly, Jefferies observed that there were fewer days of extreme heat during the summer, contributing to improved operational uptime for major miners. For instance, the bitcoin mined by Marathon Digital (MARA) last month suggested an impressive uptime of around 88%, particularly in contrast to the 75% uptime recorded in August of the previous year.
Among the ten largest Bitcoin miners tracked by the bank, the implied uptime for last month averaged approximately 83%, an improvement from 76% a year earlier and 79% in August 2022. The authors remarked, “While mining economics may be moving in the wrong direction, operational efficiency is showing signs of improvement.”
The report also indicated that U.S.-listed mining companies accounted for a smaller share of new Bitcoin mined in August compared to the previous month, representing only 19.9% of the total network. This shift occurred as public mining players were able to bring new capacity online more quickly than the network hashrate could increase.
- Marathon Digital led the pack by mining 673 Bitcoin last month.
- CleanSpark (CLSK) followed in second place with 478 BTC.
Marathon continues to maintain the largest installed hashrate among its competitors, with Riot Platforms (RIOT) closely following. Additionally, a recent report from Wall Street giant JPMorgan revealed that mining profitability had fallen to all-time lows during the first two weeks of August.