Bitcoin Miners’ Revenue Plummets to Annual Low

On August 11, the daily revenue of Bitcoin miners, smoothed by a seven-day moving average, fell to approximately $25.5 million, marking a new low for 2024.

Following the April halving, the figure plunged from levels above $60 million prior to the event to roughly half. Comparable figures were last recorded between August and November 2023, when Bitcoin traded in the range of approximately $26,000 to $28,000.

The April 20 reduction in block reward from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC led to a decline in cryptocurrency production that same month. In May and June, miners were unable to restore the production of digital gold.

In April, however, their income was bolstered by an increase in commission volumes amid the excitement surrounding the Runes protocol. Network fees brought miners approximately $281.5 million out of total revenue of $1.79 billion.

In the following months, transaction revenues for miners significantly decreased, reaching $24.9 million by the end of July, compared to $926.2 million received as block subsidies.

Amidst this, in June, some experts speculated about miner capitulation, suggesting the shutdown of unprofitable equipment. Glassnode analyst James Check disagreed with such views, noting that Bitcoin’s hash rate had only decreased by 9% compared to pre-halving levels.

However, CryptoQuant noted a reduction in miners’ cryptocurrency reserves to 2021 levels. In early July, the company’s experts revisited the topic of miner capitulation.

The recovery of the network’s computational power throughout the month led to an increase in mining difficulty, first by 3.2% and then by 10.5%. This metric is at a record high, exerting pressure on the profitability of digital gold mining.

In early August, as Bitcoin’s price fell below $50,000, the hash price dropped to a historic low of $36 per PH/s per day.