Skip to main content

Challenging Year for Bitcoin Miners as Fewer BTC Mining Rigs Are Profitable at Current Prices

Challenging Year for Bitcoin Miners as Fewer BTC Mining Rigs Are Profitable at Current Prices

Bitcoin miners have had a challenging year as the network’s mining difficulty reached an all-time high and the spot market price of bitcoin dropped below the cost of production. Currently, with electricity costs at $0.07 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), only 18 application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) bitcoin mining rigs are able to turn a profit at current prices.

Current SHA256 ASIC Models Unprofitable at $0.12 per kWh, Only Two Devices Profitable at $0.10 per kWh

On December 31, 2022, statistics show that bitcoin’s hash rate is hovering above the 300 exahash per second (EH/s) range after reaching a low on December 30 at 235 EH/s. Additionally, data from macromicro.me indicates that the current cost of production ($16,577) is nearly equal to bitcoin’s current spot market value ($16,572).

Macromicro.me calculates the cost of production by “observing consumption of electricity and daily issuance of bitcoin, as provided by Cambridge University.” The Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI) shows BTC’s annualized consumption on Dec. 31, 2022, is 84.74 terawatts per hour (TWh). With the current mining difficulty at 35.36 trillion and current BTC prices at $16,572 per unit, a large number of ASIC mining machines are not profitable.

For instance, at $0.12 per kWh, none of the current SHA256 ASIC models are profitable with electricity costs at that rate. At $0.10 per kWh, two ASIC devices are profitable and can make $1.14-$2.51 per day in profits. The top two machines that can still profit at $0.10 per kWh include Bitmain’s Antminer S19 XP Hyd. with 255 terahash per second (TH/s) and Bitmain’s Antminer S19 XP with 140 TH/s.

18 ASIC Mining Rigs Profitable at $0.07 per kWh, Alternative Consensus Algorithms See Better Profits

At $0.08 per kWh, 13 different ASIC bitcoin mining machines can capture profits between $0.13-$5.08 per day. The machine with the lowest profits at $0.08 per kWh is Bitmain’s Antminer S19j Pro with 100 TH/s. At $0.07 per kWh, another five machines are added to the profitable machine list with a total of 18 ASIC mining rigs in profit.

At the $0.07 per kWh value, a bitcoin miner can make between $0.23 per day to $6.35 per day, depending on the machine used. Bitmain’s Antminer S19 XP Hyd. with 255 TH/s and $0.07 per kWh in electrical costs will produce an estimated profit of around $6.35 every 24 hours.

While SHA256 bitcoin mining machines are seeing fewer profits than they were six months ago, machines that mine alternative consensus algorithms see better profits. The top three consensus algorithms today, in terms of profit, include Kadena, Eaglesong, Scrypt, and Handshake.

What are your thoughts on the difficulties that bitcoin miners faced this year? Do you anticipate that conditions will improve in 2023? Share your perspective in the comments section below.



from Bitcoin News https://ift.tt/q6K1Bgm
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mt Gox Creditors Updated, Trustee Says Rehabilitation Custodian Is ‘Currently Preparing to Make Repayments’

On August 31, 2022, the Mt Gox trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi explained in a recent letter that the rehabilitation custodian is “currently preparing to make repayments” to Mt Gox creditors. Trustee Updates Mt Gox Creditors — Repayment Date and Exchange Still Unknown Last week speculation and rumors concerning the release of 140K bitcoin ( BTC ) from Mt Gox littered social media platforms and headlines. Bitcoin.com News covered the situation six days ago as a number of people and Mt Gox creditors called the rumors “ fake news .” During that same period of time, a bitcoin whale transferred 10,000 BTC to unknown wallets, and a 2018 annotation , heuristics, and clustering methods show the funds likely originated from the June 2011 Mt Gox hacks. Following the mysterious whale transfer, last Wednesday, Mt Gox published an official update from the court trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi that explains the court is “currently preparing to make repayments” to creditors. Mt Gox creditors have been wait...
Post a Comment
Read more

Fidelity Discusses Bitcoin as Portfolio Insurance — Could Soon Stand in ‘Stark Contrast’ to Path Fiat Currencies Take

Fidelity Digital Assets, a subsidiary of Fidelity Investments, says that bitcoin could be considered portfolio insurance. The firm notes that the cryptocurrency “may soon stand in stark contrast to the path that the rest of the world and fiat currencies may take — namely the path of increased supply, additional currency creation, and central bank balance sheet expansion.” Fidelity Says Bitcoin Could Be Portfolio Insurance Fidelity Digital Assets, a subsidiary of Fidelity Investments, recently published a research study titled “The Rising Dollar and Bitcoin.” The research outlines “how bitcoin could be considered portfolio insurance” as the rising dollar impacts global currency markets. “The strengthening U.S. dollar is wreaking havoc among other countries and may put pressure on the Federal Reserve to soon reverse its tightening monetary actions, something that has precedent based on 1985’s Plaza Accord,” Fidelity explained. In addition, “more monetary debasement may be needed to ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Economists Discuss Russia, China Potentially Developing Gold-Backed Currency That Could Undermine US Dollar

Economists have weighed in on reports that China and Russia may be developing a new gold-backed currency that could undermine the U.S. dollar’s status as the world’s primary reserve currency. Russia and China May Be Developing Gold-Backed Currency Several experts have shared their views on Russia and China potentially creating a new gold-baked currency, Fox Business reported Saturday, emphasizing that China has been buying up huge quantities of gold while Russia was forced off the U.S. dollar due to sanctions imposed on the country following its invasion of Ukraine. The news outlet noted that some experts have cautioned that these moves, along with the closer relationship that has developed between Moscow and Beijing, point to the likelihood of China attempting to launch a gold-backed currency. However, neither Russia nor China has officially confirmed plans for such a currency. Craig Singleton, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a former U.S. diplomat,...
Post a Comment
Read more