Miners’ Woes: The Grim Dance of Bitcoin Hashprice Chaos 😓

by
  • “Stabilization” is perhaps the cruelest joke the universe has played on Bitcoin hashprice at $48.
  • Difficulty—a relentless foe—and slumping fee revenues conspire to tax miners’ weary souls.

Oh, how fickle is this realm of Bitcoin [BTC]! Its mining hashprice lulled us into a deceptive sense of calm at $48 per petahash per second (PH/s). But no man—not miner nor soul—is impervious to suffering. As if ordained by the gods themselves, difficulty climbed by 1.4% to 113.76 trillion at block 889,081 on March 23rd. A cruel jest—a mountain ever climbing, never resting. And in the background, transaction fees slither into obscurity like debts of unworthy men.

The network hashrate, that trembling heartbeat of miners’ despair, fell shamefully below 800 EH/s, having once dared to touch 840 EH/s earlier this month. One might say the network dances like a drunkard wandering home after the feast—audacious, yet utterly lost.

Alas! There is no laughter when metric after metric tightens its noose around miner profitability. Some say winter is the harshest season; but for miners, all the seasons bring winter. ❄️

A brief recovery in price—or is it just a mirage?

Bitcoin’s price had dipped low into the murky abyss at $80,000 on March 10, only to claw its way upward to a more respectable $85,172 by March 24. A triumph? Do not be fooled. Despite this momentary reprieve, the hashprice languishes below $50—the mythical threshold miners whisper of in dark corridors. At $50, miners can dream of sustainable operations; below it, they drag their feet through proverbial Siberian snow.

Daily mining revenue, crawling from $36.27 million to $39.23 million, inspires no solace. It whispers of desolation, for those who remember the sweet days of December, when miners raked in over $47 million daily. Oh, December, resplendent in past glory! But now those days haunt us like shadows that mock from behind.

Still, a 17% decline in revenue smirks at weary miners, eating away at their soul like a merchant of despair. Truly, this is mining, not gold-mining, but soul-mining! 💀

Fees: Vanishing like hope in the night

Transaction fee income does not drip from heaven. No, it has dried up like a summer river abandoned by its source. On March 24, fees comprised a mere 1.12% of block rewards—the feeblest proportion since January 2022.

These per-block earnings now average 0.04 BTC, which is scarcely a coin in the beggar’s hat laid out by miners. And with it, fades a key revenue stream that might have bolstered spirits in dark times. But instead, the times grow darker. Ever darker. 🕳️

The miners, scrambling to upgrade their tools of suffering, cast aside machines of old—machines that once delivered profit but now stand as tragic relics of an idealized past. Antminer S19 XP and S19 Pro, once proud champions, now yield merely $0.088 and $0.067 per kilowatt-hour, incomes that laugh bitterly at the electricity rates devouring regions whole.

These miners face a fate harsher than Dostoevsky’s characters: obsolescence—machines turned to dust, and their operators turned to silence. But fear not, for newer models, like the Antminer S21 Hyd, hold the faintest glimmers of hope, delivering over $4.50 in daily earnings like manna from heaven before it runs out yet again.

Difficulty rises, miners fall harder 📉

The winding clock of Bitcoin recalibrates difficulty every 2,016 blocks, indifferent to the plight of mortal miners. Its latest recalibration, with uncanny precision yet cruel intent, raised difficulty by 5.6%. This leap pushed hashprice down to an uncharitable $0.054/TH/day—as if laughing in miners’ faces after inviting them to the banquet table.

Will Baxter, EVP at Braiins, uttered with resigned finality: public miners continue their eternal dance, insulated by newer hardware and treasury holdings. Meanwhile, the smaller miners with their fading machinery now cling to survival like the faded romance of long-dead hearts. S19 owners? Barely surviving, trudging toward oblivion one block at a time.

“The longer we chop sideways at these price levels,” Baxter muttered solemnly, “the more hashrate we can expect to see come offline.”

An estimated ~50 EH/s of small and medium-sized mining capacity whispers of impending shutdowns. Like soldiers caught in a war they didn’t start, their lives become numbers. But hope springs eternal—or so they say.

Big-box miners continue expanding, their modern rigs standing tall like pillars in a collapsing world. Is 2025 their year? Only the gods and hashprice know. 🕰️

The mirage of relief 👀

The next adjustment, expected on the 7th of April, may mercifully drop difficulty by 4.3%, bringing it down to 108.86 trillion. A promising forecast, aligned with the gentle clock of the 10.45-minute average block time. But will miners sigh relief, or will they curse the heavens once again?

Institutional players with their cheap electricity still cling to their machines, while others—older and heavier—scale back their operations. The falling hashrate symbolizes this silent retreat, as dreams fade like morning mist. Without a mighty price rebound, or transaction fees rising from their graves, hashprice may remain a cruel tyrant over miners’ lives.

The halving, expected within a year, draws closer like an inexorable trial. Block rewards will diminish; despair will deepen. But as always, miners stand, dragging their weary feet forward—always forward, through ice, calamity, and the endless grind that never fails to belittle their hopes. 🚶‍♂️

Read More

2025-03-25 06:21