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).

Challenging Year for Bitcoin Miners as Fewer BTC Mining Rigs Are Profitable at Current Prices
Currently, the cost of BTC production according to macromicro.me data shows the current spot market value is near-equal.

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.

Challenging Year for Bitcoin Miners as Fewer BTC Mining Rigs Are Profitable at Current Prices
At the time of writing on Dec. 31, 2022, Bitmain’s Antminer S19 XP Hyd. is the most profitable bitcoin mining rig. The machine produces 255 terahash per second (TH/s) and at $0.08 per kWh, the S19 XP Hyd. can make an estimated $5.74 per day in profits.

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.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tax Strategy for XRP: Lawyer Urges Caution Before Dipping for Altcoins

Jeremy Hogan advises crypto holders to be cautious of crypto tax as they optimize for profit in the bull run. He pointed out the tax advantages of not liquidating XRP held for over a year. Per the lawyer, long-term capital gains incur a lower 15% tax rate than the higher 30% rate for short-term gains. Prominent legal expert Jeremy Hogan, Partner at ‘Hogan & Hogan’ has offered counsel to crypto holders, urging caution in the disposition of their XRP assets. In a recent post on X, Hogan shared guidance with crypto investors looking to maximize their tax efficiency amid the anticipated crypto bull market. The lawyer’s counsel targeted crypto enthusiasts based in the United States. He advised considering the tax obligation on their crypto investment from the angle of the duration of the token holdings. Hogan pointed out that maintaining a token for over a year could result in a more advantageous tax scenario. He noted that long-term capital gains, applicable ...
Read more

Bitbot gears up for presale amid uncertainty ahead of first BTC options expiry post ETF approval

BTC options expiry reveals short-term volatility post ETF approval. Bitbot’s presale on Jan 17 promises unprecedented excitement with self-custodial solutions. With a total supply of 1 billion tokens, Bitbot aims for a $1B market cap and top listings. As 2024 signals the potential start of a new bull run, the crypto market is buzzing with excitement. The recent Bitcoin ETF approval sparks short-term volatility, while Bitbot, a revolutionary Telegram trading bot, gears up for its token presale on January 17. In this article, we delve into the first anticipated Bitcoin options expiry post Bitcoin ETF approval and the upcoming Bitbot presale , exploring the potential for exhilarating opportunities in the evolving crypto landscape. First BTC Options expiry post Bitcoin ETF approval The approval of the Bitcoin Spot ETF on Wall Street has set the stage for unprecedented market movements. Despite the historical significance, Bitcoin’s price exhibit...
Read more

MicroStrategy’s Saylor Sells $216M of His Shares to Buy More Bitcoin

MicroStrategy’s executive chairman, Michael Saylor, is selling $216 million worth of company shares. Saylor plans to use the proceeds to expand his personal Bitcoin holdings. The sell-off began with 5,000 shares on January 2, with 5,000 shares scheduled to be sold every trading day for the next four months. MicroStrategy‘s executive chairman, Michael Saylor, has begun selling $216 million worth of his shares in the company. The decision reveals Saylor’s intention to utilize part of the proceeds to expand his personal Bitcoin holdings. Saylor, a prominent advocate for cryptocurrency adoption, unveiled this plan in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The regulatory filing reveals that Saylor is selling 315,000 MicroStrategy shares acquired via stock options. 310,000 of these were granted in 2014 and are set to expire in April of this year. Saylor has already begun the sell-off, initiating the process with the sa...
Read more