Since mid-June, Bitcoin miners have been grappling with substantial underpayment, as evidenced by metrics from CryptoQuant. Currently, the estimated value of 1 petahash per second (PH/s) of hashrate stands at a significantly low $47.79 per PH/s. Despite the downturn in revenue, Bitcoin’s hashrate remains just shy of the 600 exahash per second (EH/s) benchmark.
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Bitcoin Miners’ Earnings Plummet; Difficulty Retarget Increase Still Expected
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Bitcoin miners are currently facing tough times, with CryptoQuant data revealing that they have been “extremely underpaid” since June 16, 2024. The most challenging day for miners occurred on July 6, when Luxor’s Hashprice Index indicated that the value of 1 PH/s had dropped to approximately $44 per PH/s between July 3 and July 7. Since that dip, the hashprice has climbed roughly 9%, nearing $48 per PH/s. This decline in revenue affected the overall hashrate, which decreased to 560 EH/s on June 29. However, the seven-day simple moving average (SMA) shows that the total hashrate has since rebounded to 584 EH/s. The initial drop resulted in longer block intervals, leading to three successive difficulty reductions. Despite this, the difficulty retarget expected on July 18, 2024, is anticipated to increase by 1 to 2%, based on current projections, although this could change in the remaining five days. With nearly half of July over, Bitcoin miners’ revenue for the month remains relatively low. To date, miners have earned $332.98 million, and if this trend continues, July could be one of the worst months this year.
