Hashrate – Earlybirds Invest https://earlybirdsinvest.com Latest Crypto News Sun, 14 Sep 2025 21:54:22 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.7 https://i0.wp.com/earlybirdsinvest.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/cropped-New-Project-2024-12-17T235703.455.png?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 Hashrate – Earlybirds Invest https://earlybirdsinvest.com 32 32 240146708 The Bitcoin hashrate hit 1 zetahash per second; ‘how do people still not get it?’ https://earlybirdsinvest.com/the-bitcoin-hashrate-hit-1-zetahash-per-second-how-do-people-still-not-get-it/ https://earlybirdsinvest.com/the-bitcoin-hashrate-hit-1-zetahash-per-second-how-do-people-still-not-get-it/#respond Sun, 14 Sep 2025 21:54:22 +0000 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/the-bitcoin-hashrate-hit-1-zetahash-per-second-how-do-people-still-not-get-it/

The Bitcoin hashrate crossed an important milestone this week, hitting 1 zetahash per second. That’s 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 hashes computed every single second. To put it simply: Bitcoin is more secure and powerful than ever.

As macro investor and long-time Bitcoin advocate, Dan Tapiero questioned:

“How do people still not get it?”

Bitcoin hashrate at an all-time high

The Bitcoin hashrate is at an all-time high. A zetahash is a trillion exahashes, or one sextillion hashes, and this figure represents the total computational muscle powering Bitcoin’s Proof-of-Work consensus system.

Miners deploy purpose-built computers to compete for new blocks, rapidly running cryptographic “nonce” guesses until one solution fits.

Hashrate is the lifeblood of Bitcoin security, and this brute-force lottery drives network trust: the higher the hashrate, the harder it is for any attacker to rewrite Bitcoin’s ledger.

The recent settling above 1 ZH/s means that every second, miners perform more calculations than grains of sand on earth, or more than the stars in our galaxy; a mind-boggling testament to decentralized security.

Miners compete to find a valid hash for the next block. Each hash is an attempt to meet network difficulty requirements, and success wins a Bitcoin reward.

At over 1 ZH/s, the difficulty rises in tandem, mandating ever-greater efficiency and innovation in mining hardware.

A higher Bitcoin hashrate means stronger protection from double-spending and 51% attacks, and as more energy and hardware secure the chain, Bitcoin becomes increasingly tamper-proof and globally trusted.

Dan Tapiero: macro investor and Bitcoin advocate

Dan Tapiero is the founder and CEO of 10T Holdings, a multi-billion-dollar asset manager focused on digital assets and web3.

He’s widely respected as a macro thinker, champion of gold, and early Bitcoin adopter, and he called the zetahash milestone one of the “Top 10 historic developments of the past 50 years,” saying that the Bitcoin network was the “most secure network in the world.”

He’s not wrong. This new era is more than a technical feat; it’s a profound testament to institutional adoption, sound money, and the resilience of a decentralized network.

What’s more, a growing hashrate often precedes major price rallies as miners, sovereigns, and corporations invest billions in new infrastructure. An all-time high Bitcoin hashrate, coupled with a near-certain rate cut on the horizon, could create the perfect storm for BTC price.

The zetahash level proves that Bitcoin’s network is, by far, the most secure computer network ever built, outpacing any centralized alternative in raw calculations and energy dedicated to truth.

For anyone still doubting Bitcoin’s staying power, the arrival of the “zetahash era” is a wake-up call. The network’s security, transparency, and resistance to censorship or manipulation are no less than historic.

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Record Bitcoin Difficulty Not Enough To Stop Miners: Hashrate Explodes To New ATH https://earlybirdsinvest.com/record-bitcoin-difficulty-not-enough-to-stop-miners-hashrate-explodes-to-new-ath/ https://earlybirdsinvest.com/record-bitcoin-difficulty-not-enough-to-stop-miners-hashrate-explodes-to-new-ath/#respond Sat, 13 Sep 2025 11:54:57 +0000 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/record-bitcoin-difficulty-not-enough-to-stop-miners-hashrate-explodes-to-new-ath/

Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure

On-chain data shows the 7-day average Bitcoin Hashrate has shot up to a new all-time high (ATH) despite network Difficulty being at a record level.

Bitcoin Mining Hashrate Has Seen A Sharp Increase Recently

The “Hashrate” refers to a Bitcoin indicator that keeps track of the total amount of computing power that the miners as a whole have connected to the BTC blockchain. The metric is useful for gauging the sentiment among these chain validators.

When the value of the Hashrate goes up, it means new miners are joining the network and/or old ones are expanding their farms. Such a trend implies BTC mining is looking profitable to this cohort.

On the other hand, the indicator witnessing a decline suggests some of the miners have decided to pull out of the chain, potentially because they are no longer able to pay off electricity bills.

Now, here is a chart from Blockchain.com that shows how the 7-day average Bitcoin Hashrate has changed over the past year:

Bitcoin Hashrate

Looks like the value of the metric has shot up in recent days | Source: Blockchain.com

As displayed in the above graph, the 7-day average Bitcoin Hashrate has seen a sharp surge recently and has set a new all-time high (ATH) of around 1.03 zettahashes per second (ZH/s). This increase in the metric has come as the price of the cryptocurrency has made some recovery.

Miners depend on the asset’s price for their revenue, so bullish price action allows them to expand. Though, while price conditions may have been favorable in the past week, another factor hasn’t been. Namely, the Difficulty.

The Difficulty is a feature built into the Bitcoin blockchain that controls how hard the miners would find their task of BTC mining on the network right now. This metric’s value automatically changes about every two weeks based on network conditions.

More specifically, the Difficulty adjusts according to whether the miners have been slower or faster than the network target rate of 10 minutes per block. The chain ups the metric if miners are going through the average block in less than 10 minutes, while it lowers it if the validators aren’t able to keep pace.

Prior to the latest adjustment, Bitcoin miners were aggressively expanding their Hashrate, becoming significantly faster than the network wants them to be. The chain responded with a notable Difficulty increase that took the metric to a new record of 136.04 terahashes, as data from CoinWarz shows.

Bitcoin Difficulty

The Difficulty adjustments that have occurred over the last three months | Source: CoinWarz

Difficulty increases can squeeze the revenue of the most vulnerable miners, so Hashrate often dips following them. And indeed, the same occurred after the latest adjustment as well, but the drop was temporary.

Thus, it would appear that the spike in Difficulty hasn’t been able to scare away the Bitcoin miners this time.

BTC Price

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is floating around $116,400, up almost 5% in the last seven days.

Bitcoin Price Chart

The trend in the price of the coin over the last five days | Source: BTCUSDT on TradingView

Featured image from Dall-E, CoinWarz.com, Blockchain.com, chart from TradingView.com

Editorial Process for bitcoinist is centered on delivering thoroughly researched, accurate, and unbiased content. We uphold strict sourcing standards, and each page undergoes diligent review by our team of top technology experts and seasoned editors. This process ensures the integrity, relevance, and value of our content for our readers.

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Bitcoin hashrate at record, margins pinched: Will miners sell or pivot amid AI power land‑grab? https://earlybirdsinvest.com/bitcoin-hashrate-at-record-margins-pinched-will-miners-sell-or-pivot-amid-ai-power-land%e2%80%91grab/ https://earlybirdsinvest.com/bitcoin-hashrate-at-record-margins-pinched-will-miners-sell-or-pivot-amid-ai-power-land%e2%80%91grab/#respond Fri, 12 Sep 2025 08:56:18 +0000 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/bitcoin-hashrate-at-record-margins-pinched-will-miners-sell-or-pivot-amid-ai-power-land%e2%80%91grab/

Bitcoin network difficulty reached 136.04 trillion on Sept. 4, while dollar hashprice slipped to about $52 per petahash per day this week. Per Hashrate Index, the last adjustment set a new high for difficulty, and the forward market now prices an average hashprice near $49.17 per PH per day for the next six months.

Bitcoin difficulty and hashrate (Source: mempool.space)
Bitcoin difficulty and hashrate (Source: mempool.space)

The squeeze leaves miners deciding whether to sell inventories, consolidate operations, or pursue high-performance computing revenue tied to artificial intelligence.

The production backdrop is firm. The seven-day average hashrate sits near one zettahash per second, while transaction fees contribute a little over 1% of block rewards on recent averages.

That mix compresses gross margins at the same time retail power prices and wholesale data center rents trend higher. Global colocation pricing averaged $217.30 per kilowatt per month in the first quarter, with tight supply in major hubs, per CBRE’s Global Data Center Trends 2025.

Strategic optionality is widening as compute demand reorders the power stack.

CoreWeave agreed to acquire Core Scientific earlier this year in an all-stock transaction that implies roughly $9 billion of equity value. The acquisition would consolidate about 1.3 gigawatts of installed capacity with more expansion potential.

In its deal materials, the buyer outlined lease efficiency gains and operating synergies by 2027, while the transaction is part of the broader AI buildout competing for grid access across North America. The direction of travel is clear: AI workloads are now a core alternative for power and land that previously skewed toward proof of work.

Public market signaling has also shifted with the debut of American Bitcoin Corp. The company began trading on Nasdaq as ABTC after completing a merger with Gryphon Digital Mining. Corporate filings detail a controlled structure after the combination, with former American Bitcoin holders owning about 98% of the combined company on a fully diluted basis.

The model emphasizes accumulation alongside self-mining, creating another lever for treasury strategies that may dampen or amplify market sales depending on spreads between mining cost, spot price, and financing terms.

Power constraints and policy continue to set near-term supply behavior.

In Texas, miners commonly curtail during the Four Coincident Peak season to manage costs and capture credits, a pattern reflected in Riot Platforms’ June operating update. Curtailments can lift hashprice temporarily and shift revenue timing, but they also illustrate why forward hedging has become standard. Luxor’s market shows an actively traded curve with mid-market quotes published on the Hashrate Forward Curve.

Against this backdrop, break-even math is simple but unforgiving. Using representative efficiency bands and current economics, the ranges below illustrate approximate breakeven power prices, expressed in cents per kilowatt hour, at a $53 per PH per day hashprice and nominal pool fees.

The inputs reference published specifications for the Antminer S21 and WhatsMiner M60S, along with incremental firmware gains evidenced by LuxOS testing.

Efficiency band, J/TH Example hardware Illustrative breakeven power, c/kWh
~17.5 S21 class, stock ~7.0–7.5
~18.5 M60S class, stock ~6.5–7.0
~15–16 S21 with tuned firmware ~8.0–8.5

These thresholds imply that fleets paying above single-digit power rates will feel pressure if hashprice tracks the forward average. That pushes treasurers toward hedges on the hashrate curve, deeper curtailment during high-priced hours, and non-mining revenue.

The last category includes AI colocation and managed GPU services, where contracted rents are quoted per megawatt per year and often load follows compute.

Recent contracts frame the revenue step change.

TeraWulf disclosed more than $3.7 billion of expected hosting revenue under multi-year agreements, with public reporting estimating an annualized take rate near $1.85 million per megawatt on the initial tranche.

The comparison below uses those public figures and CBRE’s rent benchmarks to show the order of magnitude gap between mature AI colocation and current mining cash generation per power unit at prevailing hashprice.

Use of 1 MW Representative annual revenue Notes
AI colocation ~$1.5M–$2.0M per MW Based on announced deals and coverage in financial media
Bitcoin mining ~$0.9M–$1.3M per MW Derived from $52 per PH per day hashprice and sub-19 J/TH fleets on current averages

The delta does not automatically mean every miner should pivot.

Retrofits require capex, liquid cooling, and higher-density racks, which can saturate existing transformers, and contractual take-or-pay obligations can limit near-term flexibility.

Still, the combination of tight colocation supply and announced consolidation, such as CoreWeave’s deal, will likely keep AI rents firm through year-end, which factors into treasury choices whenever bitcoin’s fee share remains low.

Miners able to monetize demand response programs, like the ERCOT 4CP framework, and tune fleets with efficiency firmware can widen their breakeven bands without selling coins.

Case studies illustrate the choice set. Iris Energy continues to expand GPU capacity and cloud revenue alongside self-mining, using a dual track that stabilizes cash flows against hashprice volatility. 

American Bitcoin presents a treasury-led approach combining on-balance sheet accumulation with mining, with control details and share counts in the SEC filing. Those paths sit alongside pure play hosting that captures AI demand and infrastructure premiums.

The near-term market question is whether balance sheets become a supply source by year-end. If hashprice follows the forward curve and fees remain near current prints, miners above the single-digit cost bands are more likely to raise cash by selling coins or locking in forward sales of hashrate.

If AI colocation ramps up on previously announced contracts, some of that selling could be offset by compute reallocation and hedges already layered in at summer premiums.

The balance of those forces will determine how much miner supply reaches exchanges during the fourth quarter.

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Bitcoin Network Hashrate Returned to All-Time Highs in August: JPMorgan https://earlybirdsinvest.com/bitcoin-network-hashrate-returned-to-all-time-highs-in-august-jpmorgan/ https://earlybirdsinvest.com/bitcoin-network-hashrate-returned-to-all-time-highs-in-august-jpmorgan/#respond Tue, 02 Sep 2025 15:03:30 +0000 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/bitcoin-network-hashrate-returned-to-all-time-highs-in-august-jpmorgan/

The Bitcoin network hashrate returned to record highs last month, increasing around 50 exahashes per second (EH/s) to an average of 949 EH/s, Wall Street bank JPMorgan (JPM) said in a research report Tuesday.

The hashrate refers to the total combined computational power used to mine and process transactions on a proof-of-work blockchain, and is a proxy for competition in the industry and mining difficulty.

The total market cap of the 13 U.S-listed bitcoin miners the bank tracks also hit a record high in August, with high-performance computing (HPC) execution driving the gains.

TeraWulf (WULF) announced a colocation deal with Fluidstack and IREN (IREN) expanded its GPU fleet, the bank noted.

With the hashrate at a record, mining profitability declined from the previous month as the bitcoin price fell.

“We estimate bitcoin miners earned an average of $55,100 per EH/s in daily block reward revenue in August, down 4% from July,” analysts Reginald Smith and Charles Pearce wrote. Daily block reward gross profit also fell, dropping 7% to $31,900 per EH/s, the analysts wrote.

The combined market cap of the 13 U.S.-listed bitcoin miners that JPMorgan analysts track surged 23% from the month previous, or around $7.4 billion.

TeraWulf outperformed with a 83% gain, while Greenidge Generation (GREE) underperformed the group with a 22% decline, the report added.

Read more: Bitcoin’s 7 Day Average Hashrate Hits 1 ZettaHash for First Time

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Qubic Claims Majority Control of Monero Hashrate, Raising 51% Attack Fears https://earlybirdsinvest.com/qubic-claims-majority-control-of-monero-hashrate-raising-51-attack-fears/ https://earlybirdsinvest.com/qubic-claims-majority-control-of-monero-hashrate-raising-51-attack-fears/#respond Tue, 12 Aug 2025 12:49:13 +0000 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/qubic-claims-majority-control-of-monero-hashrate-raising-51-attack-fears/

Qubic, a project led by former IOTA co-founder Sergey Ivancheglo, says it has secured more than 51% of Monero’s global hashrate, a milestone that, if true, gives it the ability to reorganize blocks, censor transactions, and attempt double-spends on the privacy-focused blockchain.

Ivancheglo framed the move as a stress test to help the Monero community prepare for future network threats, but the announcement has triggered sharp debate among developers and security experts.

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A 51% attack occurs when a single entity or coordinated group controls a majority of a proof-of-work network’s hashrate. Ethereum Classic suffered multiple reorganizations in 2020, resulting in millions of dollars in losses, while Bitcoin Gold faced similar assaults in 2018 and 2020.

Smaller networks like Verge have also been targeted, demonstrating how concentrated hashing power can destabilize and entire cryptocurrency network.

Monero, which uses the CPU-friendly RandomX algorithm, has long prided itself on resisting ASIC centralization. Qubic’s “useful proof-of-work” (uPoW) model repurposes Monero mining rewards by converting XMR into USDT, then using the proceeds to buy and burn QUBIC tokens, a deflationary mechanism that doubles as a liquidity sink for its own ecosystem.

From mid-May to late July, Qubic’s share of the network jumped from less than 2% to over 25%, at times topping pool rankings.

Ledger CTO Charles Guillemet warned on X that Monero “appears to be in the midst of a successful 51% attack,” citing signs of a major chain reorganization, with several other industry experts like SlowMist founder Yu Xian expressing their doubt over Qubic’s economics.

Whether the events mark a hostile takeover or simply a stress test, XMR has responded negatively, dropping by 6.65% in the past 24 hours to compound a 16% decline over the past week.

Read more: How $330M BTC Hacker May Have Doubled Down on Monero Derivatives

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Bitcoin Hashrate Plunges 11%—Are Miners Turning Bearish? https://earlybirdsinvest.com/bitcoin-hashrate-plunges-11-are-miners-turning-bearish/ https://earlybirdsinvest.com/bitcoin-hashrate-plunges-11-are-miners-turning-bearish/#respond Wed, 25 Jun 2025 04:23:29 +0000 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/bitcoin-hashrate-plunges-11-are-miners-turning-bearish/

Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure

After setting a new all-time high (ATH) earlier in the month, the Bitcoin Hashrate has seen a crash. Here’s what this could mean for the asset.

7-Day Average Bitcoin Hashrate Has Plummeted Since The Record

The “Hashrate” refers to an indicator that measures the total amount of computing power that miners have connected to the Bitcoin network for the purpose of mining. The metric’s value is measured in terms of hashes per second (H/s), or the more practical exahashes per second (EH/s).

When the value of this indicator rises, it means the miners are adding more power to the blockchain. Such a trend suggests BTC mining is looking profitable to these chain validators.

On the other hand, the metric going down can imply some of the cohort’s members are coming under pressure, so they have decided to scale back on their facilities.

Now, here is a chart from Blockchain.com that shows the trend in the 7-day average of the Bitcoin Hashrate over the past year:

Bitcoin Hashrate

Looks like the value of the metric has sharply gone down in recent days | Source: Blockchain.com

As displayed in the above graph, the 7-day average Bitcoin Hashrate saw a rapid increase to a new ATH of about 943.6 EH/s on June 15th. Since this peak, however, the indicator has witnessed a sharp reversal. Today, the miners’ computing power amounts to 834.8 EH/s, more than 11% down compared to the record.

Considering the fast decline, it’s possible that miners are feeling financial pressure. And indeed, according to an on-chain model, this group can currently be classified as extremely underpaid.

The miners may also be feeling bearish about the cryptocurrency, considering all the geopolitical events that have occurred since the high in the Hashrate, feeding into market uncertainty.

Miners depend on growth in the asset’s price to improve their margins, so their behavior is often linked to the trend in the coin itself. Sometimes, miners do expand or decommission operations anticipating future action, though these bets don’t always pay off.

From the chart, it’s visible that this isn’t the first time this year that the indicator has seen a quick top followed by a rapid decline. Since April, the metric has now displayed this pattern four times, with the peak setting a slightly bigger record in each instance.

Considering this trend, it’s possible that the latest drawdown may also just be similar, and the 7-day average Hashrate would rebound before long. That said, in the scenario that the decline does elongate beyond the current point, which is already close to the low of the metric’s recent range, then it could potentially signal that a real shift may be taking place among the miners.

Generally, though, miners changing the Hashrate doesn’t impact the Bitcoin price, at least not directly. What a decline can signal, however, is distress among the group, which can force them into selling.

BTC Price

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is floating around $105,100, down 0.3% in the last seven days.

Bitcoin Price Chart

The trend in the BTC price over the past five days | Source: BTCUSDT on TradingView

Featured image from Dall-E, Blockchain.com, chart from TradingView.com

Editorial Process for bitcoinist is centered on delivering thoroughly researched, accurate, and unbiased content. We uphold strict sourcing standards, and each page undergoes diligent review by our team of top technology experts and seasoned editors. This process ensures the integrity, relevance, and value of our content for our readers.

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Bitcoin Defi Security improves as Lutstock increases hashrate share https://earlybirdsinvest.com/bitcoin-defi-security-improves-as-lutstock-increases-hashrate-share/ https://earlybirdsinvest.com/bitcoin-defi-security-improves-as-lutstock-increases-hashrate-share/#respond Sun, 11 May 2025 18:05:08 +0000 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/bitcoin-defi-security-improves-as-lutstock-increases-hashrate-share/

The decentralized finance (defi) of the Bitcoin blockchain may be still in its early stages compared to Ethereum, but Bitcoin defi (BTCFi) is becoming safer and cheaper.

The central participants are rootstock, one of the oldest Bitcoin Layer 2 projects, Crypto Analytics company Messari said in a “Lutstock of Lootstock” report released Thursday.

The rootstock is currently protected at 81% of the total hashrate of Bitcoin. That is, miners with hashrate approved tier 2 trades were 56% before onboarding Foundry and Spiderpool, the world’s largest and sixth largest mine pool, in February.

Messari also observed that transaction fees on rootstocks are 95% cheaper than average Bitcoin transactions and 55% cheaper than Ethereum transactions.

Rootstock is one of many projects that aim to bring greater utility to Bitcoin by expanding Defi’s regulations using smart contracts enabled in ‘BITVMX’, a modified version of the BITVM programming language. Other notable Bitcoin Layer 2 projects include Stack and Bob (“Bitcoin Build”).

The project also connects to the bridging protocol Layerzero, allowing Rowstock-Native applications to connect with dozens of other blockchains, including Ethereum and Solana. According to Messari, that momentum will set the stage for the expansion of BTCFI adoption for the remainder of 2025.

“As BTCFI continues to grow, Rootstock is suitable for wider adoption through core upgrades such as a 60% reduction in transaction fees, along with sustained investments in builder education and incentive programs.”

Read more: Bitcoin’s role in defi is “unexplored opportunities,” says Binance Research

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Bitcoin hashrate hits record 972 EH/s as US miners capture 30% of market https://earlybirdsinvest.com/bitcoin-hashrate-hits-record-972-eh-s-as-us-miners-capture-30-of-market/ https://earlybirdsinvest.com/bitcoin-hashrate-hits-record-972-eh-s-as-us-miners-capture-30-of-market/#respond Fri, 04 Apr 2025 00:58:17 +0000 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/bitcoin-hashrate-hits-record-972-eh-s-as-us-miners-capture-30-of-market/

Bitcoin’s network activity is climbing to new heights, even as its price struggles to maintain upward momentum.

The blockchain’s hashrate, an indicator of the total computing power dedicated to mining, has now hit a historic milestone of 972 exahashes per second (EH/s), according to data from Cloverpool.

Bitcoin Hashrate
Bitcoin Hashrate (Source: CloverPool)

The surge in hashrate signals a growing commitment from miners, who continue to invest in infrastructure despite unfavorable market conditions. The increase also highlights the network’s enhanced security and resilience, driven by a competitive mining environment.

Meanwhile, publicly traded mining companies in the United States are gaining a stronger foothold in the global mining landscape.

VanEck’s head of research, Mathew Sigel, shared data showing that US-listed miners now account for 30% of Bitcoin’s total hashrate, an all-time high. Since the last halving event, these firms have collectively boosted their market share by 800 basis points, reflecting increased capital allocation and operational scale.

US Bitcoin Miners
US Bitcoin Miners (Source: X/ Mathew Sigel)

However, the growth in mining power hasn’t translated into higher profits for miners.

Pierre Rochard, former Vice President of Research at Riot Platforms, pointed out that the marginal revenue per megawatt-hour (MWh) for the most efficient mining rigs has dropped from around $200 to $150 this year.

Bitcoin Mining Rigs Revenue
Bitcoin Mining Rigs Revenue (Source: X/Pierre Rochard)

The decline stems from two major factors, including Bitcoin’s falling price and increased network competition, which are cutting into miners’ bottom lines.

In the past 30 days, Bitcoin has lost around 10% of its value, falling to roughly $81,000, based on data from CryptoSlate. The shrinking profit margins suggest that only miners with access to low-cost energy and efficient operations will remain competitive in the current climate.

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How are hashrate derivatives compared to bitcoin mining stocks? https://earlybirdsinvest.com/how-are-hashrate-derivatives-compared-to-bitcoin-mining-stocks/ https://earlybirdsinvest.com/how-are-hashrate-derivatives-compared-to-bitcoin-mining-stocks/#respond Sat, 15 Mar 2025 23:16:27 +0000 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/how-are-hashrate-derivatives-compared-to-bitcoin-mining-stocks/

How are hashrate derivatives compared to bitcoin mining stocks?

Bitcoin mining stocks faced a significant decline in early 2025, with companies like Bitdeer, Cipher Mining and Hut 8 losing more than 30% of their value due to a decline in Bitcoin prices and an 80% surge in network hashrates. Increased net losses, reduced Bitcoin block rewards, delayed alternative revenue streams such as high-performance computing (HPC), and macroeconomic uncertainty further weakens enthusiasm for equity mining, making investors seek alternatives like hashrate derivatives. Hash-rate futures, tokenized swaps, hedge the price fluctuations of Bitcoin and mining difficulties, tokenizing miners and institutional investors to provide financial stability.

Bitcoin Miners hit hard in the first few months of 2025

Bitcoin mining stocks have been under heavy pressure this year, with many companies valuing sharply falling amid declining prices for Bitcoin and increasing network competition. With Bitcoin falling below $90,000, mining stocks followed, with some companies losing more than 30% of their value in a few weeks. Key players such as Bitdeer, Cipher Mining and Hut 8 suffered heavy losses, reflecting both a wider market slump and a company-specific struggle. Investors are wary of the sector as financial reports show an increase in net losses, with some companies reporting hundreds of millions of losses. Despite mining companies expanding their operations and investing in more efficient hardware, the rapid growth of global Bitcoin hashrates has made it difficult to maintain profitability and reduce margins and investor confidence.

Bitcoin mining hashrate refers to the computational power used by ASIC miners to process transactions and protect the network. Measures the number of cryptographic calculations (hash) that a miner or mining network can perform every second. It is usually expressed as terrahash (TH/s) or exahash (EH/s) per second. The higher the hashrate, the better you are likely to solve blocks and earn Bitcoin rewards, but it also means more competition and energy expenditure. The overall network hashrate is dynamically adjusted, affecting the difficulty of mining and affecting the profitability of individual miners. This metric is important for assessing the efficiency and security of the Bitcoin blockchain.

The main factor that contributes to the decline in mining stock valuations is the surge in Bitcoin’s network hashrate, which has increased by 80%, making it even more difficult for miners to maintain revenue levels. As competition intensifies, the costs to secure Bitcoin rewards rise, and even the largest mining companies are narrowing down profit margins. While many companies have tried to offset this challenge by ensuring lower electricity costs and diversifying revenue streams, these efforts have yet to fully reassure investors. Furthermore, delays in high-performance computing (HPC) transactions, which some mining companies hoped to provide alternative revenue streams, further undermines enthusiasm for the sector. Combined with ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty and regulatory risk, mining inventory has slowed the performance of Bitcoin itself, annoying investors who wanted a higher return.

Given the volatility and financial instability of publicly available Bitcoin mining companies, some investors are turning to alternative ways to gain exposure to the mining sector. One new approach is through hashrate derivatives. This allows market participants to infer the profitability of Bitcoin mining without investing directly in mining stocks. Hashrate futures, for example, are contracts that allow investors to hedge changes in Bitcoin’s network difficulty, trading fees, and overall mining profitability. Unlike mining inventory, which is subject to corporate-specific risks such as administrative decisions and operational inefficiencies, hashrate futures provide a more direct way to capture trends in Bitcoin mining economics. This financial instrument has gained traction as a potential hedge against the uncertainty surrounding publicly traded mining companies.

While Bitcoin mining stocks continue to be a popular investment vehicle, their recent struggles underscore the challenge of relying on traditional stock markets to gain exposure to the mining sector. The increased appeal of hashrate derivatives suggests that more investors are looking for alternative strategies that provide flexibility and risk management in the face of mining volatility. As competition between Bitcoin miners continues to grow and regulatory uncertainty persists, investors may find hashrate-based financial products a more efficient way to navigate the complex landscape of Bitcoin mining. While it remains uncertain whether mining stocks will recover in the long term, for now hashrate derivatives offer exciting and compelling alternatives for those looking to invest in Bitcoin mining.

What types of hashrate derivatives can investors take advantage of?

Bitcoin Mining Hashrate Derivatives provide a way for miners, traders and institutional investors to hedge the difficulties of mining, electricity costs, and fluctuations in Bitcoin price volatility. These financial products allow market participants to experience Bitcoin mining economics without directly manipulating mining hardware. The most common forms of hashrate derivatives include hashrate futures and hashrate swaps, each serving a different hedging and speculative purpose.

Hashrate futures work in the same way as commodity futures contracts, allowing traders to buy and sell certain amounts of hashrates at a given price on future dates. These contracts will help miners lock in future revenues and protect them from declining profitability mining due to rising network difficulty and lower Bitcoin prices. Institutional investors can also use hashrate futures to speculate on the profitability trends of Bitcoin mining.

Hashrate swaps act as an over-the-counter (OTC) agreement between two parties. One party agrees to pay a fixed price for a certain amount of hashrate, and the other pays a floating rate based on actual mining performance. These contracts are particularly useful for mining companies seeking to stabilize their revenues by transferring risk to counterparties that are willing to be exposed to fluctuating hashrate values. Hashrate swaps consist of a variety of time frames that allow miners and investors to provide flexibility in managing their risk profiles.

Another method is to expose it to hashrate derivatives. BlockStream’s Mining Notes (BMNs) are hashrate collateral security tokens and act as a structured financial product related to Bitcoin mining performance. Specifically, it is a tokenized mining derivative that allows investors to be exposed to Bitcoin mining without owning or operating a physical mining infrastructure.

Each BMN token represents a fixed amount of petahash per mining power from Blockstream’s enterprise-grade mining facilities. Investors will receive returns in the form of Bitcoin mined by the hashrate allocated during the investment period. This product is fully regulated and offers an alternative to Bitcoin mining investments by providing fixed period exposure to mining rewards.

Unlike traditional hashrate futures and swaps that are often used in hedging, BMN is a yield generation security token designed for long-term investments. It provides exposure to Bitcoin’s mining economics, including network difficulty, Bitcoin price movement, and revenue from trading fees, making it a direct alternative to Bitcoin purchases or traditional mining stocks.

View past performances of Blockstream Mining Notes

BMN demonstrated strong returns for investors by direct exposure to Bitcoin mining without the operational risks and volatility associated with publicly published mining stocks. Unlike traditional mining investments, BMN holders receive direct returns in Bitcoin, avoiding stock market fluctuations and the complexity of corporate financial management. BMN distributed 1,200 BTC to investors over a three-year term, generating around 103% returns, outperforming both Bitcoin price rise and major mining stocks. This model allowed investors to take advantage of mining rewards without concern about mismanagement of the company or stock price fluctuations.

A key advantage of BMN was its structure as an iconic security. This was to grant investors a fixed share of mining hashrates without managing hardware or operational logistics. This approach eliminates the need for expensive infrastructure and provides a hedge against rising hashrates while making mining investments more accessible. Furthermore, BMN’s trading ability in secondary markets such as Bitfinex Securities ensures investor liquidity, allowing them to buy and sell positions more flexibly than traditional mining stocks. In contrast, publicly traded mining companies are subject to wider market sentiment and regulatory pressures, which can lead to a sudden decline in inventory values ​​that are unrelated to actual mining performance.

Beyond financial performance, Blockstream’s mining notes represent new ways to join the Bitcoin work demonstration ecosystem. By building mining exposures through regulated security, BMN bridges the gap between institutional investors and Bitcoin’s decentralized mining network. This model enhances accessibility for investors who may not have the technical expertise or capital necessary to operate the mining operation on its own. Additionally, BMN’s Blockstream’s reliance on energy-efficient mining facilities ensures cost-effective operation and reduces the impact of rising electricity costs that have negatively affected traditional mining companies.

As Bitcoin mining continues to evolve, structured investment vehicles like BMNs are becoming an attractive alternative to direct mining or equity-based investments. The ability to receive Bitcoin payments while avoiding the position of operational complexity as a future idea solution for those seeking exposure to Bitcoin mining without the risks associated with managing physical infrastructure. BlockStream’s track record at Bitcoin Infrastructure allows BMN to provide investors with a transparent and efficient way to gain exposure to Bitcoin mining, potentially setting new standards for investing in the sector.

]]> https://earlybirdsinvest.com/how-are-hashrate-derivatives-compared-to-bitcoin-mining-stocks/feed/ 0 25354 Bitcoin Miner Optimism Returns: Hashrate Jumps 8% From Crash Lows https://earlybirdsinvest.com/bitcoin-miner-optimism-returns-hashrate-jumps-8-from-crash-lows/ https://earlybirdsinvest.com/bitcoin-miner-optimism-returns-hashrate-jumps-8-from-crash-lows/#respond Thu, 06 Mar 2025 22:11:17 +0000 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/bitcoin-miner-optimism-returns-hashrate-jumps-8-from-crash-lows/

On-chain data shows the Bitcoin Hashrate has made some notable recovery recently, a sign that optimism may be returning among the miners.

Bitcoin Hashrate Has Been Recovering From The Crash

The “Hashrate” is a metric that keeps track of the total amount of computing power that the miners as a whole have connected to the Bitcoin network. Its value is measured in terms of hashes per second (H/s), or the larger and more practical terahashes per second (TH/s).

This indicator is useful for discerning the sentiment that’s present among the chain validators. When its value goes up, it means miners are finding BTC mining attractive, so they are expanding their facilities. On the other hand, it observing a decline implies some of the miners have decided to disconnect from the network, potentially because they can’t break even anymore.

Now, here is a chart from Blockchain.com that shows the trend in the 7-day average value of the Hashrate over the past year:

Bitcoin Hashrate

Looks like the value of the metric has been sharply going up in recent days | Source: Blockchain.com

As displayed in the above graph, the Bitcoin Hashrate witnessed a huge crash near the end of February that took its value from around 835,900 TH/s to 744,500 TH/s. The mass exit from the miners may have been a result of the bearish price action that the cryptocurrency was going through then.

Miners earn the major part of their revenue through the block subsidy, a fixed BTC reward that they receive for solving blocks on the network. The rate at which they obtain this compensation is nearly constant, so the only way the miners’ revenue as a whole can change is when the price of the asset itself fluctuates.

As such, the movements in the Hashrate can often follow the cryptocurrency’s price. This may have been what was happening during the crash in the metric earlier.

After the Hashrate reached its bottom, it turned around and started moving up in a sharp manner. Interestingly, this low point came ahead of the one in the Bitcoin price and the volatility that the asset has been going through since then hasn’t been able to halt the indicator’s growth, either.

Whenever the metric deviates from the BTC spot value, it can be an indication of where the miners think the coin would head next. Considering that the metric is continuing to rise despite BTC being up and down recently, it would seem this cohort is bullish about the asset at the moment.

It only remains to be seen, though, whether this advance bet from the Bitcoin miners would work out, or if they will be forced to cut back on their machines.

BTC Price

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is floating around $88,500, up more than 4% over the last seven days.

Bitcoin Price Chart

The price of the coin seems to have overall been moving sideways recently | Source: BTCUSDT on TradingView

Featured image from Dall-E, Blockchain.com, chart from TradingView.com

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