Bitcoin’s hash price — the estimated profit made from working 1 petahash per second (PH/s) of mining power — has fallen from $53.13 per petahash to a current $49.81 over the past seven days. At the same time, Bitcoin’s total hash rate has increased significantly since its low on February 25, adding over 41 exahashes per second (EH/s) to reach a current level of between 794 and 796 EH/s.
March could be a tough month for Bitcoin miners as revenues decline
Bitcoin miners earned $1.24 billion in February, down from $1.4 billion in January. In the first week of the month, miners earned $250.75 million, including $2.97 million earned directly from blockchain transaction fees. By comparison, 30 days ago, Bitcoin's hash rate was $56.73 per PH/s, up significantly from today's more modest $49.81.
Current data suggests that March may not be as good as the previous two months unless things improve. However, there is some positive news on the hashrate front, with mining power increasing by an impressive 5.44% from a recent low of 753 EH/s to a more stable 794 EH/s. Mining pool giant Foundry leads the overall hashrate with a 31.43% share, while Antpool holds a significant 17.44%.
Viabtc is firmly in third place with 13.99%, giving these three pools a combined control of 62.86% of the total Bitcoin supply of 794 EH/s. The outlook for Bitcoin miners is currently not looking too bright as they brace for a potential difficulty increase of around 1.29% on or around March 9th.
Blocks are currently being generated at lightning speed, averaging around 9 minutes and 52 seconds each. Meanwhile, users looking to speed up their transactions with a high-priority transfer face fees averaging 3 satoshi per virtual byte (sat/vB), which works out to around $0.36 per transaction. Given the current situation, Bitcoin miners are likely to see their margins shrink unless there is a significant change in the market or transaction demand.
With pool control consolidating and mining costs increasing, pressure on profitability may prompt strategic changes. Ultimately, the industry’s immediate future depends on balancing increasing network difficulty with maintaining efficient mining operations in the face of fluctuating revenues. And hopefully, Bitcoin’s market value will improve.
Source: cryptonews.net
