A new report from CoinShares outlines key data on the Bitcoin (BTC) mining economy as it continues to evolve following the 2024 halving and the rise in hashrate.
According to data from CoinShares, the average weighted monetary cost of mining Bitcoin among publicly traded mining companies has increased sharply by 47%, from $55,950 in Q3 2024 to about $82,162 in Q4. Excluding the oddball Hut 8, the average cost was slightly lower at $75,767, which still represents a significant 35% increase from last quarter.
When non-cash expenses such as depreciation and stock-based compensation are taken into account, the overall average cost has risen to $137,018 per bitcoin, significantly higher than the current market price of bitcoin, around $95,000. However, many miners have managed to maintain profitability thanks to rising bitcoin prices and strategic efficiency measures.
The Bitcoin network hashrate accelerated significantly in Q4, reaching an all-time high of 900 exahashes per second (Eh/s), surpassing CoinShares' previous estimate of 765 Eh/s. The company now expects the network to reach the symbolic milestone of 1 zettahash per second (Zh/s) as early as July 2025 and grow to 2.0 Zh/s by early 2027.
This exponential growth was driven by a combination of favorable political events and a significant rise in the price of Bitcoin, which prompted miners to quickly deploy new equipment.
However, CoinShares notes a shift in investor sentiment: valuation multiples among mining companies have narrowed, indicating that Bitcoin mining is increasingly perceived as a zero-revenue business, where one miner’s profit is another miner’s loss. As a result, many companies are looking to new opportunities in data center infrastructure and high-performance computing (HPC) hosting to diversify their revenue sources.
While most miners are seeing rising production costs, CleanSpark, Iren, and Cormint have been able to buck the trend, reducing their cost to generate revenue per bitcoin by 8%, 39%, and 44%, respectively.
A notable exception was Hut 8, which reported a high tax expense of $281,000 per bitcoin, due in part to a $93 million deferred tax liability arising from unrealized gains on its bitcoin holdings. Additional financial burdens were caused by interest expenses related to Coatue’s $150 million convertible note and increased borrowing from a Coinbase line of credit.
*This is not investment advice.
Source: cryptonews.net
