Bitcoin
BTC$107,709.17
Miners are facing pressure as network hashrates and difficulties continue to rise, and despite the stable price of Bitcoin, miners are facing pressure as they tighten their margins, according to the monthly report from Theminermag.
The difficulty of network mining reached a record of 126.98 trillion driven by an exasahash (EH/S) per 913.54 seconds, with an average hash rate over the course of 14 days. Transaction fees in June fell below 1% of block’s compensation, with Hashpris falling to $52 per PH/s before a slight rebound.
The escalation of competition and energy costs is expected to exceed $70,000 per BTC, up from $64,000 in the first quarter of the year.
Public miners like Mara Holdings (Mara), Cleanspark (CLSK), Riot Platforms (Riot) and Iren (Iren) are accelerating their build-outs to stay competitive. Mala increased its hashrate by 30% in May, but the Hive (Hive) added 32% after revitalizing its new facility in Paraguay. Cipher Mining (CIFR) is targeting a 70% increase by expanding its Texas business.
The report says top tier ASICs currently cost between $10 and $30 per Terrahashus, with a widening payback period for operations for two years. This assumes an electric speed of $0.06. For example, Terawulf paid 0.081/kWh in the first quarter, boosting fleet hash costs by more than 25%.
Mining equity, on the other hand, is separated from Bitcoin’s price performance. Iren, Core Scientific (Corz) and Bit Digital (BTBD) all went green last month, while Canaan (CAN) and BitFarms (BITF) both fell double digits over the same period.
This shift suggests that investors are paying close attention to their business models rather than their price action.