Bitcoin’s hashrate as recovered nearly 25% in the path month or so as miners evicted from China are starting to plug in their machines again and the surge in miner profitability is attracting more miners to compete for block rewards.
- As of Tuesday, hashrate has rebounded to roughly 110 EH.
- Hashrate is still down nearly 20% from where it started the year.
Hashrate dropped to below 60 EH the last week of June, according to data from Coin Metrics. Of course, hashrate is only an estimated metric, but the network’s combined hashing power spent several days in the range of 70-80 EH as it dropped then started to recover.
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As miners pour across borders of countries around the world – from Kazakhstan to the US – hashrate is slowing coming back online for any miners lucky enough to find available rack space. Given that many large-scale miners are in the process of building new facilities, a surge in new and available facility space should come to the market toward the end of 2021 and into early 2022. This will significantly boost hashrate’s recovery.
Thanks to Chinese miners forcibly unplugging their ASICs, profitability for miners with machines still online has soared. Hashprice – a measure of revenue per terahash per day – has almost rebounded back to its yearly highs around $0.40.
Curiously, as Bitcoin’s hashrate has started to recover, Ethereum’s hashrate has followed suit, regaining nearly as much ground on a percentage basis as Bitcoin.
Jason Les, CEO of Riot Blockchain, and Fred Thiel, CEO of Marathon Digital, explained the surge in North American mining activity during the past couple of years in a recent Compass livestream.
The crackdown on mining by China has forced many Asian miners to find new homes in the US as American miners work to develop hosting space sufficient to meet the surge in demand.
How long until Bitcoin’s hashrate fully recovers is an open question. Still nearly 40% off its highs, full hashrate recover could still be a long way off, leaving current hashrate to enjoy a prolonged era of unusual profitability.
