Overview:
- Bitcoin miner revenue
- Miner revenue in USD/TH
- Public miner stocks
Miner revenue
Lower Bitcoin prices continue to cause headaches for miners, with monthly miner revenue barely exceeding $1 billion during the shortest month of the year.
- Block subsidies constituted about 99% of hash-based revenue as transaction fees continue to stay low.
- Revenue skirted above June lows, the month of China’s Bitcoin mining ban, while hashrate continues to climb.
Bitcoin mining fees
Significant fee revenues continue to elude Bitcoin miners. Spikes in fees usually come during bull runs when retail buyers enter the industry. February was no different than prior months, as retail has more or less left the game and mining becomes more and more competitive.
Difficulty and USD/TH
Two difficult adjustments upward – 0.1% on Feb. 4 and 5% on Feb. 17 – dropped hashprice a modest $0.02 over the past 28 days, from $0.21 to $0.19.
Indeed, difficulty may be rising, but an increase in Bitcoin’s price seems to be tempering potential revenue losses. While the value of one dollar per terrahash (USD/TH) lowered some 53% from $0.45 to $0.21, the fall in per-hash price isn't as dramatic as it would have been had Bitcoin not seen a meteoric price rise last year.
Read: The base effects of revenue per hash
Mining stocks
Mining stocks started off February with a bang rising from a local bottom but experienced volatility as the month dragged on. Overall, Bitcoin has consistently outperformed the top mining stocks over the past three months, down only 25%. DMG Solutions came in second place after Bitcoin, down 44%.
Although miners perhaps find themselves in a bear market, hashrate continues to climb regardless of price action. Miners plug in new units, minting Bitcoin while a delta exists between the market price and mining cost.
