Hashrate Index Roundup (April 1, 2024)

Happy Monday, y'all!

The Fourth Bitcoin Halving is approximately 18 days away (or exactly 2,686 blocks), and no fooling, things aren't looking too terrible for Bitcoin miners.

Bitcoin's hashrate growth over the past month hasn't been too extreme, only rising 2% on the 7-day average and 4% on the 30-day average. In fact, last difficulty period, hashrate contracted enough to gift miners with a 0.98% difficulty decrease. This was the third difficulty decrease of 2024 out of seven total difficulty adjustments.

With hashrate relatively muted and difficulty off its all-time high, the mining gods are smiling on Bitcoin miners during this final stretch before the Fourth Halving. Hashprice is currently $108.6/PH/day, so if the Halving occurred today, it would drop to $54.3/PH/day. At this hypothetical level, the breakeven power cost for some of the more popular Bitcoin mining ASIC models would be as follows:

• S21: $0.13/kWh
• M60S: $0.12/kWh
• M50S++: $0.10/kWh
• S19 XP: $0.10/kWh
• S19j Pro: $0.075/kWh
• M30S+: $0.067/kWh

Hashprice has held up remarkably well ahead of the Fourth Halving, and if Bitcoin's price continues to run in the coming month(s), it will continue to do so.

In fact, hashprice has held up so well, that it's conceivable that very little hashrate will come offline following the Halving. As we cover in our 2024 Bitcoin Halving report, we anticipate a 3-7% drop in hashrate immediately following the Fourth Halving, assuming that Bitcoin's price holds its current level or appreciates gradually from here. For comparison, hashrate reduced by 15%, 5%, and 13% in the immediate aftermaths of the 2020, 2016, and 2012 Halvings, respectively.

There's a decent chance that we could see less hashrate come offline this Halving than any of the prior Halvings – but time will soon tell.

Sponsored by Luxor RFQ

The Antminer S21 is here, and Luxor's ASIC Trading Desk is accepting orders for this model right now! If you'd like to place a preorder for the Antminer S21, please fill out this form. Secure your order for Bitmain's most efficient and powerful ASIC miner today!

Bitcoin Mining Market Update

Mostly red across the board for our mining update this week. Transaction fees receded once again, along with ASIC prices as miners and ASIC traders continue to reprice hardware in anticipation of the Halving.

Bitcoin Mining News

Here are last week's top headlines for Bitcoin mining news:

• BITMAIN LAUNCHES ANTMINER S21 PRO, ITS MOST ADVANCED BITCOIN MINER
• The Bitcoin halving is just weeks away — here’s how miners have prepared
• Bitcoin ‘Halving’ Spurs Exodus of Old US Mining Computers Abroad
• How Bitcoin Mining Has Changed Since the Last Halving
• Bitcoin Miner Arkon Energy Plans Public Listing in Amsterdam Through Merger With Shell Company

Bitcoin Mining Stocks Update

It's a mixed bag this week for Bitcoin mining stocks, with a handful of equities up double digits, some up only slightly, some down slightly, and some down significantly. Our benchmark Crypto Mining Stock Index fell 3.1% over the week.

Weekly changes to Bitcoin mining stocks:

• RIOT: $11.47 (-1.04%)
• HUT: $10.82 (+22.81%)
• BITF: $2.26 (-1.09%)
• HIVE: $3.35 (+8.06%)
• MARA: $21.62 (+1.80%)
• CLSK: $18.58 (-7.79%)
• IREN: $6.47 (+25.88%)
• CORZ: $3.53 (+1.44%)
• WULF: $2.43 (-4.71%)
• CIFR: $4.88 (+1.46%)
• BTDR: $6.96 (-4.00%)
• SDIG: $3.90 (-9.09%)

New From Hashrate Index

2024 Bitcoin Halving Predictions and Implications

The Halving is one of the many attributes that makes Bitcoin truly unique in the realm of financial assets. No other major commodity has a completely calculable production schedule with a foreknown supply shock event that cuts the commodity’s production in half.

The 2020 Halving left an indelible mark on the Bitcoin mining sector, and the 2024 Halving will no doubt similarly effect significant changes. To address the potential impacts of the event, we’ve drafted a report to examine how the Halving will impact core Bitcoin mining metrics like hashrate, difficulty, and hashprice, as well as aspects of the Bitcoin mining business like ASIC prices, hosting rates, and other considerations. You can download the report in the blog post linked above.

Happy Hashing, and have a great week!