Bitcoin miners have faced significant underpayment since mid-June, according to metrics from cryptoquant.com. As of now, the estimated value of 1 petahash per second (PH/s) of hashrate remains notably low at $47.79 per PH/s. Despite the revenue decline, Bitcoin’s hashrate is still just under the 600 exahash per second (EH/s) mark.
Bitcoin Miners’ Earnings Plummet; Difficulty Retarget Increase Still Expected
Currently, bitcoin miners are struggling, and data from cryptoquant.com indicate that they have been “extremely underpaid” since June 16, 2024. The most challenging day for miners was July 6, with Luxor’s Hashprice Index showing the estimated value of 1 PH/s dipping to around $44 per PH/s between July 3 and July 7.
Since then, the hashprice has risen approximately 9%, nearing $48 per PH/s. This revenue loss impacted the overall hashrate, which fell to 560 EH/s on June 29. However, according to the seven-day simple moving average (SMA), the total hashrate has since increased to 584 EH/s. The earlier decline led to longer block intervals, resulting in three consecutive difficulty reductions.
Nevertheless, the difficulty retarget expected on July 18, 2024, is likely to increase by 1 to 2%, based on current estimates, though this could change with five days remaining. With nearly half of July over, bitcoin miners’ revenue this month is comparatively low. So far, miners have earned $332.98 million, and if this pace continues, July could be one of the worst months this year.