Lawrence Damilola
Bitcoin miners recorded their lowest revenue month of 2024 in August, facing a significant drop in earnings compared to the previous month.
Data from The Block shows that miners generated $851.36 million from subsidies and fees in August, which is $99.75 million less than the revenue recorded in July. Of this total, $20.76 million came from on-chain fees, marking a decline of $4.14 million compared to the fees collected in July. August’s revenue figures are the lowest since September 2023.
At that time, Bitcoin was trading at around $25,000. Since then, Bitcoin’s price has more than doubled, reaching approximately $57,500 at the time of the report. The number of blocks mined in August was 4,289, between block heights 855,014 and 859,303.
The decline in mining revenue has been noted as directly proportional to falling transaction volumes, impacting the total fees miners collect.
Foundry USA and Antpool emerged as the leading mining pools in August, with Foundry USA accounting for 29.10% of the total blocks mined and Antpool for 25.04%. Together, these two mining pools generated more than half of the total revenue earned by miners in August. These pools benefited from their computational power, securing many high-fee blocks during the month.
The halving in April resulted in increased mining difficulty, affecting the profitability of various mining firms. Stocks of companies such as Marathon Digital Holdings, Riot Blockchain, and CleanSpark experienced declines in response to these economic pressures. This period has been particularly challenging for miners as they adjust to the post-halving landscape with lower rewards and higher operational difficulties.
“During the second quarter of 2024, our BTC production was impacted by unexpected equipment failures and transmission line maintenance at the Ellendale site operated by Applied Digital, increased global hash rate, and the April halving event,” said Fred Thiel, CEO of publicly traded miner Marathon Digital Holdings. In the second quarter, the company reported earnings of $145.1 million, falling short of the FactSet projection of $157.9 million.
Faced with these hurdles, various miners are looking for different ways to generate income. Cindy Feng, the creator of BitcoinMiningStock.io, a data analytics platform for publicly traded Bitcoin mining companies, revealed that many are turning towards backing resource-demanding artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) as a primary strategy.
Feng noted that a handful of miners are leading the way in adopting HPC and AI hosting. Among them, Core Scientific (CORZ), Iris Energy (IREN), and Bit Digital (BTBT) have garnered significant attention. Meanwhile, companies such as Hut 8 (HUT), TeraWulf (WULF), and Bitdeer (BTDR) have maintained a lower profile in this area.
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Lawrence does not hold any crypto asset. This article is provided for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial advice. The Shib Magazine and The Shib Daily are the official media and publications of the Shiba Inu cryptocurrency project. Readers are encouraged to conduct their own research and consult with a qualified financial adviser before making any investment decisions.
