The next Bitcoin BTC -0.17% (BTC) halving will take place in April 2024 and could push miners profits into the red. HashrateIndex cryptocurrency mining analyst Jaran Mellerud said that nearly half of Bitcoin miners are not operating at optimal levels of efficiency.
Therefore, these miners are likely to be stuck after the next halving. The breakeven electricity price for the most common miners after the halving is expected to drop from $0.12/kWh to $0.06/kWh.
However, about 40% of BTC miners have an operating cost per kWh higher than $0.06/kWh. Therefore, miners with operating costs above $0.08/kWh and those without mining rigs may be severely affected by the halving.
Wolfie Zhu, director of research at The Miner Mag, the research arm of mining consultancy Blocks Bridge, said that when everything is factored in, the total cost for some miners is much higher than Bitcoin’s current price. For many miners operating less efficiently, net profits will turn negative.
Ethan Vera, chief operating officer at Luxor Technologies, estimates that the global mining industry’s debt has been reduced from $8 billion in 2022 to around $4.5 billion to $6 billion today.
