Fears of a “capitulation” occurrence among BTC miners if spot prices fall continue to be discussed.
Only the May plunge below $24,000, however, elicited a response from the mining sector. Many Bitcoin miners have now been forced to sell their holdings in order to stay afloat as the crypto market continues to slog through the mud. Bitcoin mining, which was once a profitable business, has lost its allure in the previous seven months, especially as the cryptocurrency continues to stall about the $30,000 mark, less than half of its all-time high of $69,000.
BTC Mining Prices Soaring
Riot Blockchain, a Bitcoin mining company, is one of the biggest off-loaders, having sold 250 BTC for $10 million in April 2022.
The corporation had been stockpiling Bitcoin in the hopes that rising prices would make the hoard extremely valuable. While “raw” expenses for miners in North America, which has the lion’s share of hashing power, might be approximately $22,000 per BTC, extra charges could push the total to above $30,000.
The present bear run, on the other hand, has had the exact opposite impact. Riot is now constructing a brand new 1-gigawatt mining plant in Texas, and the timing could not be more inconvenient.
Bitcoin has dropped 12.7 percent in the previous month alone, and 33.8 percent since the start of 2022, prompting even small-scale miners to shut down their operations. Apart from Bitcoin pricing, the profitability of mining operations is also determined by the mining rig employed. Machines that are newer and more efficient utilize less energy and execute transactions much quicker, rendering them more productive and lucrative.
According to Bitcoinist, near the end of the bull run in November 2021, the Bitmain Antminer S19 used to have a cash flow of $50,000 per BTC. However, with the price of Bitcoin staying around $31,000, that has reduced to $23,000.