Bitcoin miners have had a tough year as the network’s mining difficulty has reached an all-time high and the spot market price of bitcoin has fallen below the cost of production. Currently, with electricity costing $0.07 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), only 18 application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) bitcoin miners are profitable at current prices.
Current SHA256 ASIC Models are not profitable at $0.12 per kWh, only two devices are profitable at $0.10 per kWh
As of December 31, 2022, statistics show that bitcoin’s hash rate is rising above the 300 exahashes per second (EH/s) range after hitting a low of 235 EH/s on December 30. Furthermore, data from macromicro.me shows that the current production value ($16,577) is almost equal to the current spot market value of bitcoin ($16,572).
Currently, according to macromicro.me, the cost of producing BTC is roughly equal to the current spot market value.
Macromicro.me calculates the cost of production by “observing electricity consumption and daily bitcoin issuance as provided by the University of Cambridge.” The Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI) shows the annual consumption of BTC on December 31, 2022, at 84.74 terawatt hours (TWh). With a current mining difficulty of 35.36 trillion and current BTC prices at $16,572 per unit, a large number of ASIC miners are not profitable.
As of writing on December 31, 2022, Bitmain’s Antminer S19 XP Hyd. is the most profitable bitcoin mining rig. The machine produces 255 terahas per second (TH/s) and costs $0.08 per kWh S19 XP Hyd. can earn about $5.74 per day.
For example, at $0.12/kWh, none of the current SHA256 ASIC models are cost-effective at this rate of electricity costs. Two ASIC devices at $0.10/kWh are profitable and can generate $1.14-$2.51 per day. The top two machines that can still earn $0.10/kWh include Bitmain’s Antminer S19 XP Hyd. 255 terahash per second (TH/s) and 140 TH/s with Bitmain’s Antminer S19 XP.
18 ASIC Mining Rigs Profit $0.07 per kWh, Alternative Consensus Algorithms Profit Better
At $0.08/kWh, 13 different ASIC bitcoin miners can make between $0.13 and $5.08 per day. The least profitable machine at $0.08 per KWh is Bitmain’s Antminer S19j Pro with 100 TH/s. At $0.07/kWh, five more machines are added to the list of profitable machines, making a total of 18 ASIC rigs profitable.
At $0.07 per kWh, a bitcoin miner can earn anywhere from $0.23 to $6.35 per day, depending on the machine used. Bitmain’s Antminer S19 XP Hyd. 255 TH/s in electricity costs, and at $0.07 per kWh, it will make an estimated profit of about $6.35 per 24 hours.
Although SHA256 bitcoin mining machines are seeing lower profits than they were six months ago, machines that mine alternative consensus algorithms are seeing better returns. Today, the top three consensus algorithms in terms of profit include Kadena, Eaglesong, Scrypt and Handshake.
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Antminer, ASIC devices, Bitcoin, Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Miners, Bitcoin mining, bitcoin mining machines, Bitmain, BTC Mining, Production cost, December 2022, Electricity, Macromicro.me stats, bitcoin mining, Mining operations, mining rigs, Production costs, profit, S19 XP, S19 XP Hyd., SHA256 ASIC models, Spot Market Value
What do you think about the challenges faced by bitcoin miners this year? Do you foresee conditions improving in 2023? Share your perspective in the comment section below.
Jamie Redman
Jamie Redman is Head of News at Bitcoin.com News and a fintech journalist based in Florida. Redman has been an active member of the cryptocurrency community since 2011. He is passionate about Bitcoin, open source code and decentralized applications. Since September 2015, Redman has written more than 6,000 articles for Bitcoin.com News about disruptive protocols emerging today.
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