Bitcoin miners are under mounting pressure as the spot price fails to cover production costs. Bitcoin (BTC) is trading around $71,100 — roughly 20% below Checkonchain’s estimate of the industry’s average all‑in cost to mine one BTC at about $87,000. Checkonchain’s model uses network difficulty (a measure of how hard it is to mine new blocks) linked to market capitalization to estimate miners’ average production costs. Historically, bitcoin has traded below its production cost during bear cycles (notably in 2019 and 2022) before gradually closing the gap. The network’s hash rate underscores the industry shakeout. Hash rate peaked near 1.1 zettahashes per second (≈1,100 EH/s) in October, then dropped roughly 20% as less‑efficient miners were forced offline. It has since recovered to about 913 EH/s, suggesting some stabilization but still below the prior peak. Many miners remain unprofitable at current prices. With revenues falling short of operating expenses, firms are increasingly selling bitcoin reserves to fund day‑to‑day operations, cover energy bills, and service debt — a pattern often described as miner capitulation. That selling pressure is an additional weight on the market and highlights ongoing financial stress across the BTC mining sector. Key things to watch going forward: the gap between spot price and estimated production cost, trends in hash rate (which reflect how many rigs remain online), and miners’ balance‑sheet health — all factors that will influence whether the sector stabilizes or faces deeper consolidation. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

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