By
Bhushan Akolkar
May 16th, 2024
Bitcoin mining profitability could drop further in the coming weeks as bearish sentiment grips the crypto industry.
More than one week after the fourth Bitcoin (BTC) halving, the underlying value continues to slip lower in the higher time frames. Bitcoin price exchanged around $62,300 on Monday during the mid-London session, down 11 percent in the past four weeks. The total Bitcoin mining hash rate hovered around 560 Exahashes/s, thus indicating most of the miners have already upgraded their rigs to catch up with the rising difficulty.
Several Bitcoin Miners Solve Entire Block
The history of Bitcoin miners solving an entire block dates back to its inception over 10 years ago. Since the fourth Bitcoin halving happened at block 840,000 on April 20, 2024, the mining difficulty has risen by more than 2 trillion to around 88.1T. However, quite a few Bitcoin miners have been lucky enough to earn the entire block reward plus fees.
For instance, Bunance Pool had individually mined four complete Bitcoin blocks, with a reward of 3.125 coins, in the past 24 hours. According to data provided by memepool, Binance Pool has successfully solved Bitcoin blocks 841278, 841317, 841325, and 841335 in the past day. The Binance Pool has a total hash rate of about 21.8 Exahashes/s and has earned a total of 128,159 Bitcoins since inception.
The AntPool, with a total hash rate of about 131.5 Exahashes/s, has successfully mined several Bitcoin blocks individually in the past 24 hours. Some of the Bitcoin blocks individually mined by AntPool include 841236, 842238, 842251, 841256, 841261, 841262, 841270, 841313, 841346, 841347, 841353, and 841358.
Bitcoin miner ViaBTC, with a total hash rate of about 61 EH/s, successfully solved eight Bitcoin blocks in the past 24 hours.
Solo BTC Miner Outshines major Pools
Amidst the heightened proliferation of institutional investors in the Bitcoin mining industry, individual miners have also taken the initiative to protect the network. For instance, Bitcoin block 841286, with a total reward of 3.43 BTC, was entirely mined by an individual miner. Interestingly, the individual miner dubbed Solo CK has a total hash rate of about 4.4 EH/s and earned a total of 5,460 coins to date.
Congratulations to miner 365ughTgK9Q7rXXTM7vubqy1awZ2AZJijP for solving the 282nd solo block solved at https://t.co/UWgBvLkDqc with a large ~120PH at the time (12PH average over a week) https://t.co/btUXBoC8Yd pic.twitter.com/yh0VkuAI5b
— Dr -ck (@ckpooldev) April 28, 2024
Market Impact
Bitcoin price has continued to slip lower in the past two weeks in tandem with its crypto market dominance. Despite the heightened demand from institutional investors and retail traders around the world, the flagship coin has failed to sustain a bullish trend.
A massive Bitcoin supply shock is brewing.
Here's why:…
— Lark Davis (@TheCryptoLark) April 29, 2024
On the brighter side for the Bitcoin bulls, miners have not been actively selling their rewards, which significantly increases the chances of a rebound at the $60K level. In case the $60K support level fails, Bitcoin price could drop to as low as $53K to regain bullish momentum.