Even as Bitcoin calmed down from its new all-time high, network activity surged, pushing mining difficulty to fresh highs.
Bitcoin The network difficulty reached a record high of 129 trillion. According to Coinwarz, this is an increase of 6.4% over the past 90 days.
The difficulties were almost this high in early June. The more difficult it is, the more difficult it is for miners to successfully add new blocks and earn rewards.
Some relief may come. The difficulty level, which is automatically adjusted almost every two weeks, is set to be lowered by 0.33% on Friday, August 22nd.
But for now, the greatest challenge ever appears in the decline in Bitcoin Miners’ revenues, Nishant Sharma, founder and partner of Block Bridge Consulting, wrote in his latest Bitcoin Mining newsletter.
He writes that the revenue per unit of hash pris, or computing power, sank to $60 per second per petahash. “This reflects the continued compression in miner margins, as difficult growth continues to offset profits from price increases,” Sharma added.
Meanwhile, trading fees fell below 1% of block rewards for the first time. The revenues earned by miners are derived from static block rewards currently mined at 3.125 BTC per block, as well as transaction fees paid by users.
“In July, fees accounted for just 0.985% of the total monthly block reward, which was the first time this share fell below 1%,” Sharma wrote.
The big picture of Bitcoin Miners has not been helped by US President Donald Trump, who punished tariffs on imports from many countries selling Bitcoin mining rigs. Currently, imports from China are subject to a 57.6% tariff, while Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand are all subject to a 21.6% tariff.
The tariffs have already had a negative impact on two US miners. US Customs and Border Protection, which oversees the enforcement of customs duties, has sent invoices to Iris Energy and Cleanspark for imported mining rigs in 2024.
“Cleanspark warned that if CBP’s position was supported, its potential tariff liability could reach $185 million,” Sharma said. “Aylen is also facing a $100 million dispute with CBP under similar circumstances. Both companies are challenging CBP’s claims.”
