Is Bitcoin mining profitable again? Revenue rises after record low

Bitcoin mining revenues are rising again after the price crash made minting the crypto largely economically unviable, according to a new report.

Research newsletter Diar says Bitcoin miner revenues last month fell to their lowest levels since August 2017.

Bitcoin miner revenues plummeted to a 19-month low in February, bringing home just under $195 million, a 10% decline from the start of this year.

The newsletter added: “To make matters slightly more difficult, miners running optimal equipment and who have secured wholesale electricity prices have seen their gross margins squeezed, requiring a massive deployment of hash power in order to stay afloat.

“But this month did see a small uptake, the first time since Bitcoin’s price boom.”

Costs rising

A recent analysis by US-based investment bank JP Morgan outlined how the drop in the value of Bitcoin over the last year made mining the cryptocurrency too expensive to turn a profit in most countries.

A research team led by Natasha Kaneva found that the cost in power to create a unit of Bitcoin was around $4,060 globally as of Q4 2018. The figure excludes the cost of equipment.

Bitcoin is trading at $3,789.36 at the time of writing.

Miners in nations like China and Mongolia are taking advantage of cheap power and can create a unit of Bitcoin for around $2,400.

The analysts said: “The drop in Bitcoin prices from around $6,500 throughout much of October to below $4,000 now has increasingly pushed margins further and further negative for just about every region except low-cost Chinese miners.”

The team, however, admitted data about mining is incomplete.