BIT Mining Ltd (BTCM)

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Bitcoin mining is now easier and more profitable as algorithm adjusts after China crackdown

JUL 3 2021
MacKenzie Sigalos
CNBC

KEY POINTS

More than 54% of bitcoin’s hashrate, which is the collective computing power of miners worldwide, has dropped off the network since its market peak in May.

The bitcoin code has re-calibrated to make it 28% less difficult to mine.

Miners who are still plugged into the network stand to make greater profits while most of the network’s miners remains offline.

It just became a whole lot easier and much more profitable to mine for bitcoin.

The world has known for months that more than half the world’s bitcoin miners would be going dark as China cracked down on mining. Now that it’s happened, the bitcoin algorithm has adjusted accordingly to make sure miner productivity doesn’t continue to fall off a cliff.

That adjustment – which took effect early Saturday morning – also means that way more cash is going to the bitcoin miners who remain online.

“This will be a revenue party for miners,” said bitcoin mining engineer Brandon Arvanaghi.

“They suddenly own a meaningfully larger piece of the pie, meaning they earn more bitcoin every day.”