Profitability across the bitcoin mining industry is under mounting pressure, with network competition intensifying and revenues declining.
Network hashrate hits new peak
In October, the bitcoin network hashrate soared to a record 1.16 ZH/s, even as the bitcoin price fell toward $81,000 entering November.
According to The Miner Mag, miner revenue per unit of computing power—known as hash price—dropped below $35 per hash, well under the $45/PH/s median reported by public mining companies.
This has pushed several operators close to breakeven.
Miner margins and payback periods deteriorate
The Miner Mag’s report noted that rig payback periods have stretched beyond 1,200 days, while sector-wide financing costs continue to climb.
The downturn follows a relatively stable third quarter, when hash price averaged about $55/PH/s, supported by bitcoin trading near $110,000.
Now, increased competition and the falling price have pushed mining profitability to its weakest levels on record. Bitcoin mining difficulty and rig upgrades have only added to the pressure.
Borrowing and diversification rise
The financial strain has triggered a surge in miner borrowing, with many operators turning to near-zero-coupon convertible bonds. While some miners are pivoting to AI and high-power computing (HPC), the report indicates that revenue from these services remains too small to offset the sharp decline in bitcoin mining income.
Miner stocks rebound on analyst upgrades
Despite the tightening economics, the top 10 publicly traded miners rallied, with CleanSpark, Cipher Mining, and IREN posting double-digit gains after a J.P. Morgan research note raised price targets.
J.P. Morgan highlighted Cipher’s attractive share price and its potential for further HPC deals.
In November, IREN signed a five-year, $9.7 billion GPU cloud services deal with Microsoft, giving Microsoft access to Nvidia GB300 GPUs hosted in IREN’s data centers.
The bank, however, trimmed estimates for Marathon Digital and Riot, citing lower bitcoin prices and larger share counts weighing on their inventories. The miner stock rebound also coincided with a modest bitcoin price uptick, trading near $89,000 at the time.
