Bitcoin miners have fallen sharply in price. Prices are up to 80% lower compared to the end of 2021. An oversupply of machines on public marketplaces is looming.
Bitcoin miners sharply down in price
Bitcoin ASIC miners are specialised equipment with the sole purpose of finding the next block in the bitcoin blockchain. Well-known manufacturers include Bitmain and MicroBTC. For a long time, the Antminer S9 was considered a gadget on marketplaces, but now its successor, the S19 is also offered en masse at lower prices than before.
That's according to the Hashrate Index, which lists the most efficient ASIC miner. These are devices that generate at least one terahash of output per 38 joules of energy. Prices of these machines are down 86% from May 2021. In dollar terms, this represents a plunge from $119.25 per terahash to $15.71 as of 25 December.
Miners in this efficient category are the Antminer S19 and Whatsminer M30s. Even at less efficient machines, prices are more than 80% to even 90% lower. Prices there are around $10 per terahash and at the lower end of the market it is about $5 per terahash, also a drop of around 90%.
Mining bitcoin has become a lot harder now that energy prices are many times higher. Also, the bitcoin price has dropped by around 80% since the last all-time high. Mining companies such as Core Scientific, Marathon Digital, Riot Blockchain, Bitfarms and Argo Blockchain are in deep trouble as a result. Nevertheless, there are also buyers in this problematic market such as Russia-based BitRiver, which is buying up machines.
According to Dutchman Nico Smid of Digital Mining Solutions, prices of ASIC miners hit their lowest point during bitcoin's last half-life cycle on 11 May 2020. They then rose rapidly thereafter, a pattern that may also play out in bitcoin's next halving cycle. This is going to take place around 20 April 2024 based on current estimates.
https://twitter.com/Smidnico/status/1605236544339677187
https://www.indexuniverse.eu/bitcoin-asics-tens-of-per-cent-cheaper/
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