Bitcoin miners hit 2024’s lowest revenue month, plunge 70% from March peak

Bitcoin miners have seen their earnings hit a yearly low in October, generating just $570.8 million so far. From March’s peak, October’s earnings represent a 70% drop and a 29% drop from the previous month.

Bitcoin mining revenue is at a three-month low

According to Bitbo’s data, Bitcoin miners’ revenue in August was $827.56 million, down over 57% from March’s peak and 11% from the previous month’s $927.35 million.

Moreover, the number of mined Bitcoin slumped to 13843 BTC, a 5% fall from July’s mined BTC and a 51% drop from March’s 28512. The slump in August’s mining revenues and mined BTC resulted from reduced transaction volumes and increased mining difficulty, which intensified following April’s Bitcoin halving.

August ended with mining difficulties at 89.47 trillion, up from 86.87 trillion in July. In September, mining revenues plummeted even further, with miners earning only $802.24 million, a 3% drop from August. Only 13321 BTC was mined.

So far in October, miners have only been able to generate $570.08 million, mining less than 9000 BTC. October’s earnings now represent a 31% drop from August and a 29% drop from September. Additionally, from March’s peak, October’s revenue reflects a 70% fall and a 66% drop in BTC mined.

Bitcoin’s mining difficulty increases to 92 trillion

After the Bitcoin halving in April, mining difficulty increased in August and September, with multiple analysts cautioning miners. Christopher Bendiksen, Bitcoin research lead at CoinShares, even commented:

The effect of the all-time high in difficulty, right on the back of the halving earlier this year, is making the outlook extremely challenging for many miners — especially those at the higher end of the cost curve.

~Christopher Bendiksen

He added that miners could face difficulties in turning a profit if the current patterns persist. Currently, the difficulty of mining is at 92 trillion.

With the persisting difficulty of mining, some miners are still investing in new specialized hardware to ease their workloads, buying into more advanced ASIC machines. Some have even turned to older rigs, reactivating them to try and make profits with Bitcoin price gains.

However, some have moved on from Bitcoin, redirecting their surplus capacity towards AI projects requiring massive computing power. Firms like Core Scientific and Bitdeer are already providing computing power for AI.