One of the most common questions in regards to Bitcoin (BTC) is whether or not it is worth mining in 2019? The answer, of course, depends on multiple factors, such as whether BTC would be mined by a farm or a single miner, the quality of their mining rig, their location, electricity price, and more.
From a general point of view, it appears that BTC is still more than worthy of mining, as the fresh data arriving from Coin Metrics shows that total mining revenue for Bitcoin counts well beyond $14 billion. In plain words, in the last ten and a half years, miners have mined $14 billion in BTC.
Bitcoin Network’s hash rate grows
According to another recent report — the one coming from Yahoo! Finance — it appears that the Bitcoin network’s hash rate increased quite a bit in recent months. However, the new data from Coin Metrics reveals that there is still quite a bit of money left in the mining sector, which is likely to attract more miners than ever before.
The report also shows that the speed at which Bitcoin is hitting various milestones is rapidly increasing. For example, BTC miners needed eight years to mine $5 billion, from the moment the Genesis Block was mined, until the milestone was hit. However, the next $5 billion were mined within only eight months, allowing BTC to reach the $10 billion mark exceptionally quickly.
The report also predicts that, if te mining profitability remains the same as it is right now, the $20 billion mark could easily be reached at some point in the first half of 2020.
For the moment, however, Bitcoin’s total mining revenue sits at around $14 billion, which is quite an achievement, considering that the Bitcoin Network’s hash rate has been on a tear for a while. The entire summer was marked by breaking one record after another, and the network even reached a new all-time high only hours ago, sitting at 83,526,953 TH/s at the time of writing.
This is an indication that miners are back, and busier than ever, as the high hash rate means that more computing power is being used for solving blocks and validating transactions done on the Bitcoin network. Naturally, this also indicates that the mining difficulty of the blocks is going to grow, as well as the costs of mining the blocks.
Bitcoin mining rewards halving on the horizon
Mining, in general, comes at a quite high operational cost, as it requires advanced mining rigs, as well as more resources such as electricity. Still, the increase that Bitcoin’s price had seen earlier this year is likely the reason why the miners are returning in more significant numbers. Despite the growth of difficulty and the electricity bills, the revenue increase signals that miners do not consider their profitability endangered.
Another event regarding the Bitcoin’s network that should be kept in mind is the approach of another halving of the block rewards, which is expected to occur at some point in May 2020. The halving happens each time when miners solve a specific number of blocks (210,000), and since each block takes approximately 10 minutes to be mined — it is relatively simple to predict when the halving might arrive.
In a lot of examples from the past, halving had bullish implications for Bitcoin’s price. The very fact that the number of coins will be reduced by 50% leads to scarcity, which, in turn, increases Bitcoin’s price. However, if the price does not grow enough, it could once again discourage miners from further participation in the network, and lead to another reduction of hashing power.
Disclaimer: The presented information is subjected to market condition and may include the very own opinion of the author. Please do your ‘very own’ market research before making any investment in cryptocurrencies. Neither the writer nor the publication (TronWeekly.com) holds any responsibility for your financial loss.
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