In April, public mining companies reported a decrease in Bitcoin production following the halving event, with companies such as Bitfarms, Cipher, CleanSpark, Core Scientific, Riot, and Terawulf reporting declines ranging from 6% to 12%. Despite the impact of the halving, the robust Bitcoin fee market briefly mitigated the effects on these companies. As the Rune cryptocurrency becomes less popular, it is expected that Bitcoin miners will continue to face challenges in maintaining production levels.
Hut 8, a prominent Bitcoin mining company in North America, reported a significant decline in its proprietary production for April, mining 148 BTC with a 36% decrease compared to March. The realized hashrate also dropped by 51% from its peak in December due to the relocation of proprietary miners previously hosted in Kearney and Granbury. Hut 8 attributed the decline primarily to disruptions in mining operations caused by Marathon’s accelerated process of vacating tenants in February. Despite the challenges, Hut 8 successfully relocated miners to the Salt Creek site in Texas within a remarkable three-month period following the merger.
Hut 8’s CEO, Asher Genoot, stated that the team successfully removed over 25,000 miners on 440 pallets in just eight days during April to minimize downtime within the company’s fleet. The relocation of miners to the Salt Creek site, which offers a power capacity of 63 megawatts, contributed to the expansion of Hut 8’s total self-mining, hosting, and managed power capacity to over one gigawatt in April. This expansion was also supported by the energization of a 215-megawatt site in Ward County, Texas, on behalf of Ionic Digital, emerging from the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case of Celsius.
Following the halving event on April 20, Bitcoin miners, including Riot Platforms, have been adjusting their operations to adapt to the reduced mining rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125. This adjustment is crucial as a notable outflow of Bitcoin from miners could be expected in the months following the halving. Research indicates that Bitcoin miners have the potential to liquidate approximately $5 billion worth of BTC after the event. Asset manager CoinShares analysis suggests that companies like Riot, TeraWulf, and CleanSpark are among the best-positioned to weather the storm and continue operations efficiently.
Overall, the Bitcoin mining industry has faced challenges in production following the halving event, with public mining companies experiencing decreases in Bitcoin production ranging from 6% to 12%. Despite the impact of the halving, the robust Bitcoin fee market briefly mitigated the effects on these companies. Hut 8, a prominent Bitcoin mining company, reported a significant decline in its production for April, attributed primarily to disruptions in operations caused by the relocation of proprietary miners. Hut 8 successfully relocated miners to the Salt Creek site in Texas, contributing to the expansion of its total power capacity to over one gigawatt. Bitcoin miners, including Riot Platforms, have been adjusting operations after the halving event to adapt to reduced mining rewards and potential outflows of Bitcoin in the coming months.
