If Bitcoin falls below this mark, will miners abandon their machines and run away?

Bitcoin mining costs skyrocket after halving, some companies still stay profitable.

The latest report from CoinShares shows that the economic landscape of the Bitcoin mining industry is changing dramatically following the 2024 halving event and the explosion in network-wide hashrate .

The average cash cost to mine 1 BTC among publicly listed mining companies increased by 47% from $55,950 (Q3/2024) to $82,162 (Q4) .

Excluding Hut 8 – which has a non-standard cost structure – the figure is around $75,767 , but still a strong 35% increase over the previous quarter .

Factoring in non-cash costs like depreciation and stock-based compensation, the average total cost to create one Bitcoin comes to $137,018 , far exceeding the current market price of around $95,000 .

Still, thanks to the surging Bitcoin price and efficiency-enhancing strategies, many miners remain profitable.

Hashrate peaks, many companies shift to high-performance computing
CoinShares recorded that the Bitcoin network hashrate reached 900 Eh/s in Q4 – an all-time high , far exceeding the previous forecast of 765 Eh/s.

They predict the network could hit 1 Zh/s by July 2025 and 2 Zh/s by early 2027 .

However, valuations of Bitcoin mining companies are shrinking , suggesting that investors increasingly view this as a “ win-win ” industry.

As a result, many businesses have begun to expand into data centers and high-performance computing (HPC) services to diversify their revenue.

Some units like CleanSpark, Iren and Cormint have bucked the trend by reducing Bitcoin mining costs by 8%, 39% and 44% respectively .

Meanwhile, Hut 8 became the negative outlier with tax expenses of up to $281,000/BTC , mainly due to $93 million in deferred taxes from unrealized profits and heavy borrowing costs from Coinbase and Coatue.