Another week closes for the hectic digital currency market and in which there was notable volatility.
In the Bitcoin mining sector, the most notable news focused almost exclusively on the halving. About five weeks remain before that reward cut occurs.
The exact date of the halving was again changed thanks to the varying connection movements and difficulty on the network. Now, according to Nicehash countdown, the arrival of shaving block 840,000 will occur on April 24, 2024. In any case, this fortuitous date change does not at all affect the impact of the event on the crypto sector development.
Most Listed Mining Companies Will Survive Halving
Bitcoin mining companies will feel a strong shock with the halving. The event represents a 50% cut in income for these groups, many of which could go bankrupt. The latter is more likely among small and medium-sized firms.
However, among companies listed on the stock exchange the atmosphere seems a little calmer. In a recent work by Decrypt, the cost per mined BTC and the investment of some companies for it are analyzed. The final result is that a significant number of the large firms will pass the halving test without problems.
Bitcoin’s excellent profitability in 2023 and so far in 2024, as well as commission income were fundamental. This allowed the management of these companies to expand mining capacity or computing power.
Marathon Establishes Another Mining Center Within Weeks of Halving
The Bitcoin mining giant Marathon Digital does not rest in its race for expansion in the run-up to the halving. As it became known this week, the American firm is in the process of purchasing a new site to mine cryptocurrencies. Meanwhile, the agreement would have been closed for about $87 million dollars.
The new cryptocurrency mine will have a capacity of 200 megawatts and is located near a wind power generator.
Mining Difficulty Reaches a New ATH
Thanks to the increase in computing power, Bitcoin mining difficulty reached a new all-time high this week. The connections of new equipment led to a notable increase in the network’s overall computing power over the past two weeks.
In response to the latter, the complexity of mining also increased exponentially. In that sense, on March 14, the difficulty reached 83.95 T for the first time in history. It is worth mentioning that the difficulty is an automatic adjustment to preserve the 10-minute time between processed blocks.
The difficulty adjustment is operated every two weeks or 2016 blocks. When the network fills with miners, the complexity increases proportionally and when the number of miners decreases, so does the difficulty.
Bitfarms Purchases 51,908 New Mining Equipment
Argentine company Bitfarms, listed on Nasdaq and the Toronto Stock Exchange, has a promising future after the halving.
In terms of expansion, its pace is impressive and a new multi-million-dollar purchase of ASIC equipment was recently announced. According to specialized media reports, the purchase consists of an impressive amount of 51,908 high-efficiency mining machines.
Miners’ Energy Consumption Increases 61% in the Halving Prelude
Over the past month, Bitcoin mining companies have stepped up their expansion of computing power dramatically. The increase in energy consumption is 61%, according to a recent Bloomberg report. Such increase in connections is related to the rise in the BTC price to all-time highs, which is an extra stimulus.
Experts expect energy consumption to continue increasing until the halving date. There will be a notable setback as a result of the disconnections of unprofitable equipment. Afterwards, the increase will continue.
By Audy Castaneda
