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Bitcoin Miners Struggle Despite BTC’s 130% Surge in 2024
The recent surge of Bitcoin (BTC) by over 130% in 2024 has seemingly defied expectations, with the majority of publicly listed Bitcoin mining companies ending the year in the red. This is a stark contrast to the overall market performance.
Despite the significant rally in BTC’s price, only seven out of twenty-five publicly listed mining firms reported positive returns according to Cointelegraph. Core Scientific (CORZQ) led the pack with a whopping 327% increase, followed by TeraWulf (WULF) and Bitdeer (BTDR) posting gains of 169% and 167%, respectively. Hut 8 (HUT), Cipher (CIFR), Iris Energy (IREN), and Northern Data (NB2) also managed to deliver positive returns.
On the other end, Argo Blockchain (ARB) and Greenidge (GREE) witnessed a significant decline in their stock prices, plummeting by a staggering 84% and 74%, respectively. MARA Holdings (MARA) and Bitfarms (BITF) were not immune to this trend, with losses of 12% and 44%.
The primary driver behind this dismal performance can be attributed to the April halving event, which drastically reduced block rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. This move saw miners’ daily earnings plummet to a mere $42 million by December 22, down from over $100 million in April.
A significant increase in mining difficulty also had an unfavorable impact on mining profitability. The figure rose by 50.7% throughout the year, reflecting heightened competition and the need for increased computational power to mine new blocks.
Source: cryptobriefing.com
