Research: The Antminer profitability crisis

1 year ago

Bitcoin’s autumn from its all-time precocious to a debased of $15,700 has been 1 of the astir dominating narratives this year. Bitcoin mislaid 75% of its worth since Nov. 10, 2020, and implicit 65% since the opening of the year.

However, a overmuch much singular communicative than Bitcoin’s volatility is the divergence betwixt its terms and its hash rate.

Despite losing three-quarters of its worth successful a year, Bitcoin’s hash complaint reached its all-time precocious of 271.8 EH/s. This divergence betwixt the hash complaint and the terms is simply a unsocial occurrence that hasn’t happened successful immoderate of the erstwhile carnivore markets.

The skyrocketing hash complaint becomes an adjacent bigger outlier erstwhile comparing it to miner revenues. CryptoSlate antecedently analyzed miner gross and recovered that profits proceed to alteration adjacent for the largest and astir businesslike mining operations.

CryptoSlate’s investigation of 2 fashionable Bitmain miners paints a bleak representation of the mining industry. Looking astatine the Antminer S9 and Antminer S17 shows that machines are struggling with profitability.

Launched successful 2017, the Antminer S9 remained profitable passim years of marketplace volatility. However, arsenic the planetary hash complaint began to grow successful 2020, the S9 saw its profitability autumn until it yet became unprofitable successful May 2022, erstwhile astir each machines were removed from the network.

With an all-in-sustaining outgo of astir $0.05/kWh, Bitcoin’s terms would request to surpass $19,000 for the Antminer S9 to go profitable again.

The Antminer S17 is inactive profitable. Launched successful 2019 arsenic a much almighty iteration of the S9, the S17 produced a maximum hash complaint of 56 TH/s. Bitcoin’s existent terms and increasing hash complaint enactment the profitability of the S17 astatine conscionable $36 per day. This slim nett has been decreasing astir regular and is expected to driblet adjacent further successful the coming weeks.

The S17 has been struggling with profitability passim the year. The Terra illness successful June 2022 made the S17 unprofitable for the archetypal clip ever, arsenic Bitcoin dropped good beneath $16,000 wiping retired billions from the market.

The ongoing marketplace volatility, combined with the ever-expanding hash rate, is presently putting the profitability of the S17 into question. Looking astatine the profitability illustration for the S17 shows that the instrumentality is experiencing a inclination akin to the S9.

Barely breaking even, the S17 would go unprofitable if Bitcoin were to autumn nether $15,500. Crossing the $15,500 could propulsion miners to unplug thousands of S17s.