Thirteen years after the first halving, Bitcoin mining looks very different in 2025

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Thirteen years agone today, Bitcoin experienced its archetypal halving event, reducing the miner artifact reward from the archetypal 50 BTC to 25 BTC.

Now, with Bitcoin (BTC) having completed 4 halving events and block rewards lasting astatine conscionable 3.125 BTC, the mining manufacture is continuing to transform, with concern miners consolidating and diversifying into AI.

At the aforesaid time, a niche inclination of solo mining is emerging, according to Bitfinex analysts who spoke to Cointelegraph.

“Despite the caller spike successful much concern Bitcoin mining, we would similar to underscore the caller question of solo miners and however hobbyist miners are coming backmost to the market, acknowledgment to improvements successful mining pools, ratio gains and niche strategies,” the analysts said.

Bitcoin mining successful 2024 versus 2025: Rising contention arsenic output shrinks

Since past year, the Bitcoin mining marketplace has grown importantly successful scale, complexity and competitiveness, with the planetary hashrate surpassing the symbolic 1 zetahash per 2nd (ZH/s) successful August, according to CoinWarz data.

“This reflects some accrued concern and the deployment of ultra-efficient mining hardware specified arsenic the Antminer S21 series,” Bitfinex analysts said. “In short, the Bitcoin mining marketplace of 2025 is much industrialized, technologically precocious and geographically dispersed than it was successful 2024, but besides much competitory and volatile.”

Despite expanding competition, mining output has declined implicit the past year. Bitcoin’s circulating proviso added astir 155,000 BTC betwixt Nov. 27, 2024, and Nov. 27, 2025, down 37% from 245,000 BTC successful the preceding year, according to Blockchain.com.

“2024 was already a pugnacious twelvemonth for miners,” Kristian Csepcsar, main selling serviceman astatine BTC mining tech supplier Braiins, told Cointelegraph, adding that miners were deploying hardware astatine grounds speed.

Still, adjacent with higher BTC prices, the revenues continued to autumn arsenic the hash terms — oregon miners’ returns earned per portion of hashpower — plummeted amid expanding mining competition, Csepcsar added.

“2024 was difficult. Today is worse. Miners are successful the astir competitory situation the manufacture has ever seen, and cipher knows however agelong this volition last,” Csepcsar said.

Solo and hobbyist mining backmost to the market

Despite intensifying concern contention and rising costs, idiosyncratic miners person not disappeared. Instead, they are re-entering the market, supported by varied improvements successful mining excavation technology, according to Bitfinex analysts.

“Tools specified arsenic CKPool — a solo-mining-friendly level known for debased latency — person helped marque this signifier much accessible,” the analysts said. The institution besides observed a viral societal inclination for “lottery wins” by solo miners, peculiarly those utilizing efficient, low-noise mining devices astatine home.

Mining, Bitcoin Price, Bitcoin Mining, Bitcoin Halving

Hobbyist mining — not rather solo, but besides not concern — has seen a mini renaissance,” Bitfinex analysts said. The inclination has been driven by the availability of efficient, low-cost ASICs, the usage of off-peak energy strategies, vigor recycling methods and firmware specified arsenic BraiinsOS, which allows miners to underclock devices for optimal efficiency.

“It is improbable that these groups could instrumentality the hashrate pb successful a capitulation scenario, arsenic we are talking astir mean users with constricted hashrate available,” the analysts said.

In the lawsuit of important capitulation from the largest miners, mid-size concern operations would go the caller large players, portion solo miners and hobbyists would inactive beryllium acold down them successful presumption of capacity, Bitfinex said, concluding:

“It is an absorbing pattern, but it is acold from competing with the larger and much concern operators.”

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