Since the Bitcoin halving of 2024, the business of Bitcoin mining has been facing economic challenges. The reward for miners decreased from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. Simultaneously, the difficulty of mining has increased, requiring greater computational power to validate transactions and secure the network.
Despite the overall price increase in Bitcoin over the past year, the miners are having a difficult time staying profitable. An expert in cryptocurrency has been following the Bitcoin mining industry closely for insights into its current market trends.
Bitcoin Miners May Need to Sell Their Bitcoin: Crypto Executive
Joao Wedson, founder and CEO of Alphractal, shared his perspectives on the Bitcoin mining environment in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on September 5th. His analysis included recent data obtained from the Bitcoin blockchain. According to his report, the Bitcoin mining sector has shown signs of instability in 2025.
Wedson explained that a factor influencing the struggles of the Bitcoin mining sector is the increase in Bitcoin’s value, which has risen by approximately 100% since the last halving. The leading cryptocurrency’s current value appears higher compared to the earnings that blockchain validators received during the peak years of 2017 and 2021.
The combination of a rising hash rate and low transaction volume on the blockchain has intensified competition among miners seeking to validate blocks on the Bitcoin network, stated the Alphractal founder. This environment puts pressure on miners to invest in advanced, expensive equipment to stay competitive.
Wedson used the Mining Equilibrium Index (MEI) to provide blockchain-based context. This index measures the profitability of mining against historical averages. The MEI is derived by comparing the 30-day average revenue per unit of hash power to the 365-day average.
Wedson explained that an MEI above 1 indicates conditions more favorable than the historical average. However, if the index falls below 0.5, it indicates a struggling mining industry, which may lead to miners selling their assets or changes to the total mining power on the network.
Wedson revealed that the MEI is currently at 1.06, which is still above the levels where miners struggle to maintain operations. However, the cryptocurrency expert also mentioned that the present MEI is below the peak of 2.5 seen between 2017 and 2021.
Wedson suggested that increasing competition and operational expenses to secure the Bitcoin network could force miners to liquidate some of their Bitcoin reserves. This could potentially decrease the price of Bitcoin.
Current Bitcoin Price
The current price of Bitcoin is around $110,700, with no significant change over the last 24 hours as of the time of this report. Bitcoin is showing positive momentum with a gain of nearly 3% over the previous week.
Disclaimer: Provided for informational purposes only. Past financial performance does not guarantee future results.