Hashrate Index Roundup (April 22, 2024)

Happy Monday, y'all!

The Fourth Bitcoin Halving came and went last Friday, but not without some significant fireworks.

Well, the fireworks weren't from the Halving specifically, but they were set off by the Halving so to speak. That's because Casey Rodarmor – the architect of Bitcoin's Ordinal/Inscription standard for NFTs/digital collectibles – dropped the long-anticipated Runes protocol on block 840,000, the block that triggered the Fourth Bitcoin Halving.

The ensuing mad-dash to mint Runes precipitated an unprecedented transaction fee run as Ordinal degens raced against each other to etch the first Runes tickers. In the hours immediately after the Halving, transaction fees were 630% more than the new block reward of 3.125 – an all-time high.

Bitcoin miners mined a record 1,257.71 BTC on April 20, and from April 19 through April 21, they mined 1,718.73 BTC, worth $114,384,129 at the current bitcoin price of $66,500. For comparison, Bitcoin miners earned $797.7 million from transaction fees in the whole of 2023.

The incredible result of this runic bacchanalia? For a glorious day, Hashprice was higher after the halving than before it. In fact, it nearly doubled from its pre-Halving level of $105/PH/Day, topping out at $183/PH/Day on April 20, the day after the Halving.

Now, USD-denominated hashprice has retraced significantly to $74/PH/Day, but that's a helluva lot better than the ~$52.50/PH/Day it could have been had Runes never existed. And further, miners are still bagging fat transaction fees (they've netted 226.38 BTC so far today, for example). So far, Runes have prevented hashprice from falling to all-time lows, and if the BRC-20 boondoggle of Q4-23 is any bellwether, this Runes activity could last for weeks, a month, or longer.

As such, don't be surprised if Bitcoin's hashrate stays steady. Since the Halving, it's fallen 5% on the 7-day average, but it's hard to believe that this is anything more than standard variance given the hashprice action that miners have enjoyed since block 840,000.

Now that the Fourth Halving is behind us and we're in a 3.125 BTC block subsidy epoch, the burning questions now are, how long can Runes keep mining revenue afloat, and when will miners feel the sting of an all-time low hashprice?

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Bitcoin Mining Market Update

As we touched on above, transaction fees surged last week, so much so that last week's total mining revenue (both USD and BTC-denominated) was greater than the week before despite the Halving. ASIC prices continue to take significant haircuts, and Bitcoin's hashrate fell only slightly.

Bitcoin Mining News

Here are the latest top headlines for Bitcoin mining news:

• Bitcoin Transaction Fees Hit Record Level After Halving — Here’s Why
• The Bitcoin network completes the fourth-ever ‘halving’ of rewards to miners
• Bitcoin Miners May Shift Focus to AI After Halving, CoinShares Says
• How a Jack Dorsey-backed bitcoin miner uses a volcano in Kenya to turn on the lights in rural homes
• Bitcoin Miners Are Better Positioned for the Halving This Time Round: Benchmark

Bitcoin Mining Stocks Update

Bitcoin mining stocks are surging after the Halving, perhaps on account of the market pricing in the stellar revenues they hauled in last weekend from transaction fees. Week-over-week, every stock in our update is up by double digit percentage points, and our benchmark Crypto Mining Stock Index is up 7.4%.

Weekly changes to Bitcoin mining stocks:

• RIOT: $11.24 (+33.97%)
• HUT: $9.22 (+31.15%)
• BITF: $2.05 (+20.59%)
• HIVE: $2.94 (+10.53%)
• MARA: $17.55 (+18.66%)
• CLSK: $19.09 (+33.50%)
• IREN: $5.51 (+29.65%)
• CORZ: $3.27 (+18.05%)
• WULF: $2.58 (+37.97%)
• CIFR: $4.56 (+29.18%)
• BTDR: $6.65(+20.91%)
• SDIG: $3.64 (+73.33%)

Happy Hashing, and have a great week!