So much debate is going on at the moment about Bitcoin mining but statistics show the network has had a steadily rising overall hash rate in the past 9 months. Energy consumption concerns do exist but reaching 45 EH/s might happen sooner rather than later.
Bitcoin went through tough times in the past 9 months. BTC value skyrocketed and then quickly crashed. Even though, the Bitcoin miners are not worried. The exact opposite happened as the hash rate has been constantly growing in the same timeframe.
Various factors have to be analyzed in order to determine whether or not Bitcoin mining is unprofitable or profitable. BTC price is definitely an important factor. In the past years there was an ongoing debate about what the price is when the miners break even. At the moment, statistics show that if Bitcoin has a price of $3,300, miners end up making a profit. The current value is still a lot higher than the break-even price.
While many keep saying that Bitcoin miners need to shut down operations, statistics and what is declared by miners is the exact opposite. Proof of this is seen in the hash rate since it practically quadrupled since August 2017.
Bitcoin mining is undoubtedly profitable at the moment. The fact that hash rate increased is a sign that crytpocurrency interest is also increasing. There are numerous countries that actually welcome really large-scale Bitcoin mining operations. Miners receive access to various renewable energy sources. This is important since it reduces the costs associated with running Bitcoin mining setups.
In the event that Bitcoin hash rate keeps growing at the rate that we see at the moment, reaching 45 EH/s is something that will happen sooner rather than later. When the network reached 1 exahash per second it was a really big deal. Ever since then technology evolved incredibly past and it did move towards the right direction. The entire ecosystem is maturing.
Although everything seems to go great for Bitcoin, any such positive development will normally raise brand new challenges and questions. The hash rate will keep being a hot topic of discussion. Some will keep saying that mining is wasteful while others will keep investing in Bitcoin mining. No matter how we look at things, a growing hashrate is a clear sign that cryptocurrencies are increasing in popularity, especially for investors.
