Hashrate Index has launched its 2022 Bitcoin Mining 12 months In Evaluation, an in depth report on the mining business and markets surrounding it.
2022 was a troublesome yr for Bitcoin mining, with the bear market resulting in a hashprice all-time low, bankruptcies and losses for miners. Regardless of this, hash charge nonetheless grew 41%, and Bitcoin mining nonetheless generated almost double the rewards in comparison with the earlier three years. The report covers all of those matters and extra intimately.
One of many most important focuses of the report is the expansion of hash charge.
Though the yr concerned many challenges to the mining business, from an all-time low hashprice, to a number of public miner bankruptcies and even an arctic cyclone on the finish of the yr to prime issues off, hash charge nonetheless climbed, and at a a lot higher charge than 2021, which was stunted by China’s mining ban.
The report additionally describes a big decline in hashprice, with the excessive of the yr being recorded on January 1 at $246.86/PH/day and solely declining from there. Certainly, the yr noticed an all-time low in hashprice at $55.94/PH/day.
One issue that performed into this, in accordance with the report, is growing industrial electrical energy charges throughout the nation. However many states have been insulated from this rise in price by ample vitality manufacturing sources like Washington’s hydropower, or different states’ entry to pure gasoline, resulting in sure states retaining viable mining operations. The report additionally notes that “energy methods can take many varieties, however a typical theme is that miners exploit the distinctive low-consequence-interruptibility of the bitcoin mining course of by adjusting their electrical energy consumption primarily based on market alerts.” This was on show most lately when Texas miners turned off their operations so as to return vitality provide to the grid, whereas getting paid almost as a lot as they might have had they continued mining.
Hashrate Index additionally highlighted the rise in internet hosting prices, which previous to 2022, hovered round $0.05-$0.06/kWh. However now, “Something beneath $0.075/kWh is taken into account “a steal” given market circumstances.”
Struggling public miners have been additionally a focus within the evaluation.
With the bull market in full swing, public bitcoin miners made massive bets with their tools purchases and expansionary strikes. However the bear market hit some bigger performers notably arduous, with behemoths like Core Scientific taking losses of almost 100% — the corporate is presently present process Chapter 11 chapter procedures. These have been difficult-to-swallow drugs for the market, however public miners did broaden by way of their hash charge dominance, ending the yr at 19%.
Total, the report signified Bitcoin’s resilience within the face of assorted main headwinds. Macroeconomic pressures, environmental anomalies and main public mining shares tumbling greater than 90% nonetheless couldn’t hamper main development in community hash charge. Apparently, even such horrendous extraneous circumstances as these on show in 2022 can not mood the expansion of the Bitcoin mining business.