Bitcoin mining difficulty has recorded a slight decrease after peaking at its highest level at the end of May.
On June 15, the difficulty level declined to about 126.4 trillion, a drop from the all-time high of 126.9 trillion recorded on May 31, according to CryptoQuant data.
The adjustment is small but significant in the mining sector. Bitcoin’s mining difficulty is updated automatically every two weeks, depending on the total hashrate. When more miners participate, the difficulty of keeping block production steady increases. If fewer miners remain active, the network reduces the difficulty to maintain stability.
Miners face economic pressure following the halving
The present rebalancing follows the April 2024 bitcoin halving, which reduced block rewards by approximately half to 3.125 BTC. This lessening cuts the amount of income miners get per the same effort by half, and profitability is harder to obtain. This has led a number of small and mid-sized mines to run under extreme pressure.
High electricity bills, the high prices of the mining equipment, and the complex technology have increased the cost of operations. Such realities have compelled certain miners to run at a loss, particularly in locations whose energy channelling is not efficient or places with high-energy charges. These companies are now speculating about a possible upsurge in prices to survive or being able to rely on cheap electric power in order to cover costs.
Major mining firms expand despite market pressures
Large publicly traded mining companies, on the other hand, have been able to increase even after the lukewarm operation of smaller ones. In May, Marathon Digital Holdings increased by 35 percent in Bitcoin mined, generating 950 BTC. The company opted not to sell its Bitcoin, expanding its corporate treasury up to 49,179 BTC. In a June 3 statement posted by Marathon’s chief financial officer, Salman Khan, the firm did not have any Bitcoin liquidated in the month.
CleanSpark also experienced an improvement in performance. This is an increase of nine percent in May when the company had mined 694 BTC. At the end of May, the hashrate of CleanSpark totalled to 45.6 exahashes per second. Zack Bradford, the Company CEO, traced the progress made in the application of renewable energy and the upgrade of its hardware. As the economy keeps evolving, the company has been able to grow in steps to stay afloat in terms of profitability. Such bigger mining companies have proceeded to view Bitcoin as a source of revenue and a source of strategic wealth on their balance sheets.