Miner hashprice, a metric that gauges mining profit margins, has fallen below $36 petahash per second (PH/s) — a record low according to a recent Blockbridge report. The storage infrastructure company predicts a dismal outlook for miner profitability if the upcoming difficulty recalculation is not adjusted lower.

The report also noted that despite the price of Bitcoin ( BTC ) rebounding following the sharp decline on Aug. 5, miner hashprice still sits around $40 PH/s, which is 10% lower than the previous all-time low reached in July 2024.

Most large public mining companies will also struggle to make profits at current hashprices, with MARA, Core Scientific and Riot Platforms each showing all-in projected monthly mining costs of $60,000 or more per Bitcoin. The second quarter financial data revealed MARA to have the highest all-in mining cost for July.

All-in projected mining cost for July 2024. Source: Blocksbridge

These high costs will have less of an impact on MARA and Riot Platforms, which plan to hold their Bitcoin. However, Core Scientific adopts the opposite strategy and liquidates 100% of its mined Bitcoin to cover operational costs.

The report argued that each strategy presents challenges and opportunities for the mining companies. MARA and Riot take on debt obligations to expand operations and capitalize on future appreciation, while Core Scientific reduces debt but must take a haircut by selling at current market prices.

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Mining companies hodl in July

Bitcoin mining company CleanSpark revealed it only  sold 2.54 BTC  in July for an average price of $62,000, representing a tiny fraction of the 494 BTC the company mined for the month.

On Aug. 6, MARA, which is also known as Marathon Digital Holdings, announced it  increased its treasury holdings by 2,282 BTC, valued at approximately $124 million. The largest Bitcoin mining company has been slowly stockpiling BTC as part of its long-term Bitcoin treasury strategy.

Mining difficulty hits new all-time high

Bitcoin’s mining difficulty recently reversed several months of relative decline and reached a new  all-time high of approximately 90.6 trillion on Aug. 1.

Bitcoin mining difficulty. Source: CryptoQuant

The mining difficulty is recalculated every 2,016 blocks to keep the time to mine each block consistent at 10 minutes and will automatically readjust the week of Aug. 12.

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