During the weekend, Bitcoin miners earned higher transaction fees than the newly generated BTC. Additionally, mining profitability achieved its peak since May 2022. On December 16th, Jameson Lopp, co-founder of Casa HODL, shared a block example illustrating Bitcoin miners’ production.
BTC Mining Profitability
The Braiins pool miner received a significant subsidy and around $570,000, equivalent to 13.4 BTC, in fees for the specified period. Bitcoin educator Kashif Raza noted that this setup is more enticing for miners, emphasizing that ordinals favor miners but pose challenges for those sending micro transactions. This suggests an increased deployment of mining machines to maximize off-block rewards. Additionally, BitInfoCharts reveals that average BTC transaction fees have surged to levels not seen since April 2021, with weekend Bitcoin transaction costs peaking at $37.
Bitcoin’s Hash Rate Reaches its Highest Point in 19 Months
Cryptographer Adam Back emphasized the permanence of ordinals, urging people to cease complaints, stating, “We are trying to stop them, but they will do it in worse ways. High fees encourage the adoption of Layer-2 and force innovation. So relax and build something.”
He also mentioned that Bitcoin miners can anticipate a more lucrative period in the upcoming days. Notably, profitability or hash price has gained attention, reaching its highest level in 19 months, surpassing the last ordinal frenzy in May. As per Hashrate Index, the hash price reached $0.130 per TH/s/day on December 17th. The last time it exceeded today’s level was in May 2022, although it remains below the all-time high of $0.400 in June 2019. The hash price is influenced by network difficulty, Bitcoin price, block subsidy, and transaction fees.
