On-chain data shows the Bitcoin Hashrate has recently paused its uptrend despite the fact that miner revenue is currently sitting at a notable level.
Bitcoin Miner Revenue Has Observed A Rise Recently
In a new post on X, CryptoQuant author Axel Adler Jr has discussed about the latest trend in the Total Miner Revenue for Bitcoin. The “Total Miner Revenue” measures, as its name implies, the total amount of income that the miners as a whole are making through their activities on the BTC network.
Miners earn their revenue through two means: block subsidy and transaction fees. The first of these, the block subsidy, refers to the rewards (in BTC) that miners receive as compensation for solving blocks on the network.
The block subsidy is given out by the network itself and is always fixed in BTC value. In contrast, the other component of the miner revenue, the transaction fees, is paid to the miners by the individual senders on the network and is highly variable.
This is because the users only attach as much fee as is worth it depending on the traffic conditions at the time. Blockspace is limited, so if there is congestion present on the network, senders who want their transfers through first would have to pay a high enough amount for the miners to prioritize them.
In general, the transaction fee component of miner revenue tends to be much smaller than the block subsidy one. Below is the chart shared by the analyst, which shows how the Total Miner Revenue has changed for Bitcoin over the last several years.
Looks like the value of the metric has gone up in recent months | Source: @AxelAdlerJr on X
As is visible in the graph, the Total Miner Revenue rose to a high level in the early months of 2024, but it suddenly collapsed around April. The reason behind this plunge was the fourth Halving.
Halvings are periodic events occurring every four years on the Bitcoin blockchain that permanently slash the block subsidy in half. Given that miners are dependent on the block subsidy for their income, it’s not surprising that this event proves disastrous for their revenue.
From the chart, it’s apparent that the indicator has made some recovery during the last few months as its value has now reached the $45 million mark. This is still significantly lower than the peak from 2024, but is nonetheless high when compared to the previous cycles.
This improvement in the Total Miner Revenue is in part due to increased activity on the blockchain, but the main factor is the price appreciation that Bitcoin has witnessed. The block subsidy’s USD value naturally goes up as the asset’s spot price rises.
Interestingly, despite the revenue being at a significant level right now, the Hashrate, a measure of the total amount of computing power that miners have attached to the blockchain, has actually been heading down.
The trend in the 7-day average BTC Hashrate over the past year | Source: Blockchain.com
The Hashrate can be considered a reflection of the sentiment among the Bitcoin miners and at the moment, it would appear that these chain validators are being cautious as they have paused their expansion, potentially because they want to see how the BTC bull run would come out of the current uncertain period.
BTC Price
Bitcoin has been volatile during the last couple of days as its price has seen large swings in both directions. At present, the coin is heading up with its price crossing $105,000.
The price of the coin appears to have seen overall flat movement recently | Source: BTCUSDT on TradingView
