The Bitcoin hashrate growth, which saw rapid expansion in the past few months, experienced a slowdown in January, as reported by TheMinerMag. This decline in growth was reflected in the network’s difficulty, which saw its first decrease since September. Despite publicly listed companies continuing to increase their hash power, their growth was not sufficient to offset the capitulation of other, likely smaller operators.
In terms of total revenue generated from Bitcoin mining, it remained stable at $1.4 billion for the month. Publicly traded mining companies, holding a collective 99,000 Bitcoin valued at approximately $9.7 billion, accounted for around 30% of the hashrate market share in January.
Competition among the major publicly traded companies has intensified. Marathon Digital (MARA) maintained its position as the leading mining firm with a realized hashrate of 41.65 EH/s, followed closely by CleanSpark at 34.77 EH/s. Riot Platforms, known for its aggressive expansion, is catching up with a hashrate of 31.27 EH/s.
The report highlighted the escalating competition within the 30 EH/s group, while the gap between this tier and the 10 EH/s group, consisting of Core Scientific, Cipher Mining, and Bitfarms, continued to widen.
The dominance of top miners in capturing more market share is not surprising, especially after the recent halving event, which reduced Bitcoin mining rewards by half and squeezed profit margins within the industry, despite the high BTC price nearing $100,000. This challenging environment makes it difficult for smaller players to compete with larger operations that were already positioned to dominate the market. Consequently, many miners are exploring alternative revenue sources, such as hosting machines for AI and HPC firms.
The report also noted a slowdown in mining hardware imports to the U.S. in January, contributing to the stabilization of hashrate growth. However, some companies, including Blockchain Power Corp and AcroHash, imported a significant amount of cooling infrastructure from Bitmain.
Looking ahead, TheMinerMag predicts another difficulty adjustment decline in February, as smaller mining operators may exit the market due to lower profitability. This ongoing trend underscores the dynamic nature of the Bitcoin mining industry, where competition, technological advancements, and market forces continue to shape its landscape.