Bitcoin miners are experiencing heightened financial challenges as falling transaction fees and a decrease in hashprice lead to increased operational expenses, as highlighted in a recent February 2025 report.
During February, Bitcoin’s hashrate increased by 3.8% to a total of 810 EH/s, indicating a deceleration in the growth of mining competition. However, the hashprice, which represents the revenue miners generate per unit of computational power, dropped to $45/PH/s, counteracting benefits gained from the price surge related to the U.S. elections. This decline is putting pressure on less efficient miners.
In February, transaction fees constituted merely 1.3% of total block rewards, marking the lowest percentage since the previous bear market’s nadir in 2022. The trend continues to decline in March, currently at 1.12%.
These dynamics, alongside growing rivalry from AI data centers, are adding further strain on mining operations that depend on hosting agreements and lean asset strategies.
MARA leads the sector with a hashrate of 44 EH/s, reflecting a 6% increase, while CleanSpark expanded by 12% to reach 39 EH/s. Notably, the cumulative bitcoin holdings among miners exceeded 100,000 BTC for the first time, despite some companies, such as HIVE Digital and Cipher Mining, opting to sell their production in order to support expansion.
Mining stocks have faced considerable declines, with the combined market value of 15 prominent firms shrinking from $36 billion in January to $22 billion in March. Companies like Cipher, Canaan, Hut 8, HIVE, and Bitdeer reported losses exceeding 40%.
With the slowing of network growth and rising energy expenses, miners may be in need of a Bitcoin price surge to alleviate further financial pressure.
Disclaimer: Some portions of this article were generated with the help of AI tools and have been reviewed by our editorial team to ensure correctness and compliance with our standards.