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the current hashprice lingering at a significant low. Just five days ago, miners were harvesting an average of 5.105 BTC per block, between a blend of new BTC and transaction fees, following a peak in the hashprice. However, the average yield per block reward over the past 100 blocks has notably decreased by 24.97% since last Sunday.
As of 7 a.m. Eastern Time on April 26, 2024, the expected earnings from 1 petahash per second (PH/s) of hashing power per day, known as the hashprice, stood at merely $56.95. This rate is the lowest it has been in the past seven years, despite the flurry of activity from Runes protocol transactions. On April 23, a record-breaking 927,010 transactions were verified by bitcoin miners within a single day.
During this record-setting day, transfers related to the Runes protocol accounted for over 81% of all processed transactions. From more than 11,000 Runes-centric coins, miners have amassed 2,129 BTC in transaction fees. However, the willingness of Runes-based token holders to pay high fees has waned since Apr. 19, with the average transaction fee now reduced to 32 satoshis per virtual byte (sats/vB) for a high-priority transfer.
This marks a significant reduction from the 91.4 sats/vB or $12.98 per transaction paid on April 25. Five days prior to this, starting from block height 840,179, miners pulled in an average revenue of 5.105 BTC, following the high earnings post-halving. Between block heights 840,179 and 840,417, miners earned an average of 4.95 BTC from both subsidies and fees. However, in the most recent 100 blocks—from block height 840,849 to 840,949—the average revenue per block has dipped to about 3.83 BTC.
Amid the remarkable spike in bitcoin’s transaction volume, with a historical high on April 23, the digital currency’s ecosystem faces a stark contrast in economic realities. The plummeting hashprice and reduced fees from Runes-based transactions underline the challenges and shifting dynamics within the mining sector. As this trend persists, it poses serious questions about the sustainability of mining profitability and the long-term implications for network security.
