Bitcoin miner profits hit record low as BTC trades near $60,000
In brief
- Daily miner returns fell to $0.28 per terahash, an all-time low
- Bitcoin production costs range from $50,120 to $62,650 depending on methodology
- Three mining pools control 59% of hashrate, up from 44% in 2022
- Miners shifting power infrastructure to AI computing for better margins
Margins Under Pressure
The erosion in miner economics is severe and measurable. The estimated monthly gross profit for an Antminer S21 XP Hydro at $0.07 per kilowatt-hour electricity cost declined to $137, down from $192 the previous month. That's a 29% drop in 30 days.
Bitcoin's price decline was paired with weak on-chain activity and declining miner revenues. More troubling still, the 14-day average net position change for Bitcoin held in miner and mining pool addresses flipped negative in early May and has remained negative since. That means miners are selling more than they're accumulating—a sign of financial stress.
Production Costs vs. Market Price
At $62,000, Bitcoin is trading dangerously close to the lower bound. American Bitcoin Corp reported gross operational costs near $36,200 per Bitcoin mined in the first quarter of 2026, meaning some operations are still profitable—but the margin is razor-thin. Bitcoin traded below its estimated production cost for more than six months in 2019 and again in 2023, so prolonged underwater periods aren't unprecedented.
Consolidation and Pivot to AI
Market concentration is accelerating. Foundry USA, AntPool, and F2Pool control a combined 59% market share of Bitcoin hashrate in the latest 7-day data, up sharply from 44% in 2022. Smaller operators are getting squeezed out.
A strategic shift is underway. Some Bitcoin miners are repurposing parts of their power infrastructure to support AI computing applications, which is viewed as more stable and lucrative than traditional crypto mining. The logic is straightforward: electricity is the bottleneck for both industries. According to Bernstein analysts, the primary bottleneck for scaling AI data centers is access to electricity rather than chips.
Miner liquidations are accelerating. Whether these liquidations are intended to fund ongoing operations, reduce debt leverage, or bankroll expansion into AI data center computing, the effect is the same: supply pressure on spot markets. Yet spot institutional flows now vastly surpass miners' output, suggesting institutional demand may be absorbing the selling.
Despite the margin squeeze, miners and mining pools still control over $110 billion in Bitcoin. That's real leverage. If they hold through this cycle, the industry's long-term viability may depend not on Bitcoin's price, but on whether they can monetize their power infrastructure in ways mining alone can't support.
