Bitcoin miners have entered June with revenue above $1 billion for the first time in four months, but falling Bitcoin prices are already putting renewed pressure on mining economics.
Summary
- Bitcoin miner revenue topped $1.08 billion in May, the highest level since January.
- Hashprice fell nearly 18% in a month as Bitcoin hovered near the $65,000 support zone.
- A projected 9% difficulty cut may ease pressure on miners if current conditions persist.
According to data from Newhedge, miners generated $1.086 billion in revenue during May, the highest monthly total since January. Most of that income came from the 3.125 BTC block subsidy, which contributed roughly $1.079 billion, while transaction fees accounted for only a small portion of earnings.
Even as miners posted a stronger month, conditions have weakened since the start of June. According to data from crypto.news, Bitcoin (BTC) price dropped as much as 4.5% on June 3, touching an intraday low of $65,700. The leading crypto asset was trading a little higher at $65,800 at press time.
Bitcoin’s recent decline followed heightened geopolitical tensions after Iran launched retaliatory strikes against U.S. targets, prompting a broader risk-off move across financial markets.
Meanwhile, analysts at Citigroup recently argued that sustained spot Bitcoin ETF outflows have also been a more important driver of Bitcoin’s weakness than Strategy’s sale of 32 BTC. In a research note, the bank pointed to nearly $4 billion in ETF withdrawals and described ETF flows as one of the strongest indicators of demand for the asset.
Falling Bitcoin prices are reducing miner profitability
As Bitcoin price trades close to the important $65,000 support area, mining profitability has continued to deteriorate.
Data from Hashrate Index shows the daily value generated by one petahash per second of mining power has fallen to approximately $30.77, down from $37.44 a month ago. The decline represents a drop of nearly 18% over the past 30 days and has pushed hashprice to levels last seen in early April.
Mining companies are already responding to the weaker economics. Network hashrate has fallen from around 1,000 exahashes per second to below 975 EH/s as some operators reduce activity or disconnect less efficient machines.
Meanwhile, slower mining activity has affected block production times. Hashrate Index data showed blocks were being produced every 10 minutes and 59 seconds on average, well above Bitcoin’s 10-minute target. If current conditions persist until the next adjustment period around June 13, estimates suggest mining difficulty could decline by roughly 9%.
A lower difficulty level would reduce competition among miners and allow remaining participants to earn slightly more Bitcoin for the same amount of computing power.
Technical and network signals point to a critical period ahead
While the expected difficulty reduction could provide temporary relief, Bitcoin’s price remains the biggest factor affecting miner revenue.
According to a previous analysis report by crypto.news, Bitcoin is approaching completion of a rounding top formation on the daily chart. Such a pattern is generally considered a bearish reversal formation, and a decisive break below $65,000 could expose the next major demand zone near $60,000.
On the other hand, the same analysis stated that a recovery above $68,700 could weaken the bearish setup and create conditions for a move back toward $72,000.
Transaction fees have offered limited support. After remaining below 0.6% of total block rewards for an extended period, fee income has recently improved. Recent network data shows fees accounted for roughly 1.16% of total block rewards over the past 24 hours.
For now, miners are balancing the benefits of a likely difficulty cut against a market that remains under pressure from ETF outflows and geopolitical uncertainty. Whether May’s strong revenue performance can continue through June may depend largely on Bitcoin’s ability to hold above key support levels.
