Bitcoin mining revenue increases 50% to $23 million in a month

[ad_1]

As Bitcoin (BTC) shows a small bull run, the year-long struggle for survival of connected sub-ecosystems has started to bear fruit. For starters, the Bitcoin mining community saw a 50% increase in revenue from mining rewards and transaction fees in the first month of 2023.

On December 28, 2022, Bitcoin mining revenue fell to $13.6 million for the first time since October 2020. This, coupled with rising energy prices amid geopolitical tensions, imposed pressure enormous financial financial burden on mining companies, forcing some to close up shop.

While Bitcoin remains well positioned for a steady recovery, the mining industry has seen 50% growth in US dollar revenue, as shown below.

Bitcoin mining revenue increased by 50% in January 2023. Source: Blockchain.com

Bitcoin mining revenue grew from $15.3 million on Jan. 1 to nearly $23 million in the space of 30 days.

As more miners join in powering and securing the decentralized Bitcoin network, the hash rate continues to reach new all-time highs. At the time of writing, the Bitcoin hash rate hovered around the 300 exahashes per second (EH/s) mark.

Related: Bitcoin stays free from fear for 11 straight days as price nears 24K

One of Bitcoin’s biggest criticisms remains the high energy requirement to operate the proof-of-work consensus mechanism. In October 2022, Cointelegraph reported that Bitcoin saw a 41% increase in energy consumption year over year (YoY).

However, a drive to source greener energy to power Bitcoin mining facilities aims to address the issue. More recently, a mining company tapped into a blocked power source in Malawi, a landlocked country in southeast Africa.

1,600 families connected to this isolated hydroelectric mini-grid in the mountains of southern Malawi. They have 50kW of locked power which we are testing as a new bitcoin mining site.

Videos for context.

I’m still working on the ventilation, wiring, etc. pic.twitter.com/Sxf8ABGPWH

— Gridless (@GridlessCompute) January 21, 2023

As Cointelegraph reported, the project undertaken by Gridless uses 50 kilowatts (kW) of locked-in power to test as a new Bitcoin mining site.

Speaking about the overall impact of the initiative, Erik Hersman, CEO and co-founder of Gridless, said: The power developer had built these plants a few years ago, but they couldn’t expand to more families as they are barely profitable and could not afford to buy more meters to connect more families. Thus, our agreement allowed them to immediately purchase an additional 200 meters to connect more families.

Additionally, the environmental footprint of the bitcoin mining facility is low as it runs solely on river hydroelectric power.

[ad_2]