According to CoinDesk, a research report released by JPMorgan Chase (JPM) on Thursday showed that the current computing power and energy consumption of the Bitcoin (BTC) network shows that the cost of mining a single Bitcoin is estimated to have dropped from US$50,000. to about $45,000. The bank had previously expected that after the growth rate of Bitcoin supply slowed due to the halving of mining rewards, less profitable miners would exit the network and computing power would suffer a significant decline. Analysts at JPMorgan Chase said that this has now happened, albeit with a delay.
The report pointed out that the reason for the delay may be the newly launched Runes protocol (a new token creation method in the Bitcoin ecosystem) on the Internet, which caused a temporary spike in transaction fees and extended the survival time of some miners. JP Morgan analysts pointed out that this provided a temporary boost to miners' income immediately after the Bitcoin halving. Bitcoin miners were able to offset the loss of issuance rewards due to the halving through the surge in transaction fees, making the miners' district Block rewards remain almost unchanged.
However, as the Runes craze subsided and the temporary boost for miners disappeared, energy consumption on the network fell more than hash power, suggesting that inefficient, non-profit miners have exited and the Bitcoin price has created a feedback loop with it:
“The lower the price of Bitcoin, the more unprofitable miners will leave the Bitcoin network under pressure, resulting in a further decline in computing power and Bitcoin production (mining) costs.”
JPMorgan sees limited upside for Bitcoin in the near term as it faces several previously identified headwinds, including a lack of positive catalysts and fading retail momentum.
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