Thirteen Years After The First Halving, Bitcoin Mining Looks Very...
Bitcoin mining faces record competition as solo and hobbyist miners stage a comeback using new mining strategies.
Thirteen years ago today, Bitcoin experienced its first halving event, reducing the miner block reward from the original 50 BTC to 25 BTC.
Now, with Bitcoin (BTC) having completed four halving events and block rewards standing at just 3.125 BTC, the mining industry is continuing to transform, with industrial miners consolidating and diversifying into AI.
At the same time, a niche trend of solo mining is emerging, according to Bitfinex analysts who spoke to Cointelegraph.
“Despite the new spike in more industrial Bitcoin mining, we would like to underscore the new wave of solo miners and how hobbyist miners are coming back to the market, thanks to improvements in mining pools, efficiency gains and niche strategies,” the analysts said.
Since last year, the Bitcoin mining market has grown significantly in scale, complexity and competitiveness, with the global hashrate surpassing the symbolic one zetahash per second (ZH/s) in August, according to CoinWarz data.
“This reflects both increased investment and the deployment of ultra-efficient mining hardware such as the Antminer S21 series,” Bitfinex analysts said. “In short, the Bitcoin mining market of 2025 is more industrialized, technologically advanced and geographically dispersed than it was in 2024, but also more competitive and volatile.”
Despite increasing competition, mining output has declined over the past year. Bitcoin’s circulating supply added about 155,000 BTC between Nov. 27, 2024, and Nov. 27, 2025, down 37% from 245,000 BTC in the preceding year, according to Blockchain.com.
“2024 was already a tough year for miners,” Kristian Csepcsar, chief marketing officer at BTC mining tech provider Braiins, told Cointelegraph, adding that miners were deploying hardware at record speed.
Related: Bitcoin miner hashprice nearing $40, miners back in ‘survival mode’: Report
Source: CoinTelegraph
