On July 5th, Bitcoin fell below $54,000, experiencing a decline of over 6% in the past 24 hours due to increasing bearish pressure. The market downturn intensified after Mt. Gox, an early cryptocurrency exchange that went bankrupt over a decade ago, started to repay its customers following a lengthy bankruptcy process.
The latest downturn has rendered several Bitcoin mining machines unprofitable.
According to the latest data from f2pool, only six mining machines remain profitable when Bitcoin’s price drops below $56,000. These machines include the Antminer models S21 Hyd, S21, A1466I, S19 XP Hyd, S19 XP, and the Whatsminer M56S++.
The data indicates that at an electricity rate of $0.08 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), ASICs with an efficiency of less than 23 watts per terahash (W/T) are operating at a loss.
It is important to note that miners have significantly contributed to the selling pressure on Bitcoin, offloading over $1 billion worth of crypto assets when the price fluctuated between $65,000 and $70,000.
Some market analysts suggest that miners’ current unprofitability could indicate a local bottom, as reduced profitability might lead to less selling pressure.
Experts also suggest that the network is demonstrating signs of miner capitulation, a period characterized by miners halting operations or selling part of BTC reserves.
Historically, this stage has been associated with the bottoming of Bitcoin prices, after which the asset typically begins an uptrend.