As Bitcoin (BTC) posts a contained bull run, the year-long struggle for survival of mining ecosystems is starting to pay off. In the first month of 2023, the mining community saw a 50% increase in revenue thanks to mining rewards and transaction fees.
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 and geopolitical tensions, has forced a severe financial pressure on mining companiesforcing some operators to close.
As Bitcoin remains well positioned for a steady recovery, the mining industry has seen a 50% growth in revenues in US dollar terms, as shown below.
Since January 1, mining revenues are increased from $15.3 million to nearly $23 million within 30 days.
As more miners join together to power and secure Bitcoin’s decentralized network, the hash rate continues to hit new all-time highs. At the time of writing, the hash rate of Bitcoin stands at around 300 exahashes per second.
One of the major criticisms leveled at Bitcoin remains the high energy requirement to power the proof-of-work consensus protocol. In October 2022, Cointelegraph reported that Bitcoin saw a 41% increase in energy consumption compared to the previous year.
However, a push to source greener energy to power Bitcoin mining facilities aims to solve the problem. A mining company recently tapped into an untapped source of energy in Malawi, a landlocked country in southeast Africa.
1600 households connected to this remote mini-hydrogrid in the mountains of southern Malawi. They have 50 kW of spare energy that we are testing as a new Bitcoin mining site.
Videos attached.
We are still working on the ventilation, wiring, etc.
1600 families connected to this remote hydro minigrid in the mountains of southern Malawi. They have 50kW of stranded energy that we are testing out as a new Bitcoin mining site.
Videos for context.
Still working on venting, wiring, etc. pic.twitter.com/Sxf8ABGPWH
— Gridless (@GridlessCompute) January 21, 2023
As Cointelegraph reported, the project – undertaken by Gridless – harnesses 50 kilowatts of unused energy to test a new Bitcoin mining site.
Discussing the overall impact of the initiative, Erik Hersman, co-founder and CEO of Gridless, said: “The power company had built these plants a few years ago, but they weren’t able to expand to more households because they were barely profitable and they couldn’t afford to buy more meters to connect more households.” Our deal allowed them to immediately buy another 200 meters to connect more families.”
Furthermore, the environmental footprint of the Bitcoin mining facility is low, since it works exclusively with hydroelectric energy of river origin.
