The latest data published in the US has revealed that Bitcoin mining is no longer a profitable activity, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises. The energy cost of these businesses to mine one Bitcoin has risen to $137,000. In contrast, Bitcoin’s current market value is around $90,000.

Bitcoin mining is no longer profitable

The block reward, which was 50 BTC in 2009, has fallen to 3,125 BTC by 2024 with the halvings that occur every four years. This decline directly reduces the income of Bitcoin miners, while, together with increasing energy prices, it has made mining activities less sustainable.

Today, only companies with large infrastructures and powerful hardware networks can generate meaningful income from these activities. Even in these companies, the average cost of mining one Bitcoin was measured at $82,000.

Bitcoin’s total supply is limited to 21 million. Due to this limit, the idea that profitable mining activities would not be sustainable in the long term was known from the early years of the system. However, the rapid increase in energy costs caused this prediction to come true earlier than expected.

While the cost of mining one Bitcoin in September 2024 was around $56,000 even in the most efficient systems, today this figure has increased by 46% to $82,000. High energy prices and decreasing block rewards have made the effect of economies of scale in mining operations clear.

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