The data from The Block analytics reveal that Bitcoin miners earned more than $2 billion in March, setting a new record. This surpasses the previous high of $1.7 billion in May 2021.
Miners receive income from both block rewards and transaction fees within the Bitcoin network. In March, transaction fees contributed $85.8 million to the total revenue, marking a record monthly amount.
The leading mining pool was Foundry USA, responsible for mining 1,312 blocks, representing 29.74% of all blocks on the network. Following closely were Antpool, Viabtc, F2pool, and Binance Pool.
Despite these earnings, the upcoming reduction in block rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC in April is expected to lower daily commission revenue to around $2 million. There has been minimal fluctuation in this figure in the early days of the month.
Galaxy Digital experts anticipate that approximately 15%-20% of the Bitcoin network's total computing power may become unprofitable after the halving. This could lead to miners shutting down less efficient operations, retaining only the most profitable equipment.
The study also suggests that there could be a post-halving migration of outdated mining equipment from the US to regions with more affordable energy costs, such as Africa. Buyers are holding off on purchasing mining equipment until after the halving to take advantage of reduced prices. For instance, the cost of used S19s dropped from approximately $7,000 in March to $427.
