TechFlow news, December 7 — According to the latest data from CryptoRank.io, the average cash cost of mining one bitcoin has reached $74,600, while the total cost including depreciation and stock-based compensation (SBC) has soared to $137,800. As network hash rate surpassed the symbolic milestone of 1 ZH/s, industry competition has intensified, causing mining profit margins to drop sharply.
This shift is driving many public miners to reallocate computing capacity toward artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) workloads, which offer significantly higher profit margins than traditional bitcoin mining.
The industry is splitting into two distinct business models:
- Infrastructure providers: repurposing mining data centers for high-margin computing tasks
- Traditional miners: continuing operations in a more competitive, near-zero margin environment
Analysts note that the high mining costs also reflect bitcoin's scarcity, which could be one of the factors driving the current price increase.
