TechFlow News: On April 12, according to Cointelegraph, approximately two years ahead of Bitcoin’s fifth halving, mining companies are facing a significantly more challenging operating environment than that following the 2024 halving. At that time, the block reward will drop from 3.125 BTC to 1.5625 BTC—compounded by record-high network hash rate, rising energy costs, and increasingly cautious capital markets—severely compressing industry profit margins.
On the balance-sheet front, several leading mining firms have proactively begun deleveraging. MARA Holdings sold over 15,000 BTC in March to reduce leverage; Riot Platforms sold over 3,700 BTC in Q1; Cango sold 2,000 BTC to repay Bitcoin-collateralized debt; and Bitdeer’s Bitcoin holdings dropped to zero on February 20.
Industry professionals generally hold a cautious outlook. Juliet Ye, Head of Communications at Cango, stated, “The middle ground has virtually disappeared—operators with scale and diversified operations can cope, while those lacking these attributes will struggle during the next halving.” Mark Zalan, CEO of GoMining, noted, “Capital discipline is now more important than maximizing hash rate,” adding that newly deployed projects must meet stricter return thresholds.
From a business-model perspective, pure block rewards have become “an increasingly thin-margin business.” Stronger operators are pivoting toward power-generation and data-center businesses, generating additional revenue through grid peak-shaving, waste-heat utilization, and other means. Cango is already transitioning toward a dual-track model combining hash-rate operations and AI workloads. Ye remarked, “Five years from now, truly critical infrastructure will be facilities capable of performing multiple functions simultaneously.”
