Bloomberg: Bitcoin’s “halving” prompted a massive exodus of old U.S. mining machines

PANews March 25 news, according to Bloomberg, due to the upcoming Bitcoin halving event, American mining companies are also disposing of their old models of mining machines while continuing to purchase new mining machines to expand their computing power. About 6,000 old Bitcoin mining rigs will soon be unused and sent to a warehouse in Colorado Springs, where they will be refurbished and resold to people looking to profit from mining in a low-cost environment. overseas buyers. Since electricity is the largest expense in Bitcoin mining activities, mining companies including publicly traded companies Marathon Digital and Riot Platforms need to reduce usage costs to maintain positive profits. In theory, the computing power of old mining machines may still be profitable after the halving, but it is unlikely to be realized given the high electricity bills in the United States.

Ethan Vera, chief operating officer of crypto mining service provider Luxor, estimates that about 600,000 S19 series mining machines, accounting for the majority of machines currently in use, are being moved from the United States to Africa and South America. Some buyers will wait until the halving occurs before purchasing used mining rigs, believing that prices will have dropped even more by then. Data shows that in March 2022, the price of a second-hand S19 model mining machine was approximately US$7,030. A year later, as the price of Bitcoin fell, the price of a used S19 dropped sharply to about $900. With the upgrading of mining machines, second-hand S19 has dropped to about US$427 this month, and is expected to sell for about US$356 after the halving in May.

In addition, there are also some US miners who choose not to sell their hardware, but only move the equipment to regions with lower power costs and third-party data centers.