As Bitcoin Halving Dust Settles, Network Awakens to Costly New Reality

Things haven’t quite been the same since the Bitcoin (BTC) halving. A substantial number of miners have pulled the plug on their equipment due to the halved reward. Consequently, transaction fees are now considerably higher, the hash rate has shed around 25%–40%, and new blocks are generated at remarkably low speed.

So, what can be done to prepare for this new post-halving reality, or will things return back to normal in the near future? Here is a closer look at which blockchain processes have been affected.

Hash rate

One of the most important post-halving trends is the decreased hash rate, which was something experts had warned about shortly before the event. Because the profitability of miners has plunged due to the halved block reward, the older generation of mining units, such as the widely popular Antminer S9, have been mostly turned off. Currently, an Antminer S9 is estimated to generate a negative of more than $2 per day, so it doesn’t make sense to keep such units online…