Bitcoin Soars in 2024, but Many Mining Firms Fail to Keep Up

Bitcoin's price skyrocketed by 130% in 2024, surging from $42,300 in January to $98,600 by December 24.

Despite this impressive rise, a number of publicly traded Bitcoin mining companies struggled to see similar gains, with only 7 out of 25 showing positive returns. According to Cointelegraph, Core Scientific was the standout, experiencing a 327% surge, while other players like TeraWulf, Bitdeer, and Hut 8 also posted solid gains, ranging from 91% to 167%.

On the other side of the spectrum, many mining firms faced significant losses. Argo Blockchain and Greenidge were hit particularly hard, with their stock prices plummeting by 84% and 74%, respectively. Other firms, such as Mara Holdings and Bitfarms, saw declines of 12% and 44%.

The halving event in April, which reduced Bitcoin block rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC, played a major role in diminishing miner revenues. This led to a sharp drop in daily mining earnings, from over $100 million in April to just $42 million by late December.

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Moreover, mining difficulty spiked by 50.7%, making the process more costly and competitive, which further impacted profit margins. For many companies, the mounting pressure to stay afloat led them to turn to stock offerings for relief. In total, Bitcoin miners raised over $2.2 billion in 2024, with the majority of the funds raised in the second and third quarters.

To bolster their financial positions, some companies like Mara Holdings and Hut 8 took the strategy of accumulating Bitcoin, hoping that holding more of the digital currency would provide better stability moving forward.

Alexander Stefanov