Transaction fees made up just 1.3% of total block rewards in February, marking the lowest share since the last bear market bottom in 2022.

Mar 20, 2025, 6:06 p.m. UTC

Bitcoin miners are facing renewed financial pressure as declining transaction fees and a hashprice drop push operational costs higher, according to TheMinerMag’s February 2025 report​.

Bitcoin’s hashrate climbed 3.8% in February to 810 EH/s, showing a slowdown in mining competition growth. However, the hashprice (the revenue that miners earn per unit of computing power) slipped to $45/PH/s, wiping out gains from the U.S. election-driven price surge. At this level, inefficient miners are feeling the strain.

Transaction fees made up just 1.3% of total block rewards in February, marking their lowest share since the last bear market bottom in 2022. March is trending even lower, at 1.12% so far.

These factors — alongside increased competition from artificial intelligence (AI) data centers — are putting extra pressure on mining operations who rely on hosting agreements and asset-light strategies.

MARA remains the industry leader with 44 EH/s after a 6% hashrate increase, while CleanSpark grew 12% to 39 EH/s. Meanwhile, total bitcoin holdings among miners surpassed 100,000 BTC for the first time, despite some firms like HIVE Digital and Cipher Mining selling their production to fund expansion.

Mining stocks took a hit, with the combined market capitalization of 15 major firms dropping from $36 billion in January to $22 billion in March. Cipher, Canaan, Hut 8, HIVE, and Bitdeer all saw losses exceeding 40%.

With network growth slowing and energy costs rising, miners may need a Bitcoin price rally to avoid further financial strain.

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