Posts about Bitcoin
Just about 6 years ago from today there was a historic event for Bitcoin and all of Crypto history. On the 1st August 2017, BTC splitted into BTC and BCH, the first Bitcoin fork. Later on BCH also splitted into BCH and BSV in 2018. A hard fork means that a blockchain network splits up into a new and an old version, reasons for that have usually been conflicts in the developer team and it was actually the same with the BTC-BCH hardfork.
Here there were conflicts of rather having larger mining block for BTC and thus having cheaper fees and faster transactions (BCH) or just keep it at the smaller blocks (BTC). So, was it really worth it?
While BCH still stays as the 17th Crypto ranked by market cap (and BSV is at 57th), it is still down a whopping 95% against BTC since its fork and generally down 94% from its ATH of over $1.1k in 2017 to now a price of $228. So looking at the numbers, it certainly was a failure and could never even narrowly come close to giving the actual BTC competition.
Just a small disclaimer at the end, BCH even if after the numbers has lost, this post should be no disrespect for their quite big community it has gathered over the years and the fact that it is under active development and can actually be used for low-fees and fast transactions. (unlike the Craig Wright aka Faketoshi scam of BSV)
For publicly-listed Bitcoin miners, in particular, a price north of $100,000 may be more of a necessity than a forecast if their business models are to remain profitable. Bitcoin mining stocks have been on a tear this year, outperforming BTC by a wide margin in recent months. While BTC has seen reduced volatility and a period of consolidation, Bitcoin mining companiesโ stocks have risen by nearly 100% in a matter of months.
Recent performance of popular BTC mining stocks. Source: Seeking AlphaA big increase in Bitcoinโs price will therefore be required for miners to remain profitable at todayโs hash rate levels.
How high does the BTC price need to go for miners to maintain their current valuations?
A recent report by Seeking Alpha explores BTC mining by examining one popular miner in particular: Riot Platforms. It notes that despite Riot being expected to triple its mining capacity in 2024, the company and Bitcoin miners, in general, could face serious headwinds from the halving. A 50% decrease in BTC block rewards cuts minersโ main source of revenue in half. Miners like Riot can also issue new equity shares to fund their operations. This dilutes existing shares, meaning that even if the companyโs underlying fundamentals are sustained, the share price may not keep up.
Do you think BTC can break the 100k price by end of 2024?