Excavation of Over 50K BTC Blocks
As of 22nd December 2022, approximately 53,240 blocks pertaining to Bitcoin were excavated by BTC miners since 1st January 2022.
These 53K plus blocks of Bitcoins were shared between a total of 23 leading Bitcoin miners.
The excavators of Bitcoins need to be appreciated because right now Bitcoin mining isn’t as fruitful as it was in the past.
Present State of BTC Mining
Currently, miners have been putting in more funds in order for them to keep the BTC market going. In return, they are making literally no profits because mining cost has exceeded the profit percentage.
On the other hand, mining difficulty, which has increased alarmingly, is also putting extra pressure upon the miners.
According to macromicro.me data on BTC mining, presently US$18,816 is spent on mining of a single BTC unit. Contrary to this mining cost, BTC’s present market value is $16,800.
There is a huge difference between the cost of production and the end reward. This is why BTC miners are facing enormous difficulties in running businesses and continuing mining activities.
The cost of mining is constantly growing higher given the market downfall. The situation does not seem to be coming under control although the US Feds have been trying to control the inflation.
The cost of energy has been rising as well, alongside the maintenance costs. On the other hand, the returns from mining are not as promising as they used to be in early 2022 or in 2021.
Foundry As 2022’s Biggest BTC Excavator
BTC mining data from 1st Jan to 20th December 2022, reveals that Foundry USA was the biggest BTC excavator of the year. According to the data, Foundry alone managed to mine a total of 11,779 BTC blocks.
During Foundry’s excavations, the biggest Bitcoin miner in the world also stumbled upon three blocks that were missing BTC units.
Year-to-date stats show that BTC mining activity was supported with an average hashpower of 265. Over 22.12% of the hashpower was pooled in by none other than Foundry itself.
Antpool as Second Biggest BTC Miner of the Year
At number two sport was Antpool which managed to bag 8,560 BTC blocks from the beginning of the year till 20th December. Antpool’s contribution to the BTC network’s overall hashpower was more than 16%.
F2pool Secured Third Position
Antpool was then followed by F2pool whose discovery allowed the miner to bag 7,837. As compared to Foundry, F2pool’s BTC excavation operations led the miner to have 28 empty blocks.
Binance Bagged 6,175 Blocks
Centralized Bitcoin miner, Binance, also pocketed 6,175 blocks on Bitcoin in the current year. Its contribution to the network’s hashpower was more than 11.60%.
Viabtc Secured Earned Fifth Place
Without pausing its mining operations for a second, Viabtc bagged 5,194 blocks by supplying 9.76% hashpower to Bitcoin’s network. The miner even managed to secure 5th place amongst the top Bitcoin miners of 2022.
Honorable Mentions
Interestingly, the top 5 BTC miners of the year, shared amongst them over 74% of the total BTC blocks mined during the year.
Hence, the top five miners left only 26% of BTC blocks to be discovered by the rest of the miners in the entire year.
The next five positions (i.e. 6th to 10th) in the top-10 miners’ list were secured by Poolin, Braiins Pool, Btc.com, Luxor, and SBI Crypto.
The miners at 6th to 10th positions shared amongst them approximately 22.62% of the 53,240 BTC blocks mined this year.
The other discoverers included stealth miners who also managed to bag 1.45% out of 53,240 BTC blocks.
The fact of the matter is that BTC mining continues to be an unviable business for the time being.
It seems BTC miners would need to look into their reserves and get top-of-the-line mining rigs for cost-cutting or else quit.
