As Bitcoin (BTC) shows a minor uptrend, the year-long fight for the survival of connected mining ecosystems has begun to pay off. In the first month of 2023, the Bitcoin mining community experienced a 50% increase in revenue through mining rewards and transaction fees.
On December 28, 2022, Bitcoin mining revenue fell to $13.6 million for the first time since October 2020. This, coupled with rising energy prices amid geopolitical tensions, imposed a tremendous financial pressure on mining companies, forcing some to close.
With Bitcoin remaining well positioned for a steady recovery, the mining industry saw 50% growth in revenue in US dollar terms, as shown below.
Bitcoin mining revenue increased from $15.3 million on January 1 to almost $23 million in the span of 30 days.
As more miners come together to power and protect Bitcoin’s decentralized network, the hash rate continues to hit new all-time highs. At the time of writing this article, the Bitcoin hash rate was around 300 exhashes per second.
Related: Bitcoin Stays Fearless for 11 Days in a Row as Prices Approach 24K
One of the biggest criticisms of Bitcoin continues to be the high energy requirement to run the proof-of-work consensus mechanism. In October 2022, Cointelegraph reported that Bitcoin experienced a 41% year-over-year increase in energy consumption.
However, a push for greener energy to power Bitcoin mining facilities is aimed at resolving the situation. A mining company recently tapped into a stranded power source in Malawi, a landlocked country in southeast Africa.
1,600 families connected to this remote mini-hydroelectric grid in the mountains of southern Malawi. They have 50kW of stranded power that we are testing as a new Bitcoin mining site.
Context videos.
I’m still working on ventilation, wiring, etc. pic.twitter.com/Sxf8ABGPWH
— Gridless (@GridlessCompute) January 21, 2023
As Cointelegraph reported, the project, run by Gridless, uses 50 kilowatts of stranded power to test as a new Bitcoin mining site.
Speaking about the overall impact of the initiative, Erik Hersman, co-founder and CEO of Gridless, stated: “The power developer had built these power plants a few years ago, but they couldn’t expand to more families because they’re barely profitable and they couldn’t afford buy more meters to connect more families. So our agreement allowed them to immediately buy 200 more meters to connect more families.”
Furthermore, the environmental footprint of the Bitcoin mining facility is low, as it is powered exclusively by river-based hydroelectric power.
