Bitcoin Mining Costs Surge to $88,000, Leaving Miners with $19,000 Loss per Coin

The Bitcoin network completed its fourth halving on April 20, 2024, cutting the block reward from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC and immediately reducing miners’ revenue. Mining is also highly dependent on electricity, and geopolitical pressures on energy prices have intensified the cost squeeze, with implications for miner selling, network hash rate and price stability.

As of July 2026, the average cost of producing one Bitcoin had risen to $88,000, or $19,000 above its market price of about $69,000. That translates into a paper loss of the same amount for every coin mined. Mining difficulty also plunged 7.8%. Some miners are selling more of their holdings and repurposing data centers for AI and high-performance computing services.