Bitcoin Mining in 2025: Industrial Dominance and a Solo-Miner Comeback
Thirteen years after Bitcoin’s first halving, the mining industry in 2025 is markedly more industrialized, efficient and competitive. Global hashrate surpassed 1 ZH/s in August 2025, driven by deployment of ultra-efficient ASICs (e.g., Antminer S21 series) and larger-scale operations diversifying into AI and other sectors. Despite higher network power, annual miner output fell: circulating supply added ~155,000 BTC from Nov. 27, 2024 to Nov. 27, 2025, down 37% from the prior year. Hashprice — miner revenue per unit of hash — hit an all-time low of $34 on Nov. 21, 2025, pressured by intense competition and falling returns even amid higher BTC prices.
At the same time, Bitfinex analysts and industry sources report a resurgence of solo and hobbyist miners. Improvements in mining-pool technology (e.g., CKPool), efficient low-noise ASICs, off-peak electricity strategies, heat-recycling and firmware like BraiinsOS (allowing underclocking for efficiency) have made small-scale and solo mining more viable. However, analysts caution these niche players cannot match industrial capacity and would remain marginal even in miner capitulation scenarios, where mid-size industrial miners would likely assume greater market share.
Key facts and figures: BTC price context (reported ≈ $92k during article), global hashrate >1 ZH/s, 4th halving completed leaving 3.125 BTC/block, circulating supply growth down 37% year-over-year (~155k BTC added vs ~245k), hashprice low $34 (Nov. 21, 2025). For traders, the story highlights rising industrialization, squeezed miner margins, and the potential for increased centralization risk — factors that can influence short-term volatility around miner selling pressure and long-term network security and supply dynamics.
Neutral
The report describes two offsetting trends: greater industrialization and efficiency driving up global hashrate and reducing miner returns, alongside a niche resurgence of solo and hobbyist miners enabled by improved pools, firmware and efficient ASICs. Higher hashrate and lower hashprice increase selling pressure risk as marginal miners struggle, which can be bearish in the short term if miners liquidate holdings to cover costs. However, the resurgence of hobbyist miners is unlikely to materially change supply dynamics or decentralization alone. Longer term, continued deployment of efficient hardware and industry consolidation suggests more stable, professionalized mining infrastructure, which is neutral for price fundamentals but raises centralization considerations that could affect market sentiment. Similar past periods—post-halving reward reductions and hardware refresh cycles—have produced short-term volatility from miner behavior followed by stabilization as the market rebalances. For traders: expect possible short-term downside volatility tied to miner revenue stress and sell flows, but no clear directional catalyst for a sustained bull or bear market solely from this report.