CryptoQuant: Bitcoin Mining Profitability Hits 14‑Month Low After Price Drop and Winter Storms
CryptoQuant reports that Bitcoin mining profitability has fallen to a 14-month low as miner revenue and the miner profit sustainability index dropped sharply to 21 — the weakest level since November 2024. The decline reflects a combination of a recent sharp drop in Bitcoin price, current mining difficulty, and falling network hash rate (which has declined across five consecutive difficulty epochs to its lowest since September 2025). Severe winter storms in parts of the U.S. eastern states have also disrupted some operations, causing power outages and temporary shutdowns that raised operational costs and reduced uptime for affected facilities. CryptoQuant warns this mix of weaker on-chain metrics and operational stress is increasing pressure on miner economics, which could prompt higher short-term miner selling and elevated BTC volatility until hash rate, margins, and prices stabilize. Traders should watch miner selling pressure, difficulty adjustments, and hash-rate recovery as near-term catalysts for price moves.
Bearish
The combined factors in the reports point to a near-term bearish impact on BTC price. Miner margins are compressed by lower BTC prices, elevated mining difficulty and a multi-epoch decline in network hash rate, while operational disruptions from winter storms have raised costs and reduced uptime for some U.S. miners. Historically, tighter miner economics often increase selling pressure as miners liquidate coins to cover expenses, which adds downward pressure on price and raises volatility. In the short term, expect elevated volatility and potential downside risk until either BTC price recovers, mining difficulty adjusts downward, or hash rate and miner margins improve. Over the medium-to-long term the effect is more neutral — miners typically adjust operations (curtail higher-cost rigs, wait for difficulty changes) and the network self-corrects via difficulty and price dynamics. Therefore the immediate outlook is bearish for BTC price action, but the structural impact should lessen as metrics normalize.