‘Crypto Week’ Excitement Obscures Shrinking Miner Fees

Kirk Ogunrinde checks in on the shifting economics of Bitcoin mining.

While champagne is being uncorked as “Crypto Week” in the US culminates with the first-ever industry-specific regulation, Bitcoin miners have one less reason to celebrate.

The companies - which spend billions of dollars on specialized computers and electricity to validate encrypted transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain and earn rewards in the form of the token - saw a significant source of revenue tumble this week even as the price of the cryptocurrency soared to a record of more than $123,000. The minimum fee earned for processing transactions fell by around 90% at one point to the equivalent of less than $1.