Main Points :
- In September 2025, mining profitability for Bitcoin (BTC) dropped by more than 7%, driven by a roughly 2% dip in Bitcoin’s price coupled with a ~9% uptick in network hash-rate.
- The revenue per 1 EH/s of hashing power fell to about US $52,000/day, down from about US $56,000/day in August.
- North American publicly-listed miners produced ~3,401 BTC in September (down from 3,576 BTC in August). Their share of the global network slipped from ~26% to ~25%.
- The network hash-rate and difficulty remain elevated (hash-rate hitting record highs with over ~1,161 EH/s in October).
- The era of easily profitable mining with moderate cost is fading — profitability increasingly depends on scale, hardware efficiency, power costs, and diversification into other revenue streams (e.g., AI or data centres).
1. September Snapshot: Falling Margins and Rising Competition
In September 2025, mining margins for Bitcoin declined notably. According to Jefferies, the combination of a ~2 % drop in Bitcoin’s price and a ~9 % increase in network hash-rate squeezed margins across the industry.
Revenue per 1 EH/s of hashing capacity slipped to around US $52,000/day, down from about US $56,000/day in August.
Meanwhile, listed North American mining firms reported production of 3,401 BTC (down from 3,576 BTC in August), and their share of the global mining network fell slightly from 26 % to 25 %.
These data points reflect how even large-scale miners are feeling the pressure — the dynamics of price, difficulty, and competition are compressing profitability.
Implication for the reader: If you are seeking a new revenue-stream via mining (or investing in mining operations), September shows that margins are tightening. That means you’ll need sharper cost control, equipment selection, and operational scale to generate meaningful returns.
2. Understanding the Key Drivers: Hash-Rate, Difficulty & Price
To understand why profitability is under pressure, we need to look at three interlinked variables:
Hash-Rate
Hash-rate is the total computational power dedicated to mining on a Proof-of-Work (PoW) chain. Higher hash-rate typically means stronger network security, but it also means more competition among miners — reducing individual reward share.
Recent data show that the Bitcoin network’s hash-rate has surged: sources indicate values around 1,161 EH/s (exahashes per second) as of October 2025.
Difficulty
Mining difficulty adjusts periodically to ensure that block times remain steady. When hash-rate goes up, difficulty generally rises — which translates into fewer rewards per unit of hash-rate for miners. A recent slight dip in difficulty (–2.7%) gives short-term relief, but the upward trend remains dominant.
Bitcoin Price
Of course, mining revenue is highly sensitive to the Bitcoin price. A drop in price reduces the USD value of coin rewards. In September the ~2% price drop contributed to the profitability decline.
When all three variables line up (rising hash-rate, rising difficulty, falling price), the effect is a squeeze on miner margins.
3. Scale, Efficiency and Cost Control Are No Longer Optional
Given the tightening environment, mining participants must be more strategic. Several recent sources highlight key operational factors:
- The global hash-rate surge means smaller or inefficient rigs will struggle. Equipment efficiency (Joules per terahash) and scale (EH/s deployed) matter now more than ever.
- Lower entry cost for newer hardware helps (e.g., mining machine cost per T has fallen compared to earlier years) — but the competition is still fierce.
- Electricity cost, geographic location (cooling, energy subsidies, grid reliability) and infrastructure (data centre quality, downtime, uptime) are key differentiators.
- For many miners, purely mining Bitcoin may no longer suffice; diversification into adjacent computing workloads (e.g., AI, HPC) is accelerating.
Implication for the reader: If you are evaluating setting up a mining operation or investing in one, look for businesses with large scale, efficient hardware, low electricity cost, and an ability to pivot or diversify revenue-streams. Simply “buy rig and mine Bitcoin” is increasingly risky.
4. Emerging Trends: Diversification & Alternative Revenue Streams
Beyond the immediate profitability squeeze, mining operations are evolving to adapt. Some of the noteworthy trends:
- Mining companies are pivoting to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure, leveraging excess capacity and energy infrastructure for new revenue sources. For example, firms are adapting their data centres for AI workloads rather than purely SHA-256 mining.
- The “hash-price” (revenue per TH/s or EH/s) is under pressure and has fallen from earlier levels. Some sources quote hash-price values around US $47-49 per TH/s/day in Oct.2025.
- Smaller scale miners or hobby miners may find mining Bitcoin to be less viable — instead, alternative coins (ASIC-resistant, GPU/CPU mineable) or service models (cloud mining, hosting, infrastructure) may become more attractive.
- On the academic/regulatory side, some countries (e.g., South Korea) are exploring using surplus electricity and grid efficiency strategies tied to mining operations — indicating mining may also play a role in energy infrastructure economics.
Implication for the reader: If you’re exploring a “next revenue source” in blockchain/mining, don’t just think about Bitcoin mining hardware. Consider hybrid models: infrastructure services, compute-leasing, alternative coins, or geographic arbitrage of energy cost. The mining field is evolving.
5. What This Means for Crypto Investors and Practitioners
From the perspective of someone looking for new crypto assets, revenue-streams, or practical blockchain applications, here are several take-aways:
- If you are investing in mining companies, the margin squeeze means valuations may be under pressure unless the company demonstrates cost-leadership, diversification or new revenue vectors (e.g., AI).
- If you are operating a mining rig or planning to, you must run detailed models: hardware cost, power cost (USD/kWh), cooling, downtime, network difficulty schedule, hardware refresh cycle, etc. Margins are slimmer so optimization is key.
- If you are exploring blockchain infrastructure beyond mining, the trend toward compute services (HPC, AI) means you should ask: how can blockchain infrastructure (mining-capable data-centres, colocation) pivot or integrate into broader tech stacks?
- When selecting crypto assets (coins) or projects, just because a coin is mineable doesn’t guarantee profitability. Mining profitability now more than ever depends on hardware, electricity, competition, and network fundamentals.
- For those just getting into “crypto revenue streams,” alternative models (staking, DeFi, infrastructure provision) may offer more attractive risk/return profiles than raw Bitcoin PoW mining — unless you have scale and favorable electricity.
6. Insert Graph / Chart to Illustrate Trend
Summary
In summary, the Bitcoin mining ecosystem is clearly under margin pressure as of September 2025. Rising network hash-rate and difficulty, combined with price softness, reduced revenue per unit of hash-rate by over 7%. Raw mining operations that do not control costs or scale efficiently are likely to see shrinking returns.
For crypto-practitioners seeking new revenue streams, this means two things: (1) the simple “buy rigs and mine Bitcoin” model is increasingly marginal, and (2) successful operators are those who integrate mining infrastructure into a broader tech stack (efficient ASICs, low power cost, regional energy arbitrage, diversification into AI or data centre services). For investors and infrastructure seekers, mining still offers opportunities — but only for those who understand the operational levers and shifting economics.
If you like, I can dig into which miners (hardware models, regions) are currently most efficient, and also take a look at alternative coins for mining profitability in this tougher climate. Would you like me to prepare that?
