Infrastructure Providers Warn of ASIC Scarcity for Bitcoin Miners
Bitcoin (BTC) miners have begun to express a number of concerns ahead of the next halving event, which is set to occur in April.
During the halving, the Bitcoin mining reward will be cut from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. Additionally, the Bitcoin network’s hash rate recently reached an all-time high, making it more difficult to mine a Bitcoin reward.
#Bitcoin's hashrate will hit one Zettahash by early 2026 if we continue the growth rate since 2023.
I'll be curious to see how much the halving impacts this, if at all. pic.twitter.com/lmsGEF8Aon
— Sam Wouters (@SDWouters) February 27, 2024
As a result, Bitcoin miners require more computing power to solve the cryptographic puzzles that underlie every Bitcoin transaction.
Due to this, many miners have started doubling down on energy efficient practices and infrastructure to ensure that their operations remain profitable post halving.
Yet the need for more computing power, coupled with Bitcoin’s rising price ahead of the halving, has led some infrastructure providers to believe that a shortage in mining equipment is on the horizon.
Demand for Bitcoin application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) miners in particular has sparked concern amongst mining suppliers.
Taras Kulyk, Founder and CEO of SunnySide Digital – an infrastructure provider for the Bitcoin mining industry – told Cryptonews that if the upcoming halving cycle reflects the previous halving event, the industry is likely to see an era of ASIC shortages.
“The previous halving event resulted in many miners experiencing a situation where they had to go to an active secondary market to find readily available digital mining hardware from respected vendors,” he said.
Kulyk added that this shortage could become even more severe if
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