Bitcoin miners are making a fortune! Transaction fees in just the second quarter exceeded the entire 2022 revenue.

Although the profitability of Bitcoin has declined as mining difficulty increases year by year, Bitcoin miners' transaction fee income reached an astonishing $184 million in the second quarter of this year, making it one of the most profitable quarters in the past two years, surpassing the revenue for the entire previous year. This can be attributed to the BRC-20 token craze in March. In addition, Bitcoin mining companies are rapidly expanding their equipment and production capacity to broaden their horizons.

Bitcoin Miner Transaction Fee Revenue Soars

With the surge in Bitcoin prices this year and the thriving development of BRC-20 tokens in April and May, Bitcoin miners earned up to $184 million in revenue from transaction fees in the second quarter, far exceeding their total revenue for the entire year of 2022.

Note: Bitcoin miners receive transaction fees after verifying blocks, with fees determined by data size and user demand.

According to a report by the cryptocurrency data platform Coin Metrics on May 5, Bitcoin miners' revenue in the second quarter increased by 270% compared to the first quarter, marking the first time in two years that quarterly revenue exceeded $100 million.

However, as reported by Cointelegraph here, transaction fees accounted for only about 7.7% of miners' total revenue, with the majority coming from Bitcoin rewards for mining blocks.

Additionally, President Biden's previously proposed plan to impose a punitive 30% electricity tax on cryptocurrency mining, as outlined in a proposal, was temporarily set aside for cancellation due to a deal to avoid U.S. debt default, providing relief for the approximately 1 million U.S. Bitcoin miners.

If the bill is successfully passed, miners will face a tax equivalent to 10% of their annual electricity consumption costs starting in 2024 for three years.

Crypto Mining Industry Continues to Focus on Increasing Equipment and Output

Despite the stagnation and slight pullback in Bitcoin's price in June, it seems to have had no impact on the crypto mining industry's focus on strengthening infrastructure and expanding operations.

U.S. Bitcoin mining companies CleanSpark and Bitfarms have both showcased their impressive performance in May, collectively mining over a thousand bitcoins with increased output.

CleanSpark, in particular, has acquired over 60,000 mining machines this year in pursuit of its year-end goal of 16 EH/s profitability, as mentioned in a tweet.

Previously reported, Bitcoin miners are diversifying into new markets related to high-performance computing to broaden revenue sources and avoid over-reliance on the fragile crypto mining cash flow.

Bitcoin Mining Profitability Declining as Market Weakens

According to data from hashrateindex, as Bitcoin mining difficulty has steadily increased over the years, current profitability has decreased to $0.0784 per TH/day, reaching levels last seen in September 2020. Compared to the peak of nearly $0.4 during the bull market at the end of 2021, profitability has dropped by 80%, a 44% decline over the past year.