Selling pressures in the cryptocurrency world are testing the patience of Bitcoin miners. Miners, whose incentives from the Bitcoin blockchain were cut in half with the halving, took a second hit with the price drop, while the mining difficulty dropped 5% to 79 trillion around 06:30 this morning.

The drop in mining difficulty is interpreted as a clear indication that some miners who were unable to make much profit (or perhaps even a loss) with the halving are shutting down machines. The 5% drop this morning marks the second largest drop in the last 1.5 years after the FTX collapse. In the FTX collapse (in December 2022), mining difficulty fell by more than 7%.

It might even be good for big miners

On the other hand, the exit of small-scale miners and the unplugging of their machines may also increase the number of BTC mined by large US-based mining companies. These companies, especially before the halving, had invested heavily and equipped their facilities with powerful equipment.

Therefore, this drop may allow them to own more Bitcoin and earn profits.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading around $54,800.