The Bitcoin mining industry is becoming increasingly competitive, with so-called Tier-2 operators closing the gap on established leaders in realized hashrate—a sign of a more level playing field following the 2024 halving.
According to miner mag, companies like Cipher Mining, Bitdeer and Hive Digital have rapidly expanded their realized hashrate after several years of infrastructure growth, narrowing the distance to leading players like Mara Holdings, Cleanspark and Cango.
“Their ascent highlights how the middle tier of public miners – once riding on the back foot – has rapidly scaled production since the 2024 split,” miner mag wrote in the latest miner weekly newsletter.
While Mara, CleanSpark and CANGO maintained their positions as the three largest public miners, rivals including Iren, Cipher, Bit deer and Hive digital Posted significant year-over-year increases in realized hashrate.
In total, the top public miners reached 326 exahashes per second (eh/s) of realized hashrate in September, more than double the level recorded a year earlier. Together, they now account for nearly one-third of the Bitcoin network’s total hashrate.
Hashrate represents the total computational power miners contribute to securing the Bitcoin blockchain. The hashrate was realized, however, steps actually Onchain performance, or the rate at which valid blocks are successfully mined.
For publicly traded miners, it also serves as a closer indicator of operational efficiency and potential earnings, making it a key metric early in the third-quarter earnings period.
Related: Solo Bitcoin Miner Scores $347K, ‘Pure Self-Overigntty In Action’
Bitcoin miners are engulfed in hash wars
In the race for market share, Bitcoin mining companies are taking on levels of debt as they expand into new mining rigs, artificial intelligence infrastructure and other capital ventures.
Total debt across the sector advanced to $12.7 billion, up from $2.1 billion 12 months ago, according to Vaneck’s research. The researchers noted that miners should continue to invest in next-generation hardware to maintain their share of Bitcoin’s total hashrate and avoid falling behind competitors.
Some mining companies are turning to AI and high-performance computing workloads to diversify revenue streams and offset declining margins following 2024 Bitcoin (BTC) division, that Block rewards reduced to 3.125 BTC.
Related: Hive Digital accelerates AI pivot with $100m HPC expansion – Cointelegraph exclusive
