July and August 2024
Welcome back after the summer in our regular monthly guide to the world of cryptocurrency mining!

1. Price range of the most popular cryptocurrencies for July and August 2024
Bitcoin: $63,352 - $59,244 (-6.4%)
Ethereum: $3,493 - $2,523 (-27.7%)
Litecoin: $75.37 - $65.75 (-12.7%)
Dogecoin: $0.125 - $0.102 (-17.34%)
Kaspa: $0.179 - $0.165 (-7.4%)
Nervos: $0.01119 - $0.084 (-29%)
2.New technologies in ASIC Miners:
New IceRiver AL3 with 15 Th/s performance at 3500 W power consumption to mine Alephium cryptocurrency (Blake3 algorithm). Currently the best machine in the price/profit ratio.
The new Dragonball A40 with 3.3 Th/s at 1600 W is a great choice for mining Alephium cryptocurrency (Blake3 algorithm). Decent profit at a reasonable price.
IceRiver AL0 for mining Alephium cryptocurrency (Blake3 algorithm) with 400 Gh/s performance at 100 W power consumption.
The new Dragonball A11 with 3.2 Th/s at 2300 W is the best choice for mining Radiant cryptocurrency (Sha512256D algorithm). Why not try something new?
IceRiver 's new IceRiver RXD RX0 for mining Radiant cryptocurrency (Sha512256D algorithm) with 260 Th/s performance at only 100 W. And again in a power-saving version.
3.News:
Block to supply 3nm mining ASICs to Core Scientific
CompanyBlock has closed its first sale of newly developed mining chips, designed in collaboration with ePIC Blockchain Technologies and Core. Financial technology conglomerate Block has closed its first order for its new mining chips. According to a July 10 announcement, Block will deliver its new 3-nanometer (3nm) mining chips to mining company Core Scientific.
The companies did not disclose financial details of the transaction, but the purchaseis expected to add nearly 15 exahash per second (EH/s) hashrate to Core's mining capacity, which is currently at 24.6 EH/s.
Core Scientific and Block have been working on the new chips for the past several months, with the mining firm providing input for a modular platform designed to scale for mining operators. The collaboration was led by Block's Proto team, the team behind the company's mining tools and wallet.
"This agreement is a good example of how we envision our mining products moving forward the advancement and decentralization of the mining industry," said Thomas Templeton, Proto team leader at Block.
Block is one of the largest players in the industry. The company is behind popular payment gateways like Square and the Cash App, but as of 2021, it has decided to tackle the issues around bitcoin and mining amid a global chip shortage. In October 2021, the company began developing its own semiconductor chips.
In early 2023, it completed the design of a prototype 5nm bitcoin mining chip and revealed plans to create "open source mining technology by selling standalone ASICs and other hardware components". Bitcoin mining requires significant computing resources to solve complex cryptographic problems, transaction verification and network security. Smaller, more efficient 3nm chips can improve the processing of mining hardware while reducing power consumption.
Block has previously described its efforts on ASIC devices as costly and complex. It claims that a small number of companies control much of the specialized silicon for bitcoin mining, leading to a concentration of BTC mining.
Bitcoin ETFs have 4-8x more influence on the price of BTC than miners
The market influence of bitcoin miners is negligible compared to ETFs and exchanges when it comes to pressuring the price of BTC, Glassnode says. New research confirms that miners still have less influence on the price of BTC during a bear market.
In the latest edition of its weekly newsletter, analyst firm Glassnode debunked myths about bitcoin miners pushing down markets.
Bitcoin miners may have fallen on hard times since the last halving cut the reward for BTC blocks by 50%, but they should be the least of your problems.
In Glassnode's analysis of the largest investor entities, it shows that it's actually the centralized exchanges and the United States' reliance on bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that have the most influence on BTC price movements.
As of July 2024, exchanges hold over 3 million BTC. ETFs hold 887,000 BTC. In contrast, known wallets associated with miners hold around 705,000 BTC.
Based on weekly cycles, Glassnode shows that miners' balances shift up and down by around 500 BTC. This is just a fraction of the changes compared to trades on exchanges and ETFs.
"Miners have historically been the primary source of pressure on the sell side, however their relevance to supply decreases with each halving," Glassnode continues.
Balances on exchanges and ETFs can change by approximately 4,000 BTC each week, suggesting that flows through these entities are likely to have 4 to 8 times the market impact of miners.
Paraguayan miners urge state electricity authority to reconsider upcoming price hikes
Capamad spokesman Jimmy Kim says the electricity price hike set for August 1 could push 70% of legal cryptocurrency miners out of business.
Crypto miners in Paraguay are urging the government to reconsider the upcoming electricity price hike. They argue that it will damage the country's economy and could lead to losses of up to $1.5 billion.
On July 19, the Administración Nacional de Electricidad (ANDE) - Paraguay's national electricity grid operator - announced at a press conference that it would go ahead with its planned electricity price hikes for legal cryptocurrency miners.
According to ANDE, the price increase will be effective from 1 August, which could put legitimate cryptocurrency miners out of business.
Jimmy Kim, spokesman for the Chamber of Digital Asset Mining (Capamad) in a statement expressed disappointment with ANDE's decision to increase costs for miners. Kim explained:
"We are incredibly disappointed that Paraguay's state electricity authority, ANDE, has confirmed that electricity prices for legal cryptocurrency miners in the country will increase by up to 16% from August 1. This follows a 54% increase in fees in 2022, when miners began signing new five-year contracts with ANDE."
Capamad, the industry body representing legal Paraguayan bitcoin and altcoin miners, believes ANDE's price hikes will make legal cryptocurrency mining in Paraguay unsustainable. Kim says up to 70% of legitimate mining companies could go out of business as of August.
A spokesman for the miners also says the event could cause thousands of direct and indirect job losses. In addition, Kim said the event threatens more than $1.5 billion in planned investments in technology and infrastructure.
On July 19, ANDEannounced that its efforts to pass a law to protect the integrity of the electricity system were caused by cryptocurrency mining, which interrupted electricity supplies. The government announced stiffer penalties for illegal use of electricity.
While understanding the need to take action against illegal cryptocurrency miners, Capamad urges the government to reconsider its decision to raise the price of electricity for cryptocurrency mining. Kim said:
"Our members are now facing difficult decisions on how to make ends meet. We call on ANDE to urgently review the planned increase in order to protect a vital source of revenue for the Paraguayan economy.
Kim added that more than 50 companies are operating legitimately and have the potential to contribute to the economy. The spokesman claimed that mining companies have already invested over 700 million dollars, which Kim said is "the largest amount of foreign direct investment (FDI) the country has ever received.
Bitcoin miners look for alternatives in mining, bet on AI
Supplying AI applications with computing power is a multi-billion-dollar opportunity for bitcoin miners. Miners are struggling to adapt after April's halving reduced the prospects for solid revenue. Savvy miners are finding new ways to make BTC mining equipment work. The most promising is delivering computing power to artificial intelligence (AI) applications.
The demand for computing power from AI is skyrocketing. This provides a multi-billion dollar opportunity for miners - who are often armed with their own power sources and large data centres.
"The synergy is simple: AI companies need energy and bitcoin miners have it," Matthew Sigel, head of digital asset research at VanEck Fund, said in an Aug. 16 report.
"Existing bitcoin miners are uniquely equipped to immediately support AI [and high-performance computing (HPC)]," Sigel said. He added that some BTC miners can repurpose to serve AI in less than a year, compared to more than four years of building AI data centers on greenfield sites.
It's hard for BTC miners to overstate the potential upside. Nick Hansen, CEO of mining firm Luxor, reportedly said miners could earn $2 to $3 from AI per kilowatt hour (kwH) of energy expended, compared to $0.15 to $0.20 from BTC mining.
Core Scientific has already secured contracts to provide approximately 200 megawatts (MW) of power for CoreWeave's AI hyperscaler, with options to increase capacity further. Investors have taken notice. According to Morningstar, its stock is up more than 200% in 2024.
Hive has been pivoting to AI since 2023 and it's starting to pay off. The company reported revenue of $2.6 million from its HPC business, which contributed to a 36% overall increase from the previous quarter. Equally notable is Hive's HPC infrastructure utilization of more than 80%, indicating strong demand.
This is not an abandonment of bitcoin mining. In fact, these are estimates that assume only a 20.% change in revenue mix.
Meanwhile, many analysts expect BTC to reach new record highs - a boon for miners. Bitdeer has invested in next-generation bitcoin mining equipment and reported a big jump in gross mining revenue in Q2.
The key takeaway is that bitcoin mining isn't just about BTC. It's about infrastructure - which is always in demand, regardless of spot cryptocurrency prices. Miners who understand this will win.
4. Network hashrate:
Bitcoin 552.02 Eh/s → 650.06 Eh/s
Kaspa 366.27 Ph/s → 973.58 Ph/s
Ethereum Classic 164.2 Th/s → 169.2 Th/s
Scrypt (NiceHash) 125.9 Th/s → 126.88 Th/s
Kadena 0.94 Eh/s → 0.936 Eh/s
Nervos CKB 373,8 Ph/s → 383,94 Ph/s
5.Recommended machines:
Antminer L9-The first batch of machines has already started at full speed.
NewDragonball A11- New on the market - 3.2 Th/s performance at 2300 W is the best choice for mining Radiant cryptocurrency (Sha512256D algorithm).
NewIceRiver AL3- 15 Th/s performance at 3500 W power consumption for mining Alephium cryptocurrency (Blake3 algorithm). Affordable version for Alephium mining.