Bitcoin miners brace for tighter margins before 2028 halving

Bitcoin miners are preparing for smaller rewards after the April 2028 halving, when block subsidies will drop to 1.5625 BTC. Operators cite a combination of higher power prices, a record network hashrate and a shift from informal guidance to formal regulation in key markets as pressures on margins.

At the previous halving in April 2024, rewards fell from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC per block. The 2028 cut halves that post‑2024 subsidy and reduces the new‑coin portion of miner revenue further.

Public filings and company disclosures show miners trading BTC holdings to strengthen balance sheets. MARA Holdings sold more than 15,000 BTC in March to reduce leverage. Riot Platforms reported sales of over 3,700 BTC in the first quarter. Cango sold 2,000 BTC to repay Bitcoin‑backed debt. Bitdeer reported Bitcoin holdings of zero as of Feb. 20. Company statements tie the transactions to debt reduction, liquidity management and repositioning for lower issuance.

Operators are altering how they run facilities. Firms are signing longer power contracts, focusing on fleet efficiency and setting higher return thresholds for new hardware. Some sites are being designed to switch workloads between cryptocurrency hashing and other compute tasks to use facility capacity more fully.

Several companies plan to generate revenue beyond block rewards. Projects include contracts to run artificial intelligence or high‑performance computing tasks, grid services and curtailment arrangements, and systems to reuse heat from mining equipment. Cango outlined plans for sites that can alternate between AI processing and hashing to improve utilization.

Regulatory developments are changing the financing environment. Authorities in major jurisdictions are introducing defined rules on custody, banking access and platform licensing. Market participants also point to expanded exchange‑traded products, derivatives and settlement rails in parts of Asia as factors that affect capital flows into larger, regulated operators.

Juliet Ye, head of communications at Cango, said the next halving will arrive ‘in an environment that looks almost nothing like 2024’ and described a widening efficiency gap that forces decisions on hardware upgrades and reliable power. Mark Zalan, CEO of GoMining, argued that capital discipline has become more important than pursuing raw hashrate growth and that new deployments must clear stricter return requirements. Alejandro de la Torre, co‑founder and CEO of a Stratum V2 pool, observed that mining hotspots tend to peak and then realign, and that regional shifts in activity are likely as mid‑size operators seek new energy partnerships.

Executives report investors are favoring firms that lock long‑term compute contracts and secure low‑cost, firm power. Some operators with diversified revenue streams and multiuse facilities are trading at higher revenue multiples than pure‑play miners, according to company communications and industry comments.

Background: A Bitcoin halving occurs roughly every four years and cuts new coins issued per block in half to slow supply growth. Halvings reduce miner income from newly issued coins and increase the share of revenue that must come from transaction fees and other services.