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Bitcoin Miners Earned $1.08 Billion in May, but Prices Then Collapsed
Bitcoin miners finally had a reason to celebrate as their revenue posted its strongest growth in four months, surpassing the $1 billion mark for the first time since January. However, the momentum has slowed dramatically as Bitcoin fell below $66,000 on Tuesday before staging only a modest recovery the following day.
Key Takeaways
- Bitcoin miner revenue exceeded $1.086 billion in May, marking the first billion-dollar month since January.
- Hashprice declined 17.82% over the past 30 days, reducing daily earnings per PH/s to just $30.77.
- A potential 7.5% difficulty reduction around June 13 could ease some pressure on miners.
Miners Feel the Weight of a $66K Bitcoin
The Bitcoin mining industry is facing hashprice levels not seen since early April. The daily value generated by one petahash per second (PH/s) has dropped 17.82% compared with last month.
According to Hashrate Index data, 30 days ago a single PH/s generated approximately $37.44 per day. Today, that figure has fallen to around $30.77.
Aside from the current period, April, and much of the stretch between February 18 and late March, hashprice remained significantly higher. Tuesday’s intraday Bitcoin low of $65,362 was enough to raise concerns among miners as depressed prices continue to squeeze profitability.
The pressure is already affecting network computing power. Total network hash rate has declined from around 1,000 EH/s to below 975 EH/s.
Current statistics and estimates. All three metrics are subject to change. Image source: hashrateindex.com as of 8:00 PM Eastern Time on June 2, 2026
One positive factor for miners is that reduced computing power has pushed average block production times above Bitcoin’s 10-minute target. At the time of reporting, blocks were being produced every 10 minutes and 49 seconds on average.
If this pace continues until approximately June 13, Bitcoin’s next difficulty adjustment is expected to lower mining difficulty.
Current estimates suggest a potential difficulty reduction of around 7.5%.
Miners Enter June With a Strong May and a Big Question
From a revenue standpoint, May was a successful month for Bitcoin miners. According to Newhedge data, miners earned a total of $1.086 billion during the month, making it the first billion-dollar month since January 2026.
Approximately $1.079 billion of that total came from the 3.125 BTC block subsidy. In other words, transaction fees contributed very little to overall miner revenue.
Bitcoin mining revenues reached their highest level since January 2026. Image source: newhedge.io.
Miners Have Little Support if Bitcoin Doesn't Rise
Transaction fees have recently increased slightly after spending an extended period below 0.6% of total block rewards.
Over the last 24 hours, average fee revenue climbed to approximately 1.16% of total block rewards.
This modest increase in fee income, combined with the possibility of lower mining difficulty, provides miners with a small cushion while Bitcoin prices remain under pressure. However, it does little to change the broader economic challenges facing the industry.
Bitcoin miners entered June with a strong May behind them. Whether that momentum can help them through the coming weeks will largely depend on where Bitcoin's price moves next.
See also: "No New Blocks Were Produced on the Zcash Blockchain for Several Hours"
