27 August 2025

Bitcoin Mining Faces New Challenges as Power Costs Impact Profitability

Key updates in cryptocurrency technology and investment:

Bitcoin Mining Market Challenges: Executives at the SALT conference reported that Bitcoin miners face a difficult market due to rising electricity costs and changing demand. Miners need to diversify revenue streams beyond Bitcoin production, with companies like Cleanspark exploring ways to monetize power. It currently costs around $60,000 to mine one Bitcoin at a price of $115,000, indicating tight profit margins reliant on low-cost energy.
Bitcoin Liquid Staking Growth: Liquid staking tokens are gaining traction, positioning Bitcoin as a productive asset within DeFi. Lombard Finance launched its LBTC token, allowing users to stake BTC while accessing liquidity for use across various DeFi protocols.
Optimism Partners with Flashbots: Optimism has collaborated with Flashbots to enhance transaction processing speed and customization in its OP Stack ecosystem. This aims to extend advanced sequencing features to smaller projects, improving efficiency across Ethereum layer-2 networks.
Hemi Labs Secures $15M Funding: Hemi Labs raised $15 million to develop its Bitcoin programmability network and expand its ecosystem for lending and trading applications.

Aave Labs introduced Horizon, enabling institutional borrowing of stablecoins against tokenized real-world assets.
Google Cloud is advancing its own layer-1 blockchain, designed as neutral infrastructure for global finance.

Crypto lobbyists in Washington are advocating for software developer protections amid discussions on U.S. Senate market structure legislation.
The U.S. CFTC will soon operate with only one commissioner following the departure of Kristin Johnson.