Riot Blockchain reported a 250% increase in hash rate per second compared to 2019 but faced some challenges
Colorado-based blockchain mining company Riot Blockchain recently released its second quarter report, which highlighted a 28% decline in mined bitcoins compared with the second quarter of 2019.
In Q2 2019, Riot mined 316.19 bitcoins; the number fell to 227 in Q2 2020.
The report also shows an improvement in Riot’s mining power. The company’s hash rate is now 250% higher than the previous year. Current mining capacity stands at 357 PH/s and is expected to increase to 566 PH/s by October. By contrast, the hash rate at the end of Q2 2019 was just 101 PH/s.
On a broader scale, Riot recorded an increase in mining margin from 20.5% to 33.5% and reported revenue growth of approximately half a billion dollars for the six months ending June 30.
Historically, Riot has diversified its mining operations somewhat, mining not only Bitcoin but also Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash.
Mining is tougher than ever
In July, industry reports noted that Bitcoin mining difficulty reached an all-time high, rising almost 10% to 17.35 T. This increase may reflect the deployment of high-end mining rigs that were pre-ordered months earlier and have recently come online.
Bitcoin mining could help fight Covid-19
As the Covid-19 situation grew more serious, Kazakhstan proposed a 15% tax on Bitcoin mining. The measure aims to leverage the growth of the crypto sector to help finance the fight against Covid-19.
The draft proposal would treat taxpayers involved in crypto mining as a distinct category for tax purposes. The registration clause would make the bill unique by differentiating taxpayers who work with cryptocurrencies from the start of the tax filing process.
Miners would be required to report the tax amount in their existing tax filings.
Kazakhstan’s combination of low electricity rates and an initially unregulated crypto market helped the country develop a booming mining industry. Today it accounts for up to 6% of the global Bitcoin hash rate, placing Kazakhstan second only to China.
Introducing this tax could be Kazakhstan’s first step toward regulating the crypto industry and using it as a meaningful source of funding to combat Covid-19, a development that would be significant for the Central Asian nation.