Bitcoin (BTC) mining revenue rose 48% in November as the leading cryptocurrency hit a new all-time high.
Bitcoin miners enjoyed a profitable November after the cryptocurrency reached a record price. According to on-chain data analysis by CoinDesk, estimated BTC miner revenue totaled $522 million last month, a 48% increase compared with October.
The revenue surge coincided with BTC setting a new all-time high of $19,900 last month, after rising roughly 40% during November. The revenue estimate assumes miners sell the BTC they mine.
CoinDesk measured miner revenue using terahash (TH), the unit for mining hardware hash rate. By that metric, miner revenue hit a six-month high after miners earned more than $500 million in November.
Data from Luxor Technologies showed revenue per terahash reached $0.15 several times during the month, the highest level since May 2020. Miner revenue has fluctuated this year amid cryptocurrency price volatility, but revenue per terahash per second (TH/s) has remained relatively stable year-to-date: miners earned $0.138 per TH/s in January and roughly $0.135 per TH/s most recently.
The BTC price increase also boosted network activity. Network fees, however, fell as a share of total miner revenue—from 12.2% in October to 11% in November. Miners earned $54.9 million in network fees last month.
That drop in fee share followed a two-year high in October. On average, miners earned about $3 per transaction toward the end of November, down from roughly $13 per transaction earlier in the month.
Rising fees help sustain the network
Despite the recent decline in fee share, fees as a percentage of total miner revenue have trended upward since April. The mining reward halving has contributed to higher network fees, which are important to maintain blockchain security and to incentivize miners.
Because the block reward is reduced approximately every four years, miners must rely on sufficient combined rewards and fees to continue participating and securing the network. As block rewards diminish, higher transaction fees help compensate and preserve network security.
The BTC price rally may continue for several more weeks or months. Some analysts are already forecasting that the price could surpass the $20,000 mark in the coming weeks.