The bitcoin block halving is only in more than six months, yet manufacturers of mining equipment are already working on new models.
Think of Bitmain, Pangolin, Ebang, Innosilicon and almost all other established names.
500 percent more powerful
It seems that many new models have been released in a very short time. The store shelves are full of it. Some models are even 500 percent more powerful than their predecessors in the field of hashrate.
Hashrate actually represents the computer power of the bitcoin network. An all-time high was reached on 26 September with almost 108.5 million TH / sec. To put that in perspective, that is 160 percent more than on January 1, 2019. TH / sec stands for terra hash per second.
Development of faster and newer miners
This rise in hashrate has several causes, of which the price rise is one. Another possible cause is the development of the next generation of miners.
Take for example the Microbt Whatsminer M20S from Pangolin. This was released in August 2019 and is powered by TSMC’s 12nm chips. The M20S can deliver up to 70 TH / s at a power consumption of 3360W. Compare that with the older models. The M3 and M10 offered 12 TH / s and 33 TH / s, respectively.
The MicroBT Whatsminer M21S was released in June 2019 and is known as one of the more powerful miners. The M21S offers 56 TH / s.
Bitmain is also participating
Meanwhile, Bitmain, based in China, is also rolling out newer models of their popular Antminer ASIC. The new Antminers models are the S17, S17 Pro and T17e. These have a range between 50 TH / s and 65 TH / s. The upcoming S17 + model goes one step further and delivers 73 TH / s.
Other major manufacturers that have released similar products this year are Ebang with their E12 (50TH / s) and Innosilicon with the T3 (52TH).
7nm chips become indispensable for the next halving
As we get closer to the halving, more and more manufacturers are adding 7nm chips to their miners. Bitmain seems to play a leading role in this. They process these chips in different models that they will bring to the market at the end of this year.
In March, Zheping Huang of the South China Morning Post wrote that Bitmain expects that the halving in 2020 will lead to more demand for miners with a 7nm chip. They base this trust on their experience during the previous half-mark in 2016.
At that time, their Antminer S9 could not be dragged on. This was then the most popular mining machine. Bitmain started selling the S9 just before the halving in 2016 and they eventually sold so many that more than 60% of the total hashrate came from the S9.
Is the rate falling or rising after halving?
A logical reasoning is that miners stop mining bitcoin because the reward is cut in half. The S9 is living proof that none of this is true, at least not in 2016. The hashrate continued to grow, even after July 2016, when the halving took place.
This time they get competition from their own country. The Chinese company Canaan Creative, for example, has already made its own 7nm chips. It is expected that other rivals such as Ebang and Bitfury will soon join.
Miners pull the plug from older machines
If you look at the rate just before and after the previous halves, you can conclude that the rate is good for the bitcoin rate. That pattern may still be relevant today. Despite the recent setbacks, bitcoin is still one of the better assets in 2019 (compare it with other cryptos or with gold, bonds, shares and commodities).
If this continues in the coming months, the next halving can be the starting signal for a new bull run.
But despite the rising rate, it is increasingly difficult to make a profit from mining. That does not only apply to you and me, but also to large mining farms. If the bitcoin price does not increase after all, it can lead to a falling hashrate.
The reason is that the rewards for mining are halved. If most miners still work with older equipment, then they will not make a profit because the market is flooded with new machines. Under these circumstances, they can only do two things: upgrade or unplug. In the latter case, the hashrate will decrease.
Related posts:
GitHub Libra Code draws criticism from users 
Tipping on Reddit and Vimeo in BAT introduced by Brave 
Newcomers to the crypto market have to pay attention to scams and pump and dumps 
Hardly any growth in downloaded crypto apps, despite tripling price bitcoin 
Bloomberg accepts Bitcoin – says cryptomonads are here to stay 
The Central Bank can release their cryptocurrencies earlier than expected
