Weekly Bit Insights

Rate Cut "Bullishness" Meets Long Liquidations

The Federal Reserve lowered the benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points and announced the purchase of $40 billion in short-term Treasury bills over the next 30 days. Despite the news, Bitcoin’s price retraced after an initial spike, briefly dipping below $90,000. This triggered approximately $440 million in crypto liquidations, suggesting that the signal of macro liquidity release was offset by internal market selling pressure and uncertainty.

MicroBT Ignites "Mining Arms Race" in the Middle East

During the Bitcoin MENA conference in Abu Dhabi, mining hardware manufacturer MicroBT officially launched its latest WhatsMiner M70 series. The series boasts an energy efficiency ratio as low as 12.5 J/TH, with the liquid-cooled M79S model delivering a staggering single-unit hashrate of over 1 PH/s!

MSTR Splurges Nearly $1 Billion on BTC

MicroStrategy Inc. purchased 10,624 BTC in December for approximately $962.7 million, at an average price of $90,615. This marks the company’s largest single-week accumulation since July.

World’s Third-Largest Public Bitcoin Holder Hits NYSE

Twenty One Capital, a Bitcoin asset firm backed by Tether and SoftBank, listed on the NYSE on December 9 under the ticker XXI. Focused on building Bitcoin-native products and services, the company holds over 43,500 BTC, making it the third-largest publicly traded Bitcoin holder globally.

Mining Difficulty Drops for the Third Consecutive Time

On the morning of December 11, mining difficulty decreased by 0.74% to 148.2 T. Such a prolonged streak of declines has not been seen since the months following the 2024 halving, when reduced rewards forced inefficient miners to exit, subsequently triggering a new bull run.

I. Market Overview

Bitcoin Price

Bitcoin traded within a range this week. Following the Fed's rate decision and Jerome Powell’s speech on December 10, BTC spiked but quickly retreated to the $90,000 level. On the daily chart, it failed to break through strong resistance at $94,000. If it loses the $87,500 support level, there is a risk of testing $85,000 or even $80,000.

Network Hashrate & Difficulty

Global hashrate fluctuated this week, hitting a daily peak of 1.3 ZH/s, matching November highs. On December 11, the network completed a difficulty adjustment, decreasing by 0.74% to 148.2 T. This is the third consecutive downward adjustment since the all-time high of ~155.97 T in late October.

Transaction Fees

Transaction fees accounted for roughly 0.7% of block rewards this week, averaging 0.02 BTC per block, a slight decrease from the previous week.

💡Bit Insights

The retreat in hashrate is partly due to seasonal factors and price volatility, reflecting a proactive contraction by miners facing profitability pressure. The consecutive difficulty drops following record highs confirm the exit of some miners. If prices stabilize or rise alongside lower difficulty, we expect hashrate to return gradually, driving up transaction fees.

II. Market Analysis

Hashprice

With prices rebounding slightly and difficulty remaining steady, revenue per unit of hashrate rose 4.4%, from ~$36.70/PH/day last week to approximately $38.31/PH/day. Despite this bounce, Hashprice remains near historical lows compared to year-to-date levels.

Cloud Mining Market

Sentiment in the cloud mining market improved this week. For example, a 180-day product on the Bit platform is priced at $0.0371/T/day, significantly lower than the current spot Hashprice, making it highly competitive. Additionally, Bit’s December launch of short-cycle products and discounted bundles offers users superior ROI compared to purchasing hardware.

Industry Trends

Power outages at data centers in Seattle this week highlighted the AI era’s biggest bottleneck: the electricity crisis. A single OpenAI model training session consumes as much power as a million US households annually, straining the grid.

Concurrently, Google Cloud and NextEra announced a massive 15GW energy partnership, directly targeting the 18GW of power capacity currently utilized by the mining industry. In this bearish market, more miners are pivoting to AI hosting, leveraging low electricity rates and cooling expertise. Cipher Mining secured a 10-year contract backed by Google, expanding its Texas site to 300MW. Meanwhile, Polaris Technology announced a $100 million data center in Oklahoma, as low-cost energy hubs in the Midwest attract precision layouts from SMEs.

💡Bit Insights

In Q3 2025, the average breakeven point for 14 public miners was ~$90,000/BTC. In Q4, rising difficulty and financial costs pushed this breakeven up by 20% to roughly $108,000. This explains the aggressive pivot toward AI and renewables. The identity of a "Bitcoin Miner" is becoming far more multi-faceted.

III. News & Events

Marathon (MARA) CEO Fred Thiel stated at an industry event that "Bitcoin mining is becoming a zero-sum game." He noted that with rising energy costs and stagnant fees, only the most efficient miners with the lowest power costs will survive. Marathon aims for 50% of its future revenue to come from non-mining sectors.

MicroBT's M70 Launch. Unveiled at Bitcoin MENA, the WhatsMiner M70 series marks a significant leap:

• Efficiency: Lowest ratio hits 12.5 J/TH.
• Performance: Ranges from the air-cooled M70 (~214 TH/s) to the liquid-cooled M79S (>1 PH/s).
• Strategic Shift: This launch signals the Middle East's growing importance and the industry's focus on technological innovation to survive low-margin environments.

💡Bit Insights

The mining industry is evolving through adversity. Whether it’s Marathon’s pivot to diversification or MicroBT’s push for extreme efficiency, these are positive signals for the Bitcoin ecosystem. They point toward more resilient miners, a more secure network, and a maturing hashrate market.