Post
Topic
Board Economics
Re: What happens if bitcoin price falls below the cost of mining it?
by
odolvlobo
on 02/08/2018, 00:51:11 UTC
I don't think it would really go lower than the price of mining, because the miners are going to be less likely to sell at a lost. It wouldn't make much sense to them. Mining factors into the whole supply and demand of crypto. Less miners willing to sell at a loss, then less Bitcoins available for sell, thus higher price.

That is a commonly stated misconception.

First, miners must sell most of their bitcoins, even at a loss, to pay for their operational costs: power, cooling, rent, labor, etc.

Second, when it comes to holding bitcoins, miners are no different than anyone else. They may or may not sell the bitcoins they hold at a loss.

Finally, miners are only a tiny part of the market. Miners sell only 1800 BTC of the 600,000 BTC traded every day. Their behavior has almost no effect on the price.

The reality is that if it costs a miner more to mine the bitcoins than to buy them, a rational miner will simply stop mining.