The potency of individual Bitcoin mining machines, or ASICs, has only improved dramatically in the past five years, leading to greater network efficiency and profitability. According to Coin Metrics, the crypto data analytics firm, the hardware efficiency has improved from nearly 89 joules per terahash in July 2018 to 33 J/Th this May, a 63% decline in energy use for the same amount of work. The researchers also estimate that the Bitcoin network consumes 13.4 gigawatts (GW) of power, 13% less than the commonly used estimate.
Coin Metrics innovated on the methodology by pinpointing how much of the Bitcoin network’s hashrate could be attributed to specific machines. Specifications from individual manufacturers show that the two newest machines tested (Bitmain Antminer S19 XP and MicroBT M50) were twice as efficient as the two machines tested that were released in 2016 (Bitmain Antminer S9 and Canaan 1066).
The overwhelming majority of hashrate is currently generated by newer generation Bitmain machines. And the network is astoundingly efficient, said Karim Helmy, an independent researcher and lead author of the report.
CoinDesk collaborated to produce machine-specific rankings of efficiency, dominance and profitability, and then use them to determine the overall competitiveness of 11 popular Bitcoin mining machines. The overall ranking demonstrates how strong the manufacturer and the newness matter.
The two most recently manufactured models, the S19 XP and M50, both made in 2022, are the most efficient. The S19j Pro and S19, released in 2021 and 2020, respectively, are by far the most dominant. The takeaway is that the most efficient models that are the most dependable and well-priced will be more dominant than models that are overpriced or unreliable.