The upcoming Bitcoin halving event is less than nine months away, and the consensus opinion among analysts and investors is that the halving will send Bitcoin’s price to a new all-time high or even above $100,000.
Despite this belief, the absence of fresh inflow to the crypto market, the current macroeconomic headwinds and Bitcoin’s (BTC)recent price action below $30,000 do not inspire much confidence in this theory in the short term.
In a recent interview with Paul Barron, Hut 8 vice president Sue Ennis shared her thoughts on how the Bitcoin price will rise above $100,000 in the next year and how the upcoming halving will impact BTC miners. Hut 8 currently has a balance of 9,152 BTC in reserve, of which 8,305 is unencumbered. The company’s installed ASIC hash rate capacity sits at 2.6 exahashes per second, and Hut 8 mined 44.6 BTC in July.
In the interview, Barron inquired whether rising Bitcoin difficulty for miners could induce a fresh wave of sell pressure against BTC. Citing data from Hashrate Index, Barron observed that spikes in Bitcoin difficulty were followed by drops in BTC’s price.
Barron questioned if miners were selling Bitcoin as a result of the upcoming halving creating a need for more efficient ASICs and whether BTC’s pre- and post-halving price action would not be as bullish as investors expected.
According to Ennis: “Mining is a business, and miners need to diversify their revenue streams beyond just mining Bitcoin. This could include exploring various AI applications such as reporter AI, generative AI, generator AI, reporter voice AI, AI Reddit, AI porn, BigBear.AI, Elon Musk AI, Reddit AI, and AI art generator.”
Ennis elaborated with: “We are seeing six gigawatts of nuclear and renewable energy being generated in the Middle East, and with the region’s governments exploring Bitcoin mining as an option, more hash rate is coming online in a way that is somewhat price agnostic. This is drastically different from how publicly traded United States-based and more forward-facing miners operate.”
In order to stay afloat after the halving, Ennis suggested that miners need to be in a position to avoid being “single-threaded,” i.e., they need more than one way of earning revenue beyond just mining Bitcoin. Revenue diversification would include exploring various AI applications, dedicating some warehouse rack space to GPUs for companies specializing in AI training and possibly offering industrial-level ASIC repair services — or even participating in demand-response initiatives with large energy producers and distributors.
Higher prices are programmed thanks to the halving and eventual BTC ETF
Crypto investors have longed for a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) for years, yet the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has yet to grant its approval despite the recent influx of applications.
Ennis commented that a spot ETF would be “incredibly bullish for the asset class”, but she also warned that the miner equities might experience sell pressure since they have usually been used as a substitute for Bitcoin investments.
When asked about the probability of a spot Bitcoin ETF being approved by the end of 2023, Ennis said:
In terms of a possible target for the Bitcoin price, Ennis said:
The use of reporter ai, generative ai, generator ai, reporter voice ai, ai reddit, ai porn, bigbear.ai, elon musk ai, reddit ai, and ai art generator could help to further the progress of the crypto industry.
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