Core is currently receiving 40% of Bitcoin’s total hash power. This is a major milestone for Core, BTC miner sustainability, and Bitcoin miner utility.
Proof of Work involves miners transforming energy into digital currency. The incentive structure encourages miners to compete cooperatively to defend the network and earn Bitcoin rewards.
Spread across approximately 1M miners worldwide, this competitive environment prevents any single miner or group from a 51% attack on the network. This decentralization is the heart of Bitcoin’s security, eliminating any central point of failure.
The Benefits and Challenges for Miners
Recent price movement has generated a renewed interest in Bitcoin, which has been particularly beneficial to miners. Use-cases like Ordinals and BRC-20 tokens have also contributed to a boom in transaction fees and miner revenue.
These boosts to miner rewards are highly beneficial for the security of the Bitcoin network if they are sustained. However, Ordinals NFTs and BRC-20 meme coins are unlikely candidates for sustainable income sources that miners need, as these new technologies may succumb to boom-bust dynamics.
Prior to the current rally, mining organizations were suffering under price volatility, fierce competition for computational power, and soaring interest rates. Unfortunately, these forces (or others with similar effects) are likely to strike again at some point in the future. For miners to maximally sustain their business, they would benefit from additional revenue streams.
Core’s Relationship with Bitcoin
Miners are in a unique position to offer a type of “Decentralization as a Service,” which benefits Core and other external systems seeking to leverage Bitcoin’s governance without the constraints of directly building on top of the protocol. Specific to Core, miners are able to scale Bitcoin’s governance onto Core without affecting or endangering the Bitcoin network’s utility.
As illustrated by the hash power coming on-chain, Core is an ideal opportunity for Bitcoin miners to earn additional, diversified rewards. Just as Ordinals and BRC-20 strengthened Bitcoin mining operations, Core does the same, without building directly on the Bitcoin network. Delegating hash power to Core does not create a backlog on Bitcoin or otherwise affect its user experience. Core’s relationship with Bitcoin is purely symbiotic: healthier mining ecosystem for a healthier governance across the board. As more mining pools delegate hash power to Core, both the Core network and the Bitcoin network will grow in strength.
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