The decline in cryptocurrency prices is quickly causing many victims. Miners seem to be the next to suffer. Mining farms face losses as Chinese-based operations sell their hardware by weight, not by unit price. Local crypto outlets reported this news, citing F2Pool, a cryptocurrency mining pool.

Last week was a bloodbath for cryptocurrency markets. Prices slid sharply, with Bitcoin dropping as low as $4,000. This bearish trend shows no signs of stopping soon. As a result, mining cryptocurrency has become unprofitable.

According to 8BTC, many Chinese mining operators are forced to sell their hardware at a loss to avoid deeper financial trouble. The report references a Weibo post from the founder of F2Pool. It says miners are selling hardware by the kilo.

Older models like Avalon A741, Antminer S7, and Antminer T9 have “reached their shutdown price.” These machines are being sold off by miners. The fall in cryptocurrency value means mining earnings no longer cover power and other costs.

Mining farms hit hard by slump

Small- and medium-sized mining farms in Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang have suffered badly from the market slump. According to 8BTC, miners in these regions are selling some machines on the second-hand market for only 5 percent of their original value. To put this in perspective, hardware bought for about 20,000 yuan ($2,885) just a year ago now sells for around 1,000 yuan ($144).

Ever since the hard fork upgrade of Bitcoin Cash (BCH), which occurred on November, 15, the price of Bitcoin has been sliding downward, dragging the rest of the virtual currency market with it. This update led to the suspension of trading and withdrawals of BCH by cryptocurrency exchanges across the world.

Early this month, Bitmain unveiled plans to deploy about 90,000 Antminer S9 machines in the Xinjiang region. This move by the mining giant has been seen as “a strategic one in the computing power war associated with the BCH hard fork.”

In conclusion

Mining farms face losses as cryptocurrency mining farms in China are currently feeling the heat of the market decline. They are reportedly selling their hardware by weight, instead of price per unit. The machine models on the chopping block are Avalon A741, Antminer S7, and Antminer T9. These older models are eagerly being sold because they have “reached their shutdown price.”

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