Bitcoin miners are scaling down production as sinking cryptocurrency prices and rising energy costs squeeze profits and slam their shares.
Miners, which use powerful computers to create new units of bitcoin and validate transactions on blockchains, have been forced to change tack as tumbling crypto prices threaten to undermine their heavy investment in technology.
The bitcoin hash rate, a measure of the amount of power dedicated to creating new coins, has fallen 4 per cent since the start of the week, according to data from Blockchain.com. The decline suggests digital miners are dedicating fewer computing resources to crack complex puzzles, for which they are rewarded with newly minted bitcoin.