Bitcoin News: Rig Prices Drop, Defying ‘BTC Up & Hardware Up’ Pattern

Key Insights:

• The latest Bitcoin news covers Bitmain lowering prices on its Bitcoin mining rigs on December 23.
• As per reports, a container bundle for the S19 XP+ Hydro is selling for about $4 per terahash.
• This indicates that the old rule, which states that higher Bitcoin prices automatically increase ASIC demand, no longer holds.

Bitmain lowered prices on its Bitcoin mining rigs on December 23. The latest Bitcoin news indicates that this move comes after the revenue earned per unit of computing power dropped in November.

The move followed weaker economics for miners, even as Bitcoin prices remained firm. In earlier cycles, strong price action typically widened mining margins, triggering equipment shortages and sharp price increases.

This time, that pattern has broken. Bitcoin has held up well. However, mining profits have not grown enough to justify high machine prices.

As a result, sellers are now offering discounts even on newer hydro and immersion rigs. This shift suggests the mining hardware market is entering a more cautious phase.

Bitcoin News: BTC Mining Rig Price Discount Defies Decade-old Pattern

TheMinerMag reported that a container bundle for the S19 XP+ Hydro is selling for about $4 per terahash. The machine uses about 19 joules per terahash. Shipping should start in January 2026.

Internal price lists show even bigger discounts. Some S19 Hydro variants were quoted as low as $3 per terahash. Meanwhile, newer S21 immersion or hydro models were listed at roughly $7 to $8 per terahash before coupons.

At the same time, Bitmain has tied several of these deals to hosting arrangements. Power costs were cited in the range of 5.5 to 7.0 cents per kilowatt-hour, along with a management fee of about 0.3 cents, spread across multiple locations worldwide.

Bitcoin News: Discounted Hshprice is Reshaping Miner Economics and Cooling ASIC Demand

The recent Bitcoin news price action points to a simple reality. When hashprice stays compressed, miner demand is driven by payback math, not optimism.

Luxor’s November 2025 review showed the average USD hashprice at $39.82 per petahash per day. On Nov. 22, it dipped further to $35.06.

At the same time, Luxor noted that transaction fees made up only a small share of total rewards. That offered little relief for miners, especially as network difficulty averaged roughly 153.33 trillion.

Together, those forces are reshaping buying behavior. The old rule that higher Bitcoin prices automatically lift ASIC demand no longer holds.

Hashprice, in simple terms, is revenue per unit of hashrate. Luxor defines it as daily income per petahash before costs.

What remains is thin. That leaves the operator with about $2.53 a day. On current margins, that implies a simple payback period of about 316 days.

That shift in mindset also explains recent pricing behavior. Even newer machines can be discounted without triggering an immediate price rebound. That’s because buyers are more concerned with returns than with excitement.

How Bitcoin Mining Economics are Shifting?

Earlier cycles were defined by long delivery times and fragmented supply chains. Those frictions magnified shortages, allowing manufacturers and resellers to quickly reprice machines whenever demand surged.

This cycle looks different. It resembles a more industrial market, where vendors manage inventory turnover while competing with the secondary market and a wider range of product tiers.

TheMinerMag described the scope of Bitmain’s price cuts as a response to weak mining economics and tighter competition, not a short-term promotion. That shift becomes clear when viewed against past pricing extremes.

The comparison is not perfectly matched across generations or machine designs. Still, it highlights the broader change in hashrate purchasing power. Network hashrate and difficulty have risen faster than transaction fee income, squeezing the value miners get from each dollar spent.

Bitmain’s decision to bundle machines with hosting also points to where scarcity has shifted. The sale is no longer just about upfront hardware cost. Instead, it is presented as a comprehensive operating solution that encompasses power access, deployment, and ongoing operations.

In today’s market, reliable and efficient power has become the true constraint. Securing megawatts at stable prices is often harder than buying machines. As a result, hosting partnerships and containerized setups have become key tools for converting price-sensitive buyers.

At the same time, capital is finding alternatives beyond pure Bitcoin mining. That broader competition for investment continues to shape the marginal demand for new ASIC capacity.