Bitcoin miners made an estimated $5 billion in revenue during 2019

January 21, 2020

The world's bitcoin miners grossed $5 billion in revenue during 2019. This is an estimate by Binance one fo the world's largest exchanges.

Of that figure, $4.89 billion was in the form of block rewards – that is, the 12.5 BTC generated every time a new transaction block is created. The rest – some $146 million – was made via transaction fees. While bitcoin miners grossed $5 billion the miners of Altcoinsmay have grossed another $3 billion in revenues.

That reward number is set to change later this year during the so-called halvening, when the per-block subsidy will drop from 12.5 BTC to 6.25 BTC. 

The $5 billion figure represents a decline from 2018's revenue level, when miners made an estimated $5.26 billion. By comparison, 2017's estimated revenue came in at $3.19 billion, as shown in the graph below.

As noted in The Block's 2020 Research Outlook report, the revenue figure is estimated on the basis that miners sell their bitcoins immediately, which is not exactly accurate as some companies retain a portion of their mined BTC to sell at a later date.