Bitcoin miners earn under 1% of revenue from fees, hitting 10-year low

Bitcoin mining economics have entered uncomfortable territory. In the week ending December 29, 2025, transaction fees accounted for a mere 0.52% of total block rewards, translating to roughly 16 BTC (about $1.4 million) out of 3,166 BTC in total miner revenue. Since the April 2024 halving slashed the block subsidy to 3.125 BTC, fees have consistently stayed below 1% of total block rewards. The average fee per block has hovered around 0.016 to 0.018 BTC. The fee drought, in context Historically, outside of bull market periods of extreme network congestion, fee revenue has averaged around 1% of miners’ total take. The current stretch below that already-modest baseline marks a new low point in the relationship between network usage and miner compensation. The network hashrate reached approximately 1,099 EH/s by late December 2025, meaning computational competition for blocks is near all-time highs. Yet the revenue per unit of hash power keeps shrinking, squeezed from both sides: a halved subsidy and negligible fees. The AI pivot accelerates According to a CoinShares report, AI and HPC revenue could account for 70% or more of total revenues for some mining operators by the end of 2026....