According to the latest on-chain data, the blockchain protocol Fractal Bitcoin continues to harness approximately 226 exahash per second (EH/s) of Bitcoin’s hashrate via merged mining. In addition, 18.1 EH/s of permissionless mining supports the sidechain network. The native crypto asset of Fractal Bitcoin, FB, reached an all-time high (ATH) last week but has since plunged 61.9% below that peak just six days later.
Mining Pools and Hashrate Breakdown
So far, a total of 40,354 Fractal Bitcoin blocks have been mined, with around 2,068,925 FB tokens in circulation. Each FB is currently trading at $12.91, bringing the total market value to $26.8 million. This valuation places FB in the 674th position among more than 10,000 crypto assets. Mining metrics show that 103.4 EH/s of Fractal Bitcoin’s merged mining hashrate comes from unknown Bitcoin miners. The mining pool giant Antpool dedicates 82.34 EH/s to Fractal Bitcoin out of its 170.74 EH/s allocated to the Bitcoin network. F2pool contributes 25.48 EH/s, and Spiderpool dedicates 7.72 EH/s to Fractal Bitcoin.
Permissionless mining pools supporting the network include F2pool, Spiderpool, Maxipool, Moonx, Solo Fractal, and Fairpool. Currently, 32.3% of the 2 million FB tokens in circulation are held by the top five wallet addresses, indicating a high level of concentration. The largest wallet alone controls 15.7%, with all five addresses holding a combined total of 668,631.54 FB.
FB Price Volatility and Market Performance
While FB is priced at $12.91 per coin, just last week on Sept. 15, 2024, it reached $38.80 before falling by more than 61%. With a max supply of 200 million FB, the fully diluted valuation would increase to $1.3 billion using current FB exchange rates. In the past 24 hours, FB saw $18.79 million in global trading volume, accounting for only 0.03523% of the $53.352 billion traded throughout the entire crypto market. Despite the recent dip, mining pools are cashing in extra income by mining the sidechain alongside Bitcoin.
Extra Revenue for Miners
Each block currently generates 32 to 34.5 FB, which translates to just under $495 per block. One of the wallets controlled by F2pool holds a hefty $388K in value (30,128.73 FB). Another F2pool address commands 10,318.35 FB, valued at $150K, while one of Antpool’s coinbase reward address boasts 22,922.6 FB, worth $335K. This additional revenue comes at a time when profits from mining BTC alone have been tough. Earning over $500,000 in less than two weeks is no small feat for miners participating in FB mining while also securing the Bitcoin network.
Fractal Bitcoin’s unique merged mining mechanism allows Bitcoin miners to earn extra tokens without diverting significant resources, providing a lifeline during periods of low Bitcoin mining profitability. However, the extreme price volatility of FB and the high concentration of token holdings raise questions about the sidechain’s long-term stability.