THE MINING POD: Is Bitcoin’s Mining Revenue Model Broken?

Our guest, Cormint CEO James McAvity, makes the case that Bitcoin’s low transaction fees should raise concerns.

Sep 2, 2025

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Welcome back to The Mining Pod! Today, James McAvity, CEO of bitcoin miner Cormint, joins us to talk about a potential, looming existential crisis for Bitcoin: low transaction fee revenue. With transaction fees at only 2% of mining revenue, McAvity argues the current model is unsustainable as rewards halve every four years.

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**Notes:**

• Transaction fees: 1/50th of total block rewards

• 20GW mining capacity running 24/7 globally

• 70 basis points: current annual BTC issuance

• $30-50K: cost per gigawatt hour electricity

• 2036: block rewards drop to 8 basis points

• $20T: potential future Bitcoin market cap

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