How Does the Price of the Underlying Cryptocurrency Influence a Pool’s Decision to Continue Operating despite High Difficulty?
The price of the cryptocurrency is a critical factor because it determines the fiat value of the block reward and transaction fees. If the price is high, it can offset the high difficulty, making mining profitable even with a lower block discovery rate.
If the price drops significantly, mining may become unprofitable, leading miners to leave the pool and potentially causing the pool operator to shut down due to insufficient revenue from fees.