What Are the Risks for the Miners Who Provide Their Hashrate to These Rental Markets?
Miners who supply hashrate face several risks. The primary risk is counterparty risk; the platform or buyer might fail to pay for the rendered services.
There is also an opportunity cost: if the price of the cryptocurrency they could have been mining directly suddenly spikes, the fixed-rate rental agreement might yield less profit. Additionally, they are exposed to platform risk, where the rental marketplace itself could suffer from bugs, hacks, or mismanagement, leading to loss of funds or hashing time.
Finally, malicious buyers could use the rented hashrate for attacks, potentially damaging the reputation of the algorithm and the long-term value of coins the miner might also hold.