With the next Bitcoin halving less than a year away, miners at Mining Disrupt Miami 2023, held July 25–27, 2023, faced a familiar squeeze: cut costs, or find more revenue. Marko Tarman of NiceHash argued for the second, through the company's spot hashrate marketplace. When this session was recorded, Bitcoin traded at $29,137; on October 11, 2026 it was $82,940.
Tarman opened his presentation by highlighting the company's growth since its 2014 founding. He noted that NiceHash was built in a garage without external funding and has since expanded to more than 190 countries. "We have one of the biggest mining communities and we have more than 6 million registered users," Tarman said, emphasizing that for many of these users, NiceHash was their first introduction to Bitcoin mining. The company has processed more than a quarter million Bitcoin in turnover since inception.
The core of Tarman’s argument rests on the mechanics of the spot hashrate marketplace, which he described as a digital equivalent of a farmer’s market. Unlike traditional cloud mining platforms that rely on long-term contracts, NiceHash connects buyers and sellers in real time without any contractual obligations. "It does this in real time and without any contracts," Tarman explained, drawing a parallel to flea markets where transactions are immediate and final. This structure removes the uncertainty of long-term commitments, allowing sellers to connect or disconnect their ASICs at any moment.
A critical feature of this system is the anonymity and aggregation of hashrate. Tarman clarified that sellers do not know who is buying their hashrate, and buyers do not know who is selling it. The system can combine hashrate from multiple sellers into a single batch for one buyer or distribute it across multiple buyers. "Everything is done automatically by our system so that neither the buyer nor the seller have to deal with each other," he stated. This automation ensures that the highest-paying buyer always gets priority for available hashrate, driving the price up through competitive bidding.
Sellers are paid for every share in real time, on a true pay-per-share basis. Buyers pay as the hashrate arrives, not upfront and not afterwards, and they carry the risk of whether a block is found. That, Tarman said, is why sellers on NiceHash never deal with pool luck: the risk sits entirely with the buyer, and the seller is paid for the work delivered.
Tarman outlined four primary buyer profiles to explain why demand for on-demand hashrate remains strong. The first is the conventional buyer, or arbitrageur, who purchases hashrate at the lowest possible price to resell it on pools at the Hashprice index. The second is the solo miner, who buys spikes of hashrate to attempt to confirm a Bitcoin block without owning hardware. For instance, a solo buyer might purchase 500 petahashes for a few hundred dollars to try their luck at earning the block reward. The third group consists of mining pools that buy hashrate for short periods to test server performance or increase block find frequency. Finally, hosting providers use the marketplace to replace hardware lost to events like fires or floods, ensuring they meet their contractual obligations to clients.
The hosting example showed where the premium comes from. A host that owes a client 100 petahash, and loses capacity to a fire or a flood, can replace it within seconds with hashrate bought on NiceHash and keep its promise. But the supply of available hashrate is limited, so the host has to outbid other buyers, and a determined buyer pays a premium. That competition, he argued, is what lifts the price sellers receive above what a pool would pay.
The financial benefit for miners is the headline statistic of Tarman’s talk. He presented data showing that miners using the NiceHash spot marketplace have earned 7% more than those using the Hashprice index over the past six months. "It's seven percent more than mining anywhere else," Tarman said, urging miners to consider the difference in the context of a halving event where every percentage point matters. This premium is driven by the limited supply of available hashrate and the willingness of determined buyers to pay more to secure it.
For sellers, the user experience is designed to be identical to mining on any other pool. Miners simply need to use the NiceHash Stratum address and set their worker name and password on their ASIC. There are no contracts to sign and no minimum duration requirements.
Tarman also highlighted the diagnostic tools available to NiceHash users, which he described as more detailed than those offered by other platforms. Users can view accepted and rejected shares, as well as the specific type of rejected shares per ASIC over the past seven days. "This makes troubleshooting tremendously easier," he noted. For example, a high rate of stale rejects might indicate internet latency issues, while target rejects could point to overclocking problems or software errors. This level of granularity helps miners maintain optimal performance, which is crucial for maximizing margins.
The session concluded with Tarman inviting attendees to visit the NiceHash booth to discuss how the platform could integrate into their operations. He emphasized that the simplicity of Bitcoin is what makes it special, and that the NiceHash marketplace aims to provide a similarly simple but powerful tool for the mining industry. As the halving approaches, the ability to optimize revenue streams without increasing operational complexity will be a key determinant of which miners survive and thrive.