With just hours to go until litecoin’s (LTC) next halving event, F2Pool founder estimated that a majority of Antminer L3+ would have to be shut down for being unprofitable after the halving.

Mao Shixing, founder of F2Pool, world’s second-largest bitcoin mining pool, commented on Weibo (Twitter equivalent in China) that Antminer L3+ running with the electricity rates at 0.26 yuan ($0.037) or above would be shut down tonight based on the current Litecoin price, which may result in aLitecoin hashrate drop of 20%-30%.

The Litecoin halving is expected to take place at 10:25:15 of August 5, 2019, after that, mining reward for miners will reduce to 12.5 Litecoins from 25 Litecoins per block. According to Mao, many Litecoin miners will have to phase out their mining machines, particularly L3+ models which are most favored by Litecoin miners, after August 5 unless Litecoin price rises significantly following the halving event.

Source: https://www.poolin.com/

It can be seen that an Innosilicon A6+ generates the highest daily net profit, about 33.24 yuan ($4.7) at the moment; while the electricity cost of an Antminer L3+ has already accounted for half of its daily profit or so, based on the electricity price at 0.25 yuan ($0.035). That means, if Litecoin price remains unchanged or drops after halving, these L3+ miners will lose money in mining Litecoin, unless they move their mining machines to places where electricity price is cheaper than 0.25 yuan ($0.037).

Nevertheless, once these unprofitable mining machines are turned off and the whole network hashrate declines, mining difficulty will accordingly adjust and income may increase – maybe by 20%, according to Jiang Zhuo’er, founder of mining pool BTC.Top, if so, mining machines operating under 0.3 yuan electricity price can be turn on again.

Mao told miners to pay close attention to the LTC price and cash it out at good timing to keep some profit. The new costs and profits may come clear and stable in 3 days after the halving, during which, some miners will hold a wait-and-see attitude, Mao said.

An industry insider told 8btc that many Litecoin miners who bought second-hand Litecoin mining machines at low prices ($30-$40) ahead of Sichuan’s rainy season had already earned a lot.

“More powerful mining machines enable miners to maintain cash flow in a bear market, but it is largely a matter of luck when it comes to investment, as few can predict the price of the cryptocurrency.”

As of press time, Litecoin is traded at $95.61, climbing a little bit in the day.