Bitcoin 'miners' are losing money at any price below $8,600

"We estimate the break-even point for big mining pools should be US$8,600, even if we assume a very low electricity cost (US$0.03 kW/h)," Equity Analyst Charlie Chan and his team said in a Thursday note.

"Therefore, we think the Bitcoin mining hardware demand and price will decline further and affect TSMC's wafer demand," the report said.

If bitcoin can't recover $8,600 soon, bitcoin "miners" will likely find it unprofitable to keep creating the cryptocurrency, Morgan Stanley analysts said.

Bitcoin traded slightly higher near $8,200 on Thursday, according to CoinDesk. It has struggled to recover in the last few months after tumbling from a record high above $19,000 in mid-December.

"We estimate the break-even point for big mining pools should be US$8,600, even if we assume a very low electricity cost (US$0.03 kW/h)," equity analyst Charlie Chan and his team said in a Thursday note.