.. the price could double meaning the miners get paid the same.
If bitcoin is the unit of account.
By "hard", I mean how much energy is needed to get 1 unit of bitcoin.
miners pay money to give energy to asics to mine bitcoin. it has to be profitable to do this.
if there was half as many units being made. its not a simple half as many asics using energy.. because the price of the unit is also a factor, that keeps the asics competing..
other factors at play..
imagine the price 2020-2023 averaged $30k/btc.
there are some miners that mine with costs of $30k (a)
there are some miners that mine with costs of $25k (b)
there are some miners that mine with costs of $20k (c)
there are some miners that mine with costs of $15k (d)
lets for pencil demo sake use numbers of the 200exahash
abcd each have 50exa..
all getting the same amount of coin share per day (900 a day/4 = 225each)
in 2024 when coins per day drops to 450
A and B can pull out as their halved share(112.5 each) wont cover costs if the price was the same.
but now C,D continue mining and they get AB share.
so when coins per day drop to 450, that 450 is shared between only CD meaning they still get 225 coins each per day
also the competition. they could add more hash power becasue they can still afford it
after all they were mining at 225 coins where average coin was $30 but they had costs of $15k/$20k. so they can afford to increase hashrate
D can increase 2x meaning 100exa total for him
C can increase 1.5x meaning 75exa total for him
where hashrate is 175exa (seems less then the 200exa before. but now you have to factor in the next gen asics that are more efficient where they can hash more hashes for same cost.)
there are a few different factors at play
ill leave you to play around with the math of that although i gave hints in previous post about the next gen asic hash/electric rate. difference(~double)