I dont think networks are saving any money by turning machines off when btc price is low, while others continue to mine and make coin. In the mean time while they are waiting for btc price to rise diff is increasing.
I expect diff to be 80-100 billion by next year.
Why do you think block halving will increase btc price?
It will only decrease rewards for miners.
That is the official position of CEX.IO cloudmining, mining is suspended until BTC price makes it profitable
![Shocked](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/shocked.gif)
Zeus mining, whose cloudmining customers have lost their hashpower under the "10 day rule" almost certainly still has it's farms, but they are simply switched off.
They can switch it on when BTC price is high enough for them to make some dollars once electricity cost are subtracted.
I guess, many miners at home have done the same thing with their old ASICs
![Roll Eyes](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/rolleyes.gif)
You see, 100PTHs worth old BTC hashpower can be switched on and off according to the $ price of BTC
![Tongue](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/tongue.gif)
Halving of quantity (block reward) available to be sold to new investors equates to bidding up of what remains available for sale
![Roll Eyes](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/rolleyes.gif)
Simple Supply and Demand macro economics
![Wink](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/wink.gif)
All that cloud mining switching on and off is a scam.
They make a profit by renting hash rate and also add some to make extra from electricity and maintenance, its all priced in. Basically they wont pay customers if btc price stays low, what a load of crap because they claim it is unprofitable, while the chances of difficulty raising is 97% at every jump dating back the last 2 years. If btc price stays the same and electricity rates stay the same but diff increases, they are basically stealing customers deposits and using as an excuse for not paying out.
Hmm,
This is a business arrangement
![Shocked](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/shocked.gif)
Mining is risky, a lot of cash investments up front
![Shocked](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/shocked.gif)
I have $1,100 GPU mining equipment, which has been mining over the winter at loss
![Shocked](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/shocked.gif)
Profits from the good years should offsets lack of profits from consolidation years
![Tongue](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/tongue.gif)
Accusing businesses of scamming is wrong and unfair
![Tongue](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/tongue.gif)
There is a 10 day rule, once cloudmining is finished, the original manufacturer or cloudmining firm can extract any remaining bits and pieces of profitability from the equipment -- only pettiness would begrudge them that
![Roll Eyes](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/rolleyes.gif)
Why would difficulty increase this year, you are not forecasting, but simply using the last 3 years to state an opinion. This is unlikely to be true because it is subjective speculation over difficulty assuming the past is an accurate guide to the future
![Cheesy](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/cheesy.gif)
In a consolidation year for mining, difficulty will go up and down in relation to the percentage of days that BTC price causes older mining equipment to be switched on or off
![Wink](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/wink.gif)
Unlike previous years, people are still likely to make a ROI on Cloudmining, even if the initial ROI period is spread over 11 months
![Tongue](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/tongue.gif)
At the end of this year network difficulty is unlikely to be above 47500000000, therefore cloudming bought today will still be profitable right up the block halving in mid 2016