The network's difficulty didn't go down when the halving happened.
Error. The hashrate and difficulty DID drop some when the halfing occured LAST SUMMER - but there was a "new generation" of miners being deployed in that same timeframe, which had already taken over the majority of network hashrate and remained profitable despite the halfing - and continued sales quickly drove the hashrate back past the previous high.
The current market PRICE downturn has nothing to do with miners - it is STRICTLY AND ENTIRELY due to the Chinese Central Bank (with is part of their GOVERNMENT) announcing it was investigating the large Chinese exchanges for stuff like "potential money laundering, market manipulation" and such.
It's not MINING that's too centralised, it's Bitcoin OWNERSHIP that is very centralised in one country.
(Ditto Litecoin and many if not most other newer altcoins).
RESIDENTIAL electric rates in many parts of the US are less than 10c / kwh - and there are quite a few of us SMALL miners paying less than 5.
While the majority of Bitcoin hashrate is no doubt generated by various major farms, it's entirely possible for the small miner to be quite profitable with proper planning and location.
