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.

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

Break-even points for bitcoin mining

Source: Morgan Stanley Research estimates

TSMC, or Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, on Thursday lowered its 2018 revenue guidance to 10 percent growth from 10 to 15 percent based partly on uncertainty in cryptocurrency mining demand. Morgan Stanley estimates about 10 percent of the giant Asian chipmaker's revenue now depends on cryptocurrency mining demand.