In a recent research report, JPMorgan (JPM) highlighted the Bitcoin network’s performance in January, noting a slight increase in hashrate alongside a drop in mining difficulty.
The report revealed that the average monthly network hashrate rose by 1% to 785 exahashes per second (EH/s). However, the mining difficulty saw a decrease of 2% from the previous month. At the end of January, the weekly moving average hashrate stood at 781 EH/s, representing a 2% dip compared to the end of December. The report indicated that a decline in mining difficulty is unusual and provides a mild boost to Bitcoin mining economics.
Despite the drop in difficulty, the overall network difficulty was still 25% higher than before the halving event in April 2024. CoinDesk also reported that Bitcoin’s 7-day moving average hashrate hit an all-time high of 833 EH/s.
JPMorgan further noted a slight rise in mining profitability for January. The bank estimated miners earned an average of $57,200 per EH/s in daily block reward revenue, a modest increase of less than 1% compared to December.
In terms of market performance, the bank tracked a 5% increase in the total market capitalization of Bitcoin miners. Notably, Cipher Mining (CIFR) and Riot Platforms (RIOT) saw substantial gains of 23% and 16%, respectively, fueled by high-performance computing (HPC) announcements. On the other hand, TeraWulf (WULF) struggled in January, with a 16% decline in its stock price.
