U.S.-Listed Bitcoin Miners Expand Hashrate Share Despite Market Pressures
The economics of bitcoin mining faced challenges in February as network hashrate climbed while BTC prices saw a slight decline, JPMorgan reported on Tuesday.
According to the bank, the combined hashrate of U.S.-listed bitcoin mining companies it tracks has surged nearly 95% year-over-year, reaching 244 exahashes per second (EH/s). This accounts for approximately 29% of the global network, compared to a 45% increase in the overall Bitcoin hashrate during the same period.
“The network hashrate, which serves as a key indicator of industry competition and mining difficulty, has risen by around 6% so far this month and is up 45% over the past year,” analysts Reginald Smith and Charles Pearce noted.
Meanwhile, a slight dip in bitcoin’s price from January added pressure to mining profitability. The report highlighted that hashprice, a metric that reflects daily mining revenue, declined by 13% from late January levels as higher hashrates coincided with weaker BTC prices. JPMorgan estimated that miners’ daily earnings from block rewards fell by 6%, averaging around $53,600 per day.
Despite these pressures, U.S. bitcoin mining stocks remained relatively stable. The bank reported that the total market capitalization of mining firms under its coverage was down only 1% month-over-month.
Among individual companies, Iris Energy (IREN) led the gains, rising 27% in the first half of February, while Greenidge Generation (GREE) saw the steepest decline, dropping 20% over the same period.
Separately, a Monday report from brokerage firm Bernstein highlighted that publicly traded U.S. miners continue to expand their share of the Bitcoin network hashrate, strengthening their foothold in the industry.
