Bitcoin (BTC) $101,782.3 Miners’ daily revenues and gross profits in December increased for the second month and reached the highest levels since April. The rally of the largest cryptocurrency has outpaced the network’s hashrate growth, boosting mining profitability, according to JPMorgan’s research report published on Monday.
Revenue and Profit Growth
JPMorgan estimated that Bitcoin miners earned an average of $57,100 per exahash in daily block reward revenue last month. This figure increased by 10% compared to November. However, analysts Reginald Smith and Charles Pearce noted that “daily revenue and gross profit per EH/s is still 43% and 52% below pre-halving levels, respectively.”
Network Hashrate and Mining Difficulty
The network’s hashrate increased by 6% in December, reaching an average of 779 EH/s. The JPMorgan report stated that the hashrate increase was 54% in 2024, and this rate was below the 103% increase in 2023. Mining difficulty increased by 7% compared to the previous month and was 27% higher than before the reward halving in April.
Market Value and Performance
The total market value of the 14 publicly traded bitcoin miners tracked by the bank decreased by 23% in December to $28 billion. This figure increased by 52% in November. Compared to Bitcoin’s nearly 120% rise last year, TeraWulf (WULF) miner has outperformed Bitcoin with a 136% rise.
Mining Profitability
Bitcoin miners’ profitability improved as the cryptocurrency’s value growth outpaced the network’s hashrate growth. However, they are still significantly behind their pre-halving levels. This indicates that miners are having difficulty meeting their operational costs.
The concept of hashrate refers to the total combined computing power used for mining and transaction processing in a blockchain network. In proof-of-work systems such as Bitcoin, increasing hashrate increases the security of the network and also increases the difficulty of mining.
JPMorgan’s report provides important data on the future profitability of Bitcoin mining and network dynamics. It will be important to observe how the mining industry will shape itself depending on the fluctuations in the cryptocurrency market.
The sustainability of mining activities is closely related to both cryptocurrency prices and technological developments. Investors and industry stakeholders should follow these dynamics carefully and determine their strategies.
Analysts Reginald Smith and Charles Pearce noted that daily revenue and gross profit are still below pre-halving levels.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should carry out their transactions in line with their own research.
