Bitcoin Network Hashrate Sees Notable Increase
The hashrate of the Bitcoin network experienced a significant rise of 2 exahashes per second (EH/s) during the initial two weeks of March, reaching an average of 811 EH/s, according to a recent research report released by Wall Street bank JPMorgan (JPM) on Monday. This uptick reflects the growing computational power dedicated to mining and processing transactions on the blockchain.
JPMorgan highlighted that U.S.-listed mining companies maintained a stable share of approximately 30% of the overall network hashrate. The hashrate itself serves as a vital indicator of competition within the mining industry as well as the difficulty associated with mining.
Despite this increase in hashrate, the price of Bitcoin saw a decline of nearly 10%, which has put pressure on the overall economics of mining during this period. Analysts Reginald Smith and Charles Pearce pointed out that the hashprice—a metric used to gauge daily mining profitability—remained largely unchanged compared to the end of the previous month.
In the first half of March, miners generated approximately $48,300 in daily block reward revenue for each EH/s, marking an 11% decrease from the figures reported in February. This also represents a staggering 52% drop since the halving event that took place last April, according to the bank’s analysis.
Furthermore, the total market capitalization of the 14 U.S.-listed miners tracked by JPMorgan decreased by 13%, equating to around $3 billion, compared to the previous month. Among these miners, Argo Blockchain (ARGO) distinguished itself by posting a slight gain of 1%, while Cipher Mining faced a substantial decline of 25%. Notably, only one of the miners in JPMorgan’s coverage managed to outperform Bitcoin during the same timeframe, as indicated in the report.
