In a recent research report, JPMorgan revealed that the combined market cap of 14 U.S.-listed bitcoin (BTC) mining companies including Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA), Riot Platforms (RIOT), CleanSpark (CLSK), and Hut 8 Mining Corp. (HUT), reached an all-time high of $22.8 billion on June 15.
The Wall Street bank highlighted that almost all these mining companies outperformed bitcoin during the first half of June. Core Scientific (CORZ) emerged as the top performer, surging by 117%, while Argo Blockchain (ARBK) lagged, dropping by 7%. In comparison, the price of bitcoin itself fell by 3% over the same period.
The report attributed the gains in bitcoin mining stocks to positive investor sentiment following Core Scientific’s deal with artificial intelligence firm CoreWeave. Additionally, mining difficulty has been decreasing since Bitcoin Halving.
Analysts Reginald Smith and Charles Pearce noted that the network hash rate, an indicator of industry competition and mining difficulty, decreased by approximately 7 exahashes per second (EH/s), or 1%, since May.
U.S.-listed Bitcoin miners have been increasing their share of the global network hashrate. The 14 companies analyzed now account for approximately 23.8% of the global hashrate, marking a nearly 1% increase from the previous month. This rise marks the second consecutive month of network hashrate gains for U.S. miners, which the bank views as a positive sign.
The report suggests that inefficient private operators have been scaling back their operations since the halving, allowing more efficient publicly-listed miners to increase their market share.
Overall, the performance of these U.S.-listed bitcoin miners and the increase in their network hashrate share indicate a shifting landscape in the bitcoin mining industry, with public companies taking a more prominent role.
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