Bitcoin (BTC) mining economics improved in the first half of November as the hashprice rose, JPMorgan (JPM) said in a research report on Monday.
The hashprice, a measure of mining profitability, "increased 29% since the end of October as the BTC rally outpaced network hashrate growth and transaction fees increased as a percentage of the block reward," analysts Reginald Smith and Charles Pearce wrote.
The total market cap of the mining stocks the bank tracks surged 33%, or around $8 billion, from Oct. 31 to Nov. 15 owing to "BTC gains and broader crypto optimism post election," the authors wrote.
Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, surged as much as 30% to all-time highs following Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential election earlier this month.
The network hashrate has risen 2% month-to-date to an average of 718 exahashes per second (EH/s), the report said. Hashrate refers to the total combined computational power used to mine and process transactions on a proof-of-work blockchain and is a proxy for competition in the industry and mining difficulty.
The 14 U.S.-listed miners in the bank's coverage now account for about 28% of the global network, and their share of the network hashrate remains at record highs.
Read more: Bitcoin Mining Revenue, Profit Fell in October for a Fourth Consecutive Month: JPMorgan
