According to CoinDesk, Bitcoin mining profitability experienced a notable increase in the first half of November, as indicated by a recent JPMorgan research report. The hashprice, which measures mining profitability, rose by 29% since the end of October. This increase was attributed to Bitcoin's rally outpacing the growth of the network hashrate and a rise in transaction fees as a percentage of the block reward. Analysts Reginald Smith and Charles Pearce highlighted these developments in their report.
The report further noted that the total market capitalization of the mining stocks tracked by the bank surged by 33%, equating to approximately $8 billion, from October 31 to November 15. This growth was driven by Bitcoin gains and a broader sense of optimism in the cryptocurrency market following the U.S. presidential election. Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency globally, saw a significant surge of up to 30%, reaching all-time highs after Donald Trump's victory.
Additionally, the network hashrate, which represents the total computational power used for mining and processing transactions on a proof-of-work blockchain, increased by 2% month-to-date, averaging 718 exahashes per second (EH/s). This metric serves as a proxy for competition within the industry and indicates mining difficulty. The report also mentioned that the 14 U.S.-listed miners covered by the bank now account for about 28% of the global network, maintaining their share of the network hashrate at record levels.
