Investing.com -- Bitcoin mining profitability marked an increase for the second consecutive month in December, as stated in a research report by JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM). The report noted that miners' daily income and gross profit reached their highest since April, despite still being significantly below pre-halving levels.
The rise in mining profitability is attributed to the continued rally in Bitcoin (BTC), the world's largest cryptocurrency, which has been growing faster than the network hashrate. The network hashrate, which represents the total computational power used to mine and process transactions on a proof-of-work blockchain, saw a 6% growth in December, averaging at 779 exahashes per second (EH/s).
Bitcoin miners reportedly earned an average of $57,100 per EH/s in daily block reward revenue in December, a 10% increase from November. However, according to JPMorgan analysts Reginald Smith and Charles Pearce, "daily revenue and gross profit per EH/s is still 43% and 52% below pre-halving levels, respectively."
The mining difficulty grew by 7% from the previous month and is currently 27% higher than before the reward halving event in April. The hashrate saw a 54% increase in 2024, a slower pace compared to the 103% gain of 2023.
In contrast to the rise in mining profitability, the total market cap of the 14 publicly listed Bitcoin mining stocks tracked by the bank fell by 23% to $28 billion in December, following a 52% increase in November.
This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.