Bitcoin Network Hashrate Inched Higher in March as Mining Economics Weakened: JPMorgan

The Bitcoin network hashrate rose 2 exashashes per second (EH/s) in the first two weeks of March, to an average of 811 EH/s, Wall Street bank JPMorgan (JPM) said in a research report Monday.

JPMorgan noted that U.S.-listed miners maintained their share of the network hashrate at around 30%.

The 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 “average bitcoin price declined ~10%, pressuring mining economics in the period,” analysts Reginald Smith and Charles Pearce wrote.

The hashprice, a measure of daily mining profitability, was broadly unchanged from the end of last month, the report noted.

Miners earned roughly $48,300 in daily block reward revenue per EH/s in the first two weeks of March, a 11% drop from February, and a 52% decline since last April’s halving event, the bank said.

The total market cap of the 14 U.S.-listed miners that the bank tracks slipped 13%, or about $3 billion, from the month previous.

Argo Blockchain (ARGO) outperformed with a 1% gain, while Cipher Mining underperformed with a 25% decline. Only one of the miners in the bank’s coverage outperformed bitcoin in the same period, the report added.

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