Bitcoin mining profitability rebounded in November, driven by the cryptocurrency’s record-breaking price surge, according to a JPMorgan research report released Monday. While the improvement is notable, profitability remains roughly 50% below pre-halving levels, analysts Reginald Smith and Charles Pearce noted.
“We estimate that bitcoin miners earned an average of $52,000 per exahash per second (EH/s) in daily block reward revenue in November, a 24% increase from October,” the analysts wrote. JPMorgan attributed part of this boost to a spike in transaction fees following the U.S. presidential election on November 5th, providing some “hashprice relief.” Hashprice is a key metric used to gauge mining profitability.
The report also highlighted the strong performance of publicly listed bitcoin mining companies. The total market capitalization of the 14 miners tracked by JPMorgan surged 52% in November, reaching $36.2 billion.
Despite the improved profitability, the report indicated a rise in mining difficulty and network hashrate. The average network hashrate increased by 4% month-over-month to 731 EH/s, while mining difficulty climbed 7% from October. Hashrate represents the total computational power dedicated to mining and processing transactions on a proof-of-work blockchain, serving as a proxy for both competition within the industry and mining difficulty.
Finally, JPMorgan observed a significant increase in Bitcoin’s volatility. Annualized volatility rose to 62% in November, up from 42% the previous month, adding another layer of complexity to the evolving landscape of bitcoin mining.
