JPMorgan Reports Decline in Bitcoin Network Hashrate Growth for January

Mining difficulties decreased by 2% compared to December, an unusual occurrence as noted in the report.

What to know:

January was a quiet month for hashrate growth, the report stated.
Mining difficulty fell by 2% from the previous month.
The total market cap of the 14 publicly-listed miners followed by JPMorgan increased by 5% in January.

The Bitcoin network hashrate, which reflects competitiveness in mining as well as mining difficulty, saw a slight increase in January according to a research report from Wall Street bank JPMorgan. The average monthly hashrate rose by 1% to reach 785 exahashes per second (EH/s), while mining difficulty declined by 2% compared to the previous month.

The weekly moving average at month-end was 781 EH/s, representing a 2% drop since December, which is relatively uncommon and offers a slight advantage for Bitcoin mining economics, the analysts noted. Mining difficulty remains 25% higher than pre-halving levels recorded last April.

Additionally, a separate report announced that Bitcoin’s 7-day moving average hashrate reached an all-time high of 833 EH/s.

Mining profitability saw a small uptick in January, with miners reportedly earning an average of $57,200 per EH/s in daily block rewards, up by less than 1% compared to December. The market capitalization of Bitcoin miners tracked by JPMorgan grew by 5% over the month.

Notably, Cipher Mining and Riot Platforms performed well, gaining 23% and 16% respectively following the announcement of high-performance computing news. Conversely, TeraWulf experienced a decline, with shares dropping by 16%.