Top US-listed Bitcoin miners have increased their ownership of the global network hashrate, pushing its share to new heights this year, according to a new report.
About 14 publicly traded U.S. Bitcoin miners control 28.9% of the network, analysts at investment banking giant JPMorgan said in an investor note Wednesday.
Hash rate refers to the amount of computing power used to mint new coins and keep the Bitcoin network secure.
This comes after major U.S. crypto mining stocks “rose in the first two weeks of October,” with these companies receiving more than normal returns compared to their potential rewards in Bitcoin. It is undervalued, making it an attractive investment ahead of next month’s elections, the bank said. Said.
Investors can gain exposure to cryptocurrencies by investing in companies like miners, rather than investing directly in the asset class. This was the preferred choice among some large companies until the arrival of the US-based Spot Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund this year.
Analysts said the rising share of hashrate in the U.S. “encourages and speaks to the efficiency and financing advantages of some utilities.”
This comes after the bank noted last month that public Bitcoin miners’ profits were under pressure while their control over the hash rate of the largest coins was increasing.
The top US Bitcoin miners (CleanSpark, IREn, and Marathon Digital, to name just three) are all listed on US stock exchanges.
In the Bitcoin world, expensive machines perform hash calculations (called hashes) to convert data into a fixed-length string.
This process is necessary to perform work on the Bitcoin network, such as creating private keys so that users can perform transactions.
The total hashrate of the world’s largest cryptocurrencies was previously concentrated in China. The country banned Bitcoin mining in May 2021, forcing companies to relocate elsewhere to set up operations.
Since then, North America, along with parts of Asia, have become the most dominant players in the Bitcoin mining space.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
Daily debriefing newsletter
Start each day with the current top news stories, plus original features, podcasts, videos, and more.