Bitcoin (BTC) miners’ revenue and gross profit rose for a second consecutive month in December, according to JPMorgan Chase (JPM).
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The largest U.S. bank says in a report that Bitcoin mining profitability is now at its highest level since April 2024 when the latest halving event reduced the available supply of BTC by 50%. Mining profitability is increasing as a rally in the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization continues to outpace network hash rate growth, notes JPMorgan.
Analysts at the bank estimate that Bitcoin miners earned an average of $57,100 in reward revenue during December, 10% more than in November. However, the gross profits of Bitcoin miners are still 43% to 52% below pre-halving levels, noted JPMorgan Chase in its latest report on the crypto mining sector.
Mining Difficulty Increases
The network hash rate grew by 6% in December. Hash rate refers to the total combined computational power used to mine and process Bitcoin transactions on a blockchain. Mining difficulty rose 7% from the previous month and is now 27% higher than before the halving event last spring.
Additionally, JPMorgan says that the market capitalization of the 14 publicly listed Bitcoin miners it tracks declined 23% to $28 billion in December. Bitcoin has risen about 120% over the past 12 months and currently trades at just under $99,000 per digital token.
Is BTC a Buy?
Most Wall Street firms don’t offer ratings or price targets on Bitcoin, so we’ll look at the cryptocurrency’s three-month performance instead. As one can see in the chart below, the price of BTC has risen 65% in the last 12 weeks, which is a strong showing.
