Bitcoin BTC$76,073.52 Wall Avenue financial institution JPMorgan stated in a report on Monday that mining shares began 2026 on a powerful notice, buoyed by weak community competitors and renewed enthusiasm round high-performance computing (HPC).
The financial institution famous that the 14 U.S.-listed Bitcoin miners and knowledge heart operators it tracks ended final month with a mixed market capitalization of $60 billion, up 23% from the earlier month, far outpacing the 1% rise within the S&P 500.
The rally was partially supported by information that Riot Platforms signed an HPC cope with AMD for its 700 MW Rockdale facility, highlighting miners' growing diversification past Bitcoin.
Dealing with record-low revenue margins for the reason that 2024 halving, Bitcoin miners are repurposing power-dense mining websites into AI-enabled knowledge facilities and repositioning themselves as digital infrastructure suppliers in quest of extra steady long-term returns.
On the similar time, valuations continued to rise. Analysts Reginald Smith and Charles Pearce stated mining shares had been buying and selling at about 150% of the four-year block reward alternative at year-end, about thrice the typical since 2022, highlighting the rising divergence between mining inventory valuations and Bitcoin costs.
On the operational facet, January introduced reduction. JPMorgan stated the community's common hash charge fell 6% month-over-month to 981 exahashes per second (EH/s) as winter storms throughout the USA compelled widespread communications restrictions. Through the month, hashrate briefly fell to 700 EH/s, whereas mining problem fell by 5% from December and 10% under November's all-time excessive.
Hashrate refers back to the complete computational energy used to mine and course of transactions on a proof-of-work blockchain, and represents trade competitors and mining problem. Measured in exahashes per second.
The decline in competitors helped offset the autumn in Bitcoin costs. Analysts estimated that miners' block reward revenue in January was about $42,350 per EH/s in January, up barely from December, however gross income elevated 24% to about $21,200 per EH/s as a consequence of improved community effectivity. Nonetheless, the financial institution stated profitability stays effectively under pre-halving ranges.
Inventory value efficiency was typically optimistic. Twelve of the 14 miners tracked by the financial institution outperformed Bitcoin's 4% decline in January, with IREN up 42% and CANG down 18%. Even after the rise, the group's general valuation stays about 15% under its October 2025 excessive.
learn extra: Analyst warns of AI shift, downgrades Bitcoin miners HIVE, Bitfarm and Bitdeer
