Bitcoin (BTC) mining shares are struggling as declining cryptocurrency costs add additional stress to enterprise fashions strained by the Bitcoin community’s April halving, in accordance with a JPMorgan analysis be aware shared with Cointelegraph.
Mining shares tracked by JPMorgan collectively shed 22% in market capitalization in February as Bitcoin’s falling value eroded mining economics, the March 3 report mentioned.
Mining shares reminiscent of Riot Platforms (RIOT), Bitdeer (BTDR), Marathon Digital (MARA) and Core Scientific (CORZ) reported their fourth-quarter 2024 earnings in February.
Just about all of them noticed post-earnings inventory value declines, together with Core Scientific, which reported better-than-expected This fall revenues.
Bitcoin’s value versus the community’s hashrate. Supply: JPMorgan
Associated: Analysts eye Bitcoin miners’ AI, chip gross sales forward of This fall earnings
Halving woes
Each 4 years, the variety of BTC mined per “block” — a bundle of transaction knowledge saved on the blockchain — is decreased by half. The April halving occasion decreased mining rewards from 6.25 BTC to three.125 BTC per block.
For the reason that halving, mining revenues and gross income have dropped by a median of 46% and 57%, respectively, JPMorgan mentioned.
In the meantime, decrease Bitcoin costs contributed to a 9% drop in gross income in February, the analysts mentioned.
Macroeconomic uncertainty — together with fears of a looming commerce warfare — has rattled markets since US President Donald Trump took workplace in January and introduced 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico.
Strain on AI companies
Miners are optimistic that adjoining enterprise traces — together with leasing out high-performance {hardware} to AI fashions and promoting specialised ASIC microchips — will greater than offset any income losses.
However even miners cashing in on demand for high-performance computing (HPC) from synthetic intelligence fashions are underneath pressure, JPMorgan famous.
“Operators with HPC publicity additionally felt stress following the DeepSeek announcement and questions round near-term demand for knowledge heart capability,” the analysts mentioned.
In January, AI-related shares took successful when the Chinese language AI firm Deepseek claimed its AI fashions have been in a position to produce outcomes similar to US market leaders reminiscent of OpenAI’s ChatGPT for a fraction of the fee.
Regardless of the setback, mining shares with in depth AI publicity, reminiscent of Hut 8, are nonetheless extra richly valued than friends, JPMorgan mentioned.
Journal: Elon Musk’s plan to run authorities on blockchain faces uphill battle
