Wall Street bank JPMorgan reported that the Bitcoin network hashrate returned to record highs in August, averaging 949 exahashes per second (EH/s) — roughly 50 EH/s higher than the prior month. The bank also found that the combined market cap of the 13 U.S.-listed bitcoin miners it tracks surged about 23%, adding roughly $7.4 billion and hitting a record level.
Hashrate is the total computing power securing Bitcoin’s proof-of-work network; rising hashrate usually means tougher competition and higher mining difficulty as more machines compete for the same block rewards.
Despite the market-cap gains, mining economics softened. JPMorgan analysts Reginald Smith and Charles Pearce estimate miners earned an average of $55,100 per EH/s in daily block reward revenue in August — down about 4% from July — while daily block reward gross profit fell roughly 7% to $31,900 per EH/s.
At the stock level, TeraWulf outperformed the group with an 83% jump after announcing a colocation deal with Fluidstack, while Greenidge Generation lagged, sliding about 22%. JPMorgan also noted IREN’s expansion of its GPU fleet contributed to higher compute capacity in the sector.
Why this matters: higher hashrate and rising market caps signal strong investor interest in mining exposure and growing operational scale, but the decline in per-EH/s revenue shows miners remain sensitive to bitcoin price swings and network difficulty.
Risk note: Mining stocks and revenues can be volatile. Changes in bitcoin price, difficulty, energy costs or regulatory policy may quickly reverse recent gains and affect profitability.
Source: CoinDesk. Read the original coverage for full details.