Bitcoin Mining Profitability Improved in November, JPMorgan Says

Bitcoin ( BTC ) daily mining revenue and gross profit rose in November as the world's largest cryptocurrency hit record highs, but it is still about 50% below pre-halving levels, JPMorgan (JPM) said in a research report Monday. "We estimate that bitcoin miners earned an average of $52,000 per EH/s in daily block reward revenue in November, up 24% from October," analysts Reginald Smith and Charles Pearce wrote. The bank noted that transaction fees on the network spiked following the U.S. Nov. 5 presidential election and this provided some "hashprice relief." The hashprice is a measure of mining profitability. The total market cap of the 14 publicly listed bitcoin miners in the bank's coverage surged 52% in November to $36.2 billion, the report said. The average network hashrate rose 4% month-on-month to 731 exahash per second (EH/s), the bank noted, while mining difficulty increased 7% from October. Hashrate refers to the total combined computational power used to mine and process transactions on a proof-of-work blockchain and is a proxy for competition in the industry and mining difficulty. Bitcoin's annualized volatility rose to 62% in November, up from 42% the month before, the report added. Read more: Bitcoin Mining Revenue, Profit Fell in October for a Fourth Consecutive Month: JPMorgan