In the initial two weeks of March, the hashrate of the Bitcoin network increased by 2 exahashes per second (EH/s), averaging 811 EH/s, according to recent research from Wall Street bank JPMorgan (JPM).
The bank pointed out that miners listed in the U.S. have managed to retain approximately 30% of the overall network hashrate.
Hashrate denotes the overall computational power dedicated to mining and processing transactions on a proof-of-work blockchain. It serves as an indicator of industry competition and the difficulty level of mining.
However, the average price of Bitcoin fell by around 10%, which put pressure on mining profitability during this timeframe, analysts Reginald Smith and Charles Pearce reported.
The hashprice, a key metric for assessing daily mining profitability, remained largely stable compared to the previous month.
Diversifying earnings, miners received approximately $48,300 in daily block rewards per EH/s in the first half of March, marking an 11% decrease from February and a significant 52% drop since last April’s halving event.
The cumulative market capitalization of the 14 U.S.-listed mining companies tracked by the bank decreased by 13%, equating to about $3 billion less than the month before.
While Argo Blockchain (ARGO) saw a slight gain of 1%, Cipher Mining faced a notable decline of 25%. Just one of the miners covered in the bank’s analysis outperformed Bitcoin during the same period, the report highlighted.