JPMorgan said bitcoin miners and data center operators have started 2026 on a firmer footing. The 14 U.S.-listed miners tracked by the bank added a combined $13 billion in market capitalization in the first two weeks of the year, lifting total value to about $62 billion.
Hashrate drops 2%, easing competition
The report attributed the strength to a modest rise in bitcoin price combined with a pullback in network hashrate of about 2% from late December. Analysts Reginald Smith and Charles Pearce noted that average daily revenue per EH/s increased. Hashrate refers to total computational power used to mine on a proof-of-work blockchain, measured in exahashes per second.
Gross mining margins up 300 bps; hashprice rises 11%
Average daily revenue per exahash rose, while gross mining margins improved by roughly 300 basis points from December to about 47%. The hashprice, a key profitability measure including transaction fees, was up 11% from end-December as of mid-January.
Push into AI/HPC emerges as key lever
Bitcoin miners are diversifying into artificial intelligence and high-performance computing (HPC) to boost profitability beyond block rewards, which JPMorgan sees as a key lever for improving earnings.
Outlook: sustained low hashrate could support revenue
Looking ahead, the analysts highlighted the continued decline in network hashrate as a potentially supportive factor. The bank estimated average hashrate fell about 2% in early January and remains below October levels, which could sustain higher revenue per unit of computing power. However, revenue per exahash is still well below year-ago levels, underscoring the need for efficiency gains and disciplined capital deployment.
U.S.-listed miners' hashrate share hits record 41%
Capacity expansion continues. JPMorgan estimates the group added roughly 12 EH/s since late November, led by Bitdeer (BTDR) and Riot Platforms (RIOT). The combined hashrate of U.S.-listed miners reached about 419 EH/s, representing roughly 41% of the global network, the highest share on record, reinforcing the strategic importance of publicly traded operators.