The total market cap of the 13 U.S.-listed miners that JPMorgan tracks rose almost 20% in May, as bitcoin BTC rallied and mining profitability increased, the bank said in a research report Monday.
The Bitcoin network hashrate rose about 25 exahashes per second (EH/s) to an average of 897 EH/s last month, according to the report.
The 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.
Mining profitability improved in May. The bank estimated that “bitcoin miners earned an average of $51,600 per EH/s in daily block reward revenue in May, up 16% from April,” analysts Reginald Smith and Charles Pearce wrote.
Daily block reward gross profit also increased substantially, jumping 36% month-on-month to $27,900 per EH/s, the bank noted.
IREN (IREN) outperformed the group with a 37% rise, and Bitfarms (BITF) underperformed with an 8% decline, JPMorgan said.
Seven of the thirteen bitcoin mining companies that the bank tracks outperformed bitcoin last month, the report added.
Read more: Bitcoin Mining Profitability Fell in April as Network Hashrate Rose: Jefferies