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Publically traded Bitcoin mining companies in the US briefly reached a combined market cap of $22.8 billion on June 15 amid a surge in their stock price during June.
According to a recent analysis by JP Morgan, the growth is driven by an increase in network hashrate share and diversification into artificial intelligence (AI) data center ventures.
As of June 15, Marathon Digital was the largest US-listed Bitcoin miner, boasting a market cap of $5.3 billion. CleanSpark was next at $4 billion, followed by Riot Platforms at $3 billion.
Stock surge
The first half of June saw a notable surge in the stock prices of 14 US-listed mining companies, with Core Scientific (CORZ), TeraWulf (WULF), and Iris Energy (IREN) leading the pack. The three firms’ shares are up 117%, 80%, and 70%, respectively, since June 1.
Argo Blockchain (ARBK) was the only listed Bitcoin miner that saw a decline in its share price, which was down 7% over the first half of June.
Meanwhile, a proposed acquisition and strategic partnership between Core Scientific and AI cloud provider CoreWeave was a significant catalyst for the growth in the collective miner market cap.
Earlier this month, CoreWeave offered $1.6 billion to acquire Core Scientific, a bid representing a 55% premium over its market price, but the offer was declined. The proposal followed a $3.5 billion, 12-year partnership that allows CoreWeave to utilize Core Scientific’s data centers for its AI services.
Other Bitcoin miners are exploring similar diversification strategies that would allow them to contribute compute power for AI networks and development.
Market share
JP Morgan analysts said another factor in the market cap increase is the rising share of network hashrate among US Bitcoin miners. found US miners have gained a larger market share of Bitcoin’s hash rate since the April halving.
Despite a 5% decline in the overall network hashrate since the halving, the share of US-listed miners rose to 23.8% from 22.9% in May and 21% in April, as less efficient operations exited the market.
JP Morgan analysts also compared companies’ trading value to their proportional share of the block reward opportunity, noting that firms now trade at “2.25x their proportional share — lower than February’s high of 2.4x but higher than the post-January 2022 average of 1.5x.”
The report projected that US miners will produce roughly 650,000 Bitcoin over this four-year halving cycle.
The analysts also observed that Bitcoin has a low hash price that is 15% below the bear market lows of December 2022 and 45% below pre-halving levels. The analysts noted that these levels are not sustainable, stating:
“All else equal, we expect hashprice to increase in the coming weeks as the network hashrate declines.”