U.S.-Listed Bitcoin (BTC) Miners Accounted for 25.3% of the Global Network in December: Jefferies

U.S.-listed bitcoin (BTC) miners made up 25.3% of the global network in December, Jefferies said in a research note Thursday.

The bank decreased its price target for MARA Holdings (MARA) to $20 from $24, while keeping its hold rating on the stock. Shares were up 0.5% to $18.43 in early trading Friday.

Mining profitability improved in December as the average price of bitcoin rose 15%, outpacing the 6.5% increase in the network hashrate, according to the note.

Hashrate is the total combined computational power used to mine and process transactions on a proof-of-work blockchain, and serves as a proxy for competition in the industry and mining difficulty.

Average daily revenue was $59,585 per exahash, a 7.1% increase from November, Jefferies said.

U.S.-listed mining companies mined 3,602 bitcoin in December, compared to 3,404 the month prior, according to the bank. Of those, MARA mined the most with 890 tokens, followed by CleanSpark (CLSK) with 668, Jefferies noted.

MARA’s installed hashrate remained the largest in the sector at 53.2 exahashes per second (EH/s), the note said. CleanSpark had the second-largest hashrate with 39.1 EH/s.

Bitcoin mining companies are set to benefit from rising prices and increased demand for the cryptocurrency, which have been largely driven by institutional interest and the launch of bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

However, the rising hashrate could also increase competition in the industry and put pressure on mining margins, especially for smaller miners with less efficient operations.

Bitcoin’s hashrate has recovered significantly since the China mining ban last year, and is now at record highs. The increase in hashrate is driven by new mining farms coming online and the installation of more efficient mining rigs.