Bitcoins
- Bitcoin experienced significant price volatility in late February and early March, with values fluctuating between US$78,452 and US$94,727.
- JPMorgan reported a collective 22% drop in mining stocks and a 5% decrease in mining revenue, with miners averaging US$54,300 per EH/s.
- Marathon Digital (MARA) reported a 6% decline in blocks won and Bitcoin production, attributing this to February’s shorter month and increased network difficulty.
- Broader macroeconomic concerns, including potential trade tensions, are adding additional pressure to the cryptocurrency and mining ecosystem.
The crypto market continues its wild ride, as the seven-day Bitcoin chart looks like the waves cyclone Alfred is causing off the Queensland coast right now. The price of the OG crypto dipped as low as US$78,452 at the end of February and reached a top of US$94,727 on March 3 – volatility that could make even the most hardened sailor’s stomach churn.
Bitcoin Miners See Earnings Drop as MARA Opens New Facility
But not only crypto traders and sailors have been caught up in the storm, miners haven’t fared well either.
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According to a report by JPMorgan, mining stocks of 14 top miners all fell by a collective 22%. JPMorgan tracks public miners such as Riot Platforms, Bitdeer, Marathon Digital and Core Scientific.
The report also noted that mining revenue for these companies is down 5% in February from the previous month, and suggests miners earned on average just US$54,300 (AU$86,751) per EH/s.
EH/s stands for Exahashes per second, which is a unit used to measure the computational power or hash rate in Bitcoin mining.
In a press release from yesterday, Marathon Digital (MARA) also reported a drop of 6% in its blocks won and Bitcoin production – some of the most important metrics to evaluate a miner’s productivity.
Fred Thiel, chairman and CEO of MARA, said “bitcoin production per day increased 4% over January”, while “Blocks won and bitcoin production decreased by 6% month-over-month”. He cited the shorter month of February and a “higher network difficulty level”, as the main reasons behind the decrease.
The Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based company is also about to finish construction of a new “40-megawatt data center in Ohio”, which will ultimately house more than “ten thousand S21 Pro immersion miners”.
Trump’s Trade War Sparks More Macro Concerns
The broader macroeconomic environment may cause more headaches for miners going forward, as Trump-induced tariff wars worry investors.
US President Donald Trump launched a trade war by slapping tariffs on key partners Canada, Mexico and China.
While China and Canada have already retaliated with powerful tariffs of their own, Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum said she’s hopeful that a deal with Trump can be reached.
Economists have widely condemned Trump’s move and markets have reacted with panic. The S&P 500 has erased almost all gains made after the rally on election day, as the bellow Bloomberg chart shows – as the day following the tariff announcement saw one of the worst sell-offs.
And crypto hasn’t been spared, with almost 250k traders liquidated to the tune of US$778.39 million (AU$1.2 billion) in the past 24 hours, as data from Coinglass shows.
Aaron Feuerstein Read More