Bitcoin Miners With HPC Exposure Lag Behind 3rd Month, Market Cap Rises 12%
1min read Bitcoin mining companies with high-performance computing (HPC) exposure have underperformed the world's largest cryptocurrency for the third consecutive month in April. This trend was highlighted in a research report released by a prominent Wall Street bank. The report noted that miners with HPC exposure, including companies like iren, riot, wulf, and HUT, have struggled to keep pace with the performance of Bitcoin.
This underperformance comes as some bitcoin miners have diversified their operations into new business areas, such as offering HPC services to the rapidly growing artificial intelligence (AI) market. This strategic shift aims to reduce their reliance on cryptocurrency mining, which has become increasingly competitive and less profitable.
Mining profitability declined in April due to an increase in the network hashrate. The daily block reward revenue decreased by 6% from March, while the monthly average hashrate rose by around 56 exahashes per second (EH/s), or 6% month-on-month, reaching 872 EH/s in April. This was noted as the second-largest sequential increase in the monthly average network hashrate on record. The hashrate is a measure of the total combined computational power used to mine and process transactions on a proof-of-work blockchain, serving as an indicator of industry competition and mining difficulty.
Despite the challenges faced by miners with HPC exposure, the total market cap of the 13 U.S.-listed mining stocks tracked by the bank increased by 12% from March. Greenidge (GREE) was a notable outperformer in April, achieving a 46% gain. This suggests that while some mining companies are struggling, others are finding ways to thrive in the current market conditions.
