U.S.-listed Bitcoin mining company reaches record market capitalization of $22.8 billion amid surge in stock price
Publicly traded Bitcoin mining companies in the United States briefly reached a combined market capitalization of $22.8 billion on June 15 due to a surge in their stock prices during the month.
According to a recent analysis by JP Morgan, growth is being driven by an increase in network hash rate share and diversification of the artificial intelligence (AI) data center business.
As of June 15, Marathon Digital is the largest U.S.-listed Bitcoin mining company, boasting a market capitalization of $5.3 billion. CleanSpark followed with $4 billion, followed by Riot Platform with $3 billion.
stock price soars
The first half of June saw a notable surge in stock prices for 14 publicly traded U.S. mining companies, including Core Scientific (CORZ), TeraWulf (WULF), and Iris Energy (IREN). The stock prices of the three companies have risen 117%, 80%, and 70%, respectively, since June 1.
Argo Blockchain (ARBK) was the only publicly traded Bitcoin miner to see its stock price fall 7% during the first half of June.
Meanwhile, the proposed acquisition and strategic partnership between Core Scientific and AI cloud provider CoreWeave has been a significant catalyst for collective miner market capitalization growth.
Earlier this month, CoreWeave offered $1.6 billion to acquire Core Scientific, 55% above market price, but the offer was rejected. The offering follows a $3.5 billion, 12-year partnership that will allow CoreWeave to leverage Core Scientific’s data centers for AI services.
Other Bitcoin miners are exploring similar diversification strategies to contribute computing power for AI networks and development.
market share
JP Morgan analysts said another factor in the increase in market capitalization was the growing share of the network hashrate among U.S. Bitcoin miners. Following the April halving, US miners have seen a larger increase in market share of the Bitcoin hash rate.
Despite a 5% decline in overall network hashrate following the halving, the share of US-listed miners increased to 23.8% from 22.9% in May and 21% in April as less efficient operations exited the market.
JP Morgan analysts also compared the company’s trading value to its proportional share of block reward opportunities, noting that the company is currently trading at “2.25x”. Proportional Share — “It is lower than the February high of 2.4 times, but higher than the average of 1.5 times since January 2022.”
The report estimated that U.S. miners would produce about 650,000 bitcoins over the four-year halving cycle.
Analysts also observed that Bitcoin’s hash price is 15% below the December 2022 bear market low. 45% below pre-halving levels. Analysts say these levels are unsustainable, saying:
“All else being equal, we expect hash prices to rise in the coming weeks as the network hashrate declines.”
