Bitcoin Miners Face New Pressure as Revenue Slips, Yet Miner Stocks Climb

Profit margins across the Bitcoin mining world are coming under fresh pressure as network competition rises and income trends weaken. A recent report from The Miner Mag shows that the network’s total computing power climbed to a new high of 1.16 ZH/s in October, even as Bitcoin’s price slid toward $81,000 at the start of November.

Hashprice, a metric that measures revenue earned per unit of computing power, dropped below $35 per hash during the period. This figure sits well under the roughly $45/PH/s median level reported by publicly traded mining companies, leaving many operators close to break-even.

Rising Borrowing and New Business Lines

The report also noted that the time required for new mining machines to recover their cost now exceeds 1,200 days. Rising financing expenses across the industry have added even more strain. 

The tough conditions came soon after a steady third quarter, during which hashprice averaged near $55/PH/s while Bitcoin traded around $110,000. The recent combination of stronger competition and a weaker Bitcoin price has pushed sector revenue to one of its lowest points on record.

Operators have turned to borrowing at a faster pace, driven in part by a wave of near–zero-coupon convertible bonds issued during the previous quarter. Many companies have also been expanding into AI-related and high-power computing services, though income from these areas remains far too small to counter the sharp fall in mining-related revenue.

Bitcoin Miner Stocks Climb

Despite the grim financial backdrop, publicly traded miners saw broad gains over the past day. CleanSpark, Cipher Mining, and IREN each posted double-digit increases on Monday, lifting sentiment across the group.

A research note from JPMorgan raised share-price targets for the three firms. The bank pointed to long-term contracts in the high-power computing and cloud sectors as a key driver of future activity. 

JPMorgan added that Cipher’s share price had fallen roughly 45% from its earlier peak, calling the pullback an appealing entry point. The bank also said the company appears well placed to secure more agreements with data-center tenants.

IREN recently signed a five-year, $9.7 billion GPU cloud contract with Microsoft, granting the tech company access to Nvidia GB300 units housed in IREN’s facilities.

JPMorgan lowered its expectations for Marathon Digital and Riot, citing weak Bitcoin prices and larger share counts that have weighed on their coin holdings.