TopU.S.-listedBitcoinminershaveincreasedtheirownershipoftheglobalnetworkhashrate,pushingtheirsharetonewheightsthisyear,accordingtoanewreport.
Roughly14publicly-listedBitcoinminersintheU.S.controlarecord28.9%ofthenetwork,analystsatinvestmentbankinggiantJ.P.MorganwroteinaninvestornoteonWednesday.
ThehashratereferstotheamountofcomputationalpowerusedtomintnewcoinsandkeeptheBitcoinnetworksecure.
ItcomesastopU.S.cryptominingstocks“ralliedoverthefirsttwoweeksofOctober,”withthosecompaniesbeingvaluedlowerthanusualcomparedtotheirpotentialrewardsinBitcoin,makingthemanattractiveinvestmentaheadoftheupcomingelectionnextmonth,thebanksaid.
Investorscangainexposuretothecryptobyinvestingincompanieslikeminersinsteadofinvestingdirectlyintotheassetclass,whichhasbeenthepreferredchoiceamongsomelargerplayersbeforetheadventofU.S.-basedspotBitcoinexchange-tradedfundsthisyear.
TheanalystssaidtheincreasedshareinhashrateintheU.S.was“encouragingandspeakstotheefficiencyandfundingadvantagesofsomepublicoperators.”
ItcomesafterthebanknotedlastmonththatwhileprofitsweregettingsqueezedforpublicBitcoinminers,theirdominanceofthebiggestcoin’shashratewasgrowing.
TopU.S.Bitcoinminers—CleanSpark,IREn,andMarathonDigital,tonamejustthree—arealllistedonU.S.stockexchanges.
IntheBitcoinworld,expensivemachinesmakehashcomputations—knownashashing—toturndataintoafixed-lengthstringofcharacters.
TheprocessisneededtodothingsontheBitcoinnetwork,likecreateprivatekeyssouserscanmaketransactions.
Theaggregatehashratefortheworld’slargestcryptowaspreviouslyconcentratedinChina.Followingthecountry’sbanonBitcoinmininginMay2021,companieswereforcedtomoveelsewheretosetuptheiroperations.
Sincethen,NorthAmericahasbecomethemostdominantplayerintheBitcoinminingspace,includingsomepartsofAsia.
EditedbySebastianSinclair
decrypt.co