US-listed bitcoin (BTC) miners accounted for 25.3% of the global network in December, Jefferies said in a research report on Thursday.
The bank cut its target price for MARA Holdings (MARA) to $20 from $24, while maintaining its hold rating on the stock. Shares rose 0.5% to $18.43 in early trading Friday.
Mining profitability improved in December as the average bitcoin price gained 15%, outpacing the increase in the network’s hashrate, which was 6.5% higher, the report said.
The hashrate refers to the total combined computational power used in mining and processing transactions in a proof-of-work blockchain and a proxy for industry competition and mining difficulty.
Average daily revenue was $59,585 per exahash, a 7.1% increase from November, Jefferies said.
US-listed mining companies mined 3,602 bitcoins in December compared to 3,404 the previous month, the bank said. Jefferies noted that MARA mined the most bitcoins last month with 890 tokens, followed by CleanSpark (CLSK) with 668.
MARA’s installed hashrate remained the largest in the sector at 53.2 exahashes per second (EH/s). CleanSpark has the second largest hashrate with 39.1 EH/s, the report added.
Read more: Bitcoin Mining Rises in December for Second Consecutive Month: JPMorgan
