Bitcoin {{BTC}} mining profitability is stuck at record lows, JPMorgan (JPM) said in a research report on Tuesday.

"We estimate bitcoin miners earned an average of $43,600 per EH/s in daily block reward revenue in August, the lowest point on record," analysts Reginald Smith and Charles Pearce wrote.

That compares with a peak value of $342,000 in November 2021, when the BTC price was $60,000 and the network hashrate was 161 EH/s.

Mining stocks declined as the average price of the world's largest cryptocurrency fell for the third consecutive month and the network hashrate rose. Hashrate refers to the total combined computational power used to mine and process transactions on a proof-of-work blockchain.

The total market cap of the 14 U.S.-listed miners tracked by the bank shrank 15% month-on-month to $20 billion, with only three of the miners outperforming bitcoin in the period, the report said.

The network hashrate, a proxy for competition in the industry and mining difficulty, increased for the second straight month, the bank noted. "The network hashrate averaged 631 EH/s in August, up 16 EH/s from last month, and about 20 EH/s below prehalving levels," the authors wrote.

JPMorgan noted that mining difficulty rose 9% last month, and is 4% higher than before the halving .

There was a brief spike in transaction fees in August, to as much as 120% of the block reward, which is an "incremental positive" for the miners, the report added.

The bank noted that bitcoin's annualized volatility rose to 62% in August, from 45% in July.

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