Bitcoin Mining Opportunity Is Worth About $74B, JPMorgan Says

At current bitcoin (BTC) prices, the value of the remaining 1.3 million tokens left to be mined is about $74 billion, JPMorgan (JPM) said in a research report on Friday.
The bank reduced its price targets for some of the miners it covers to reflect second-quarter results and changes in both the price of bitcoin and the network hashrate. Hashrate refers to the total combined computational power used to mine and process transactions on a proof-of-work blockchain.
JPMorgan cut its CleanSpark (CLSK) price target to $10.50 from $12.50 while maintaining its neutral rating on the shares. It reduced the Iren (IREN) price target to $9.50 from $11 and kept its overweight rating. Underweight-rated Marathon Digital’s (MARA) price objective was lowered to $12 from $14, and overweight-rated Riot Platforms’ (RIOT) price objective was trimmed to $9.50 from $12.
The four-year block reward revenue opportunity is estimated to be around $37 billion, a drop of 19% since early June, but up 85% year-on-year, the report said.
The bank prefers Iren and Riot, and said recent underperformance in these stocks presents a buying opportunity for investors.
Riot has underperformed the sector year-to-date due to “operational snags,” but JPMorgan sees the potential for better sentiment and share-price upside in the coming months due to enhanced uptime and production metrics.
The bank noted that Iren has traded lower in recent weeks after reporting a sharp rise in power costs in July in relation to hedging losses. JPMorgan says these missteps are correctable and present a nice buying opportunity.
Read more: U.S.-Listed Bitcoin Miners Have the Upper Hand Over Unlisted Peers: Bernstein
Edited by Sheldon Reback.

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Will Canny is CoinDesk’s finance reporter.