Bitcoin (BTC) mining stocks listed in the U.S. have more than doubled this year after being decimated in the crypto carnage of 2022, broker Bernstein said in a research report Friday.
The resurgence has been driven by two main factors, the report said. First, strong bitcoin price action due to improving sentiment resulting from Blackrock, Fidelity and other institutional exchange-traded-fund (ETF) filings. Second, some bitcoin miners are tapping into opportunities in high-performance computing and artificial intelligence (AI) as a “revenue diversification strategy,” the note said.
“This is a unique game of survival where the best-in-class miners with low costs and conservative debt profiles can survive, consolidate capacity and market share, to earn hyper-normal profits when bitcoin prices exceed the cost of production,” analysts led by Gautam Chhugani wrote.
Bernstein notes that weaker miners with high debt are not able to survive and “capitulate during crypto winters,” citing the recent bankruptcy of Core Scientific (CORZQ).
The broker says the first round of consolidation has already played out and surviving miners are now adding capacity in anticipation of bitcoin halving, when mining rewards are cut by 50%, an event that typically drives the BTC price higher. The next bitcoin halving is likely to occur around April 2024.
Wall Street giant JPMorgan also recently said in a report that over time the bitcoin mining industry will consolidate and become more competitive because only miners with lower production costs will be able to survive.
Read more: Only Bitcoin Miners With Low Power Costs and High Sustainable Energy Mix Will Survive: JPMorgan
