Bitcoin miners experienced a decline on Thursday, relinquishing earlier gains, as the price of the cryptocurrency retreated amidst volatile trading following the approval of the first U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Notably, the two largest mining stocks, Marathon Digital and Riot Platforms, both saw losses of over 15%. Likewise, Wall Street favorites Iris Energy and CleanSpark also experienced declines of 9% and 7% respectively.
Investors opted to take profits after bitcoin’s price briefly surged above $49,000, marking its highest level since December 2021. However, it has since pulled back to around $46,000.
In 2023, miners were among the top performers in the stock market. Marathon concluded the previous year with a gain of nearly 590%, while Riot saw an increase of over 350%. Similarly, CleanSpark and Iris Energy recorded gains exceeding 400%.
Furthermore, miner revenue has been on a downward trend in recent weeks due to the easing of bitcoin transaction fees, as per data from CryptoQuant. December witnessed exceptionally high fees as a result of heightened transaction activity on the network, but they have since cooled down. This decline affects the revenue of mining companies, explained CryptoQuant’s Julio Moreno.
Source (CNBC)
