- Bitcoin miners fell on Thursday, recouping earlier gains.
- The two largest mining stocks, Marathon Digital and Riot Platforms, each lost more than 15%.
bitcoin Miners fell on Thursday, giving back earlier gains, as the cryptocurrency's price retreated in volatile trading following the US Securities and Exchange Commission's decision. approval of first US spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds.
The two largest mining stocks, Digital Marathon and Riot platforms, each lost more than 15%. Wall Street Favorites iris energy and clean spark they fell 9% and 7%, respectively.
Investors were taking profits after the price of bitcoin briefly spiked above $49,000 for the first time since December 2021. It has since retreated to around $46,000.
Miners were some of the biggest stock market gainers in 2023. Marathon ended last year up nearly 590%, while Riot rose more than 350%. CleanSpark and Iris Energy both posted gains of more than 400%.
Miners' income has also declined in recent weeks as bitcoin transaction fees have declined, according to data from CryptoQuant. Fees were extremely high for most of December due to high transaction activity on the network, but have since cooled down, affecting mining companies' revenues, CryptoQuant's Julio Moreno explained.
Some investors may also be positioning for the upcoming bitcoin halving, when the mining reward for mining bitcoins and the revenue of mining companies will be cut in half, according to the bitcoin code.
The halving, scheduled for April, is a market clearing event for miners. Although it historically precedes big bitcoin gains (which typically benefit mining stocks), the event could drive unprofitable miners out of the marketallowing the most sustainable miners to gain market share.
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