Bitcoin Miners Struggle Amid April Price Drops, MARA and CleanSpark Excel

April’s Bitcoin price decline impacted mining profitability, as stated by JPMorgan’s Reginald L. Smith. MARA Holdings and CleanSpark outperformed competitors despite overall market challenges. The average Bitcoin price fluctuated, affecting U.S. miners’ performance. Companies exposed to high-performance computing, such as RIOT and IREN, lagged behind in performance.

In April, Bitcoin miners faced increasing pressure due to a decline in price, which impacted mining profitability according to JPMorgan analyst Reginald L. Smith. Although the average Bitcoin price dropped by 3% to approximately $82,600, it experienced fluctuations, dipping to $75,000 before recovering to around $85,000. Notably, firms such as MARA Holdings, Inc. (MARA) and CleanSpark, Inc. (CLSK) demonstrated robust performance, outpacing overall market trends despite broader mining challenges.

Smith highlighted a solid operational performance in March, with U.S.-listed miners adding around 15 EH/s and enhanced coin production, particularly from IREN Limited (IREN) and Hut 8 Corp. (HUT). However, this positive trend was overshadowed by a rapid growth in the overall network hash rate, which exceeded the expansion of U.S. miners. As a result, profitability in mining was strained by the decrease in Bitcoin’s average price during early April.

Currently, U.S.-listed miners are trading at approximately 1.2 times their share of the four-year block reward opportunity, reflecting a decline from recent highs and marking the lowest valuation in over two years. Smith noted that MARA Holdings and Bitdeer Technologies Group (BTDR) were the top and bottom-performing stocks, respectively, in the first fortnight of April. Firms like TeraWulf Inc. (WULF), IREN Limited, and Riot Platforms, Inc. (RIOT), which are heavily exposed to high-performance computing, saw weaker performances compared to their peers.