Key Points
- Bitcoin (BTC) miners experienced significant growth in Q4 2024, with potential volatility expected.
- Increased institutional adoption and ETF inflows contributed to the success of BTC miners.
The final three months of 2024 were beneficial for BTC miners, according to H.C. Wainwright analysts.
They predict potential volatility in the future.
Growth in Bitcoin Mining
During Q4 2024, BTC miners saw substantial growth as Bitcoin (BTC) surpassed $100,000 for the first time.
This was driven by increased institutional adoption and optimism following the pro-crypto presidential election victory of Donald Trump, said an H.C. Wainwright analyst.
BTC reached a peak of $106,144 in mid-December before ending the quarter around $93,400, a 48% increase from Q3.
This price surge, along with record-breaking ETF inflows, led to strong earnings for miners.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs drew in $16.7 billion in Q4, almost four times the $4.3 billion recorded in Q3.
This helped push the average BTC price to $83,432 for the quarter, a 36.7% increase from the previous quarter.
Analysts believe these trends will result in strong revenue growth and wider profit margins in upcoming miners’ earnings reports.
Expansion in Bitcoin Mining
The mining sector saw significant expansion, with public miners adding 46 exahashes per second to their operations.
This brought the total deployed capacity to 235.8 EH/s.
The global network hash rate averaged 738 EH/s in Q4, a 17.3% increase from Q3.
As of early Q1 2025, the hash rate continues to rise, reaching 833 EH/s by February 2.
Higher BTC prices and increased mining activity led to a 16.4% quarter-over-quarter increase in total BTC production to 11,366 BTC.
Transaction fees also surged 59.4% to 1,553 BTC, increasing total miner revenues by 41% to $3.7 billion.
The combined market cap of public miners increased by 21% to $28 billion, with AI-linked miners outperforming their peers.
The first quarter of 2025 has started strong, with BTC averaging nearly $100,000 and ETF inflows reaching $5.7 billion.
However, analysts warn of potential volatility due to ongoing U.S. trade tensions with Canada, Mexico, and China.
Despite short-term uncertainty, they view any weakness in BTC or miners as a buying opportunity.