Bitcoin mining profitability faces strain as network competition rises and revenue declines. The hashrate hit a record 1.16 ZH/s in October, dropping hashprice below $35 per hash. Payback periods for mining rigs exceed 1,200 days, exacerbating financial strain on operators.

Publicly traded miners see stocks surge after JPMorgan raises price targets for CleanSpark, Cipher Mining, and IREN. Cipher’s share price drop creates attractive entry point, while IREN signs $9.7 billion cloud deal with Microsoft. Marathon Digital and Riot see estimates trimmed due to lower Bitcoin prices and larger share counts.

Read more at Cointelegraph: Bitcoin miners squeezed by record hashrate even as sector stocks jump