JPMorgan (JPM) released a research report on Monday, revealing a modest uptick in the Bitcoin network hashrate for January, along with a slight drop in mining difficulty.

The bank noted a 1% increase in the network’s average monthly hashrate, reaching 785 exahashes per second (EH/s). In contrast, the mining difficulty decreased by 2% compared to the previous month. By the end of the month, the 7-day moving average hashrate was 781 EH/s, marking a 2% decline from the close of December. JPMorgan described this drop in difficulty as relatively rare, offering a small positive impact on Bitcoin mining economics.

Despite the decrease in difficulty, the network’s overall mining difficulty still stands 25% higher than it was before Bitcoin’s halving in April 2024. A CoinDesk report also revealed that Bitcoin’s 7-day moving average hashrate recently set a new record, hitting 833 EH/s.

In terms of profitability, Bitcoin miners saw a slight rise in earnings. JPMorgan estimated that miners earned an average of $57,200 per EH/s in daily block rewards, which represents a less-than-1% increase from December.

Bitcoin mining stocks showed some positive movement, with the overall market cap for tracked miners rising 5% from the previous month. Cipher Mining (CIFR) and Riot Platforms (RIOT) outperformed, with gains of 23% and 16%, respectively, following announcements related to high-performance computing. On the other hand, TeraWulf (WULF) underperformed, with its shares dropping by 16%.