JPMorgan’s latest report highlights a growing trend among crypto miners, who are now adopting a bitcoin accumulation strategy similar to that of MicroStrategy (MSTR). This shift towards hoarding bitcoin comes in response to increasing pressures on profitability, largely due to the April reward halving and a rising network hashrate, which makes mining more competitive and difficult.

The network hashrate, which measures the total computational power dedicated to mining and transaction processing on proof-of-work blockchains, serves as an indicator of market competition and mining difficulty. JPMorgan analysts, led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, believe these factors have driven miners to accumulate more bitcoin or invest in alternative sectors like artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC).

One of the most prominent examples of this shift is MARA Holdings (MARA), which now holds 35,000 BTC, valued at around $3.5 billion. This makes MARA the second-largest publicly traded company by bitcoin holdings, following in the footsteps of MicroStrategy.

In addition to miners, other companies are also jumping into the bitcoin market. For instance, Semler Scientific, a medical device manufacturer, has been buying bitcoin aggressively, amassing $144 million worth of the cryptocurrency.

The introduction of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in January has made it easier for institutional investors to gain exposure to bitcoin, which has resulted in underperformance in the shares of bitcoin miners. Miners, who were once seen as a proxy for bitcoin, are now facing a shift in their stock performance due to this direct investment option.

The report also notes a shift in the way miners are financing their businesses. Rather than liquidating their bitcoin holdings to cover operating expenses, miners are raising capital through debt and equity offerings. In fact, miners have raised over $10 billion in equity this year, surpassing the previous record of $9.5 billion set in 2021.