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Bitcoin (BTC): $56,607.61 −4.24%
Ether (ETH): $2,395.39 −4.4%
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Nikkei 225: 37,047.61 −4.24%
Bitcoin mining profitability is stuck at record lows, JPMorgan ( JPM ) said in a new research report. "We estimate bitcoin miners earned an average of $43,600 per EH/s in daily block reward revenue in August, the lowest point on record," the analysts wrote. That compares with a peak value of $342,000 in November 2021, when the BTC price was $60,000 and the network hashrate was 161 EH/s. The network hashrate, a proxy for competition in the industry and mining difficulty, increased for the second straight month in August, JPMorgan ( JPM ) noted. "The network hashrate averaged 631 EH/s in August, up 16 EH/s from last month, and about 20 EH/s below prehalving levels," the authors wrote.
Crypto ( CRCW ) derivatives protocol Volmex Finance unveiled a new implied volatility index for Solana's SOL token to measure expected price swings in the world's fifth-largest cryptocurrency. The SVIV index measures forward-looking 14-day expected volatility in SOL, Volmex said in an email to CoinDesk. Traders can track the index to see the degree of potential SOL price swings (in either direction) over the following two weeks. Volmex said it will eventually debut longer-duration SOL implied volatility indices, including the popular 30-day gauge and derivatives linked to that, allowing market participants to place bets on volatility. Perpetual futures tied to Volmex's bitcoin implied volatility index and the ether index have been trading on Bitfinex since early April.