Bitcoin Miner IREN Upgraded to Overweight, Cipher Mining Cut to Neutral: JPMorgan

Wall Street bank JPMorgan (JPM) updated its bitcoin (BTC) miner price targets and estimates following fourth-quarter 2024 results and to account for changes in the bitcoin price and the network hashrate. JPMorgan raised IREN (IREN), its top pick in the sector, to overweight from neutral, and cut its price target to $12 from $15. The shares were 2.7% higher at $7.23 in early trade. STORY CONTINUES BELOW Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto for Advisors Newsletter today. See all newsletters Sign me up By signing up, you will receive emails about CoinDesk products and you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy. Cipher Mining (CIFR) was downgraded to neutral from overweight, while the bank withdrew its $8 price target. The stock fell 3% to $3.10. The bank reiterated its overweight ratings on Riot Platforms (RIOT) and CleanSpark (CLSK), and reduced their respective price targets to $13 and $12. Riot slipped 0.5% to $7.82. CleanSpark gained 0.6% to $8.15. It reiterated its neutral rating on MARA Holdings (MARA), and cut the company's price target to $18 from $23. The shares rose 0.5% to $13.14. Miner's price targets were slashed by 19%-29% to reflect a 10% reduction to the bank's bitcoin price assumption and an 80% increase to the bank's network hashrate growth estimate. The total market cap of the five mining stocks that the bank covers has slumped more than 20% year-to-date versus a 11% decline in the bitcoin price, the report noted. Mining stocks have come under pressure as high performance computing (HPC) deals have taken longer than expected to come to fruition, and mining economics have deteriorated, the bank said. The pullback in these stocks offers an attractive entry point for investors, the report added. Read more: Bitcoin Mining Economics Weakened in February: JPMorgan

Wall Street bank JPMorgan (JPM) updated its bitcoin (BTC) miner price targets and estimates following fourth-quarter 2024 results and to account for changes in the bitcoin price and the network hashrate.

JPMorgan raised IREN (IREN), its top pick in the sector, to overweight from neutral, and cut its price target to $12 from $15. The shares were 2.7% higher at $7.23 in early trade.

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Cipher Mining (CIFR) was downgraded to neutral from overweight, while the bank withdrew its $8 price target. The stock fell 3% to $3.10.

The bank reiterated its overweight ratings on Riot Platforms (RIOT) and CleanSpark (CLSK), and reduced their respective price targets to $13 and $12. Riot slipped 0.5% to $7.82. CleanSpark gained 0.6% to $8.15.

It reiterated its neutral rating on MARA Holdings (MARA), and cut the company’s price target to $18 from $23. The shares rose 0.5% to $13.14.

Miner’s price targets were slashed by 19%-29% to reflect a 10% reduction to the bank’s bitcoin price assumption and an 80% increase to the bank’s network hashrate growth estimate.

The total market cap of the five mining stocks that the bank covers has slumped more than 20% year-to-date versus a 11% decline in the bitcoin price, the report noted.

Mining stocks have come under pressure as high performance computing (HPC) deals have taken longer than expected to come to fruition, and mining economics have deteriorated, the bank said.

The pullback in these stocks offers an attractive entry point for investors, the report added.

Read more: Bitcoin Mining Economics Weakened in February: JPMorgan

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NYSE-Parent ICE to Explore Stablecoins, Tokenized Funds for Financial Services With Circle

Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, said it plans to explore using Circle’s stablecoin and tokenized asset to develop new products, joining a roster of U.S. traditional financial giants pushing into crypto under the Trump administration.
According to an agreement announced on Thursday, the two firms will look at how Circle’s USDC stablecoin and USYC tokenized money market fund could be integrated into derivatives exchanges, clearinghouses and other services.

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“We believe Circle’s regulated stablecoins and tokenized digital currencies can play a larger role in capital markets as digital currencies become more trusted by market participants as an acceptable equivalent to the U.S. dollar,” said Lynn Martin, president of the New York Stock Exchange said in a statement. “We are excited to explore the potential use cases for USDC and USYC across ICE’s markets.”

USDC is the second-largest stablecoin, trailing Tether’s USDT. It has a $60 billion market capitalization and is fully backed by U.S. government securities and cash-equivalent assets. USYC is a money market fund token issued by Hashnote, which was acquired by Circle earlier this year.
ICE is the latest example of U.S. financial behemoths delving into applying digital assets, stablecoins and tokenization as regulatory headwinds over the crypto industry subside under the Trump administration.
In the past few days, asset manager Fidelity Investments filed to launch a tokenized money market fund and is reportedly working on issuing a stablecoin, while derivatives exchange CME Group said it’s testing tokenization with Google Cloud’s private distributed ledger, aiming to launch new services next year. Tokenization is the process of placing financial instruments like bonds, funds and other securities on blockchain rails to pursue operational gains.
Martin foreshadowed the firm’s potential push into digital assets last May at a Consensus 2024 panel discussion, saying that the exchange would consider offering crypto trading if the regulatory picture in the U.S. were clearer.

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Shaurya Malwa
Shaurya is the Co-Leader of the CoinDesk tokens and data team in Asia with a focus on crypto derivatives, DeFi, market microstructure, and protocol analysis. Shaurya holds over $1,000 in BTC, ETH, SOL, AVAX, SUSHI, CRV, NEAR, YFI, YFII, SHIB, DOGE, USDT, USDC, BNB, MANA, MLN, LINK, XMR, ALGO, VET, CAKE, AAVE, COMP, ROOK, TRX, SNX, RUNE, FTM, ZIL, KSM, ENJ, CKB, JOE, GHST, PERP, BTRFLY, OHM, BANANA, ROME, BURGER, SPIRIT, and ORCA. He provides over $1,000 to liquidity pools on Compound, Curve, SushiSwap, PancakeSwap, BurgerSwap, Orca, AnySwap, SpiritSwap, Rook Protocol, Yearn Finance, Synthetix, Harvest, Redacted Cartel, OlympusDAO, Rome, Trader Joe, and SUN.

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