Bitcoin Mining Meets Wall Street: An Analysis of Crypto Companies

The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), the American private non-profit research organization, released an analysis of 13 publically traded crypto mining companies enlisted on the NASDAQ stock exchange, entitled “Bitcoin Mining Meets Wall Street”.

Notably, the recently published article highlighted its key agenda as to study the specific strategies adopted by these companies in the relatively “difficult period”, stating:

Our paper studies how outside shareholders have valued bitcoin miners, and how the publicly traded mining companies have adapted their strategies in an environment that requires regular shareholder reporting and interaction with Wall Street analysts.

Interestingly, the paper expounded on the various possible sources of a company’s advantage in increasing the customer’s demand. The four possibilities shared include the companies’ access to scarce mining equipment, securing relationships with “cheap and reliable energy providers”, superior energy skills, and accumulation of BTC over time.

Meanwhile, the Chinese reporter Colin Wu tweeted on his official account Wu Blockchain that the NBER’s paper showed that “the ownership of a crypto mining company might provide a useful channel for risk management in the electric power industry”:

The National Bureau of Economic Research published a paper «BITCOIN MINING MEETS WALL STREET» pointing out that ownership of a crypto mining company might provide a useful channel for risk management in the electric power industry. Read more: https://t.co/C8OEAyRmyM

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) February 19, 2023

Significantly, the document focuses on the “miners’ relationship with electric utilities as sources of comparative advantage”. It is told that mining companies have switched to using sustainable or renewable energy, most of them engaging in “green” or “environmentally friendly energy use”.

Specifically, the paper scrutinized the miners’ choice between sustainable energy that is subject to “irregular fluctuations” and conventional sources of energy:

Our paper presents a basic model of a miner’s choice between sustainable energy and conventional sources of electric power, we identify market conditions under which a sustainable miner may be more profitable even when required to curtail its operations intermittently to accommodate demand surges by other customers.

Furthermore, the research explains the case in detail that includes the model, the database, the overall analysis, the discussions, and the final conclusion.

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