JPMORGAN SAYS $85,000 IS WHAT A BITCOIN COSTS TO MAKE — THE PRICE CROSSED IT MONDAY AND WAS BACK UNDERNEATH BY WEDNESDAY

JPMorgan analysts led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou put the cost of producing one bitcoin near $85,000 and wrote on September 24, 2026 that clearing it matters. “To the extent it is sustained, this new backdrop should provide relief to bitcoin miners, thus reducing the risk of forced selling by them.”

Hold the word sustained. Bitcoin first closed above $85,000 on Monday September 21 and was back underneath by Wednesday morning. The relief lasted about two days.

The number worth keeping is the other one. By The Block's count bitcoin traded below that estimated cost for 280 days before this move. Through every one of them the network produced a block about every ten minutes, because difficulty adjusts to whoever is still hashing and does not consult a bank's model of what mining ought to cost.

A production cost is an estimate somebody publishes. A difficulty adjustment is a number anybody can check. Only one of them decides whether the chain keeps moving. At the time of this writing, bitcoin was $84,299.