Bitcoin mining stocks surge past BTC as market rebrands them ‘AI infrastructure’

In the past year, one class of crypto-related assets outperformed. BTC mining stocks are now priced based on their potential for AI infrastructure, and most are ahead of BTC in terms of annualized gains. 

Bitcoin mining companies are an asset class that consistently outperformed BTC. Currently, some of the prominent mining stocks trade near a one-year peak, while BTC has caused losses for some of the recent buyers. 

Bitcoin mining stocks have decoupled from the leading digital coin, as their narrative is now closer to AI infrastructure.

Barring some trading anomalies and illiquid companies, a total of 12 companies outperformed BTC as of October 31. For the year to date, BTC added 59.5% to its price. The worst performer among top mining companies, Hive Digital Technologies, Ltd., rose by more than 85%. 

Some of the bigger gainers added up hundreds of percentages, putting IREN at the top with 492% gains in 2025. 

Mining stocks remain risky

Despite the short-term rally, mining stocks remain risky. Some of the companies have pivoted to data centers with aggressive investments, while still retaining mining for their short-term liquidity. 

However, some of the companies are facing incoming depreciation costs, as mining centers quickly become obsolete. Marathon Holdings, Riot Platforms, IREN, and CleanSpark may be the most affected. 

Mining stocks have also stood at the cross-section of pure BTC production, data centers, and DAT companies. As the treasury company narrative slows down, mining stocks may lose their appeal despite significant BTC reserves. 

MARA and RIOT diluted their stock supply to finance the much-needed growth of their data centers. While successful, this strategy also held risk as the mining facilities were depreciated. The miners also face additional risk from the price of BTC. 

BTC mining companies pivot away from coin production

For the past few years, investment in mining centers has also boosted the BTC hashrate, despite unfavorable price performance. Miners have continued to produce blocks even at times of distress, hoping for a bull market to sell some of the coins for profit. 

Miners have sold some of their reserves, though they are still holding 1.89M BTC. The coins are either held for future profit, or used as treasuries. Some of the earlier mined coins may also be idle or lost. Corporate miners with known wallets hold a relatively small share at 112,114 BTC, showing that mining may not be their primary business.

Mining companies are yet to show if their pivot to AI is sufficient to offset the expenses for the recent growth in mining facilities and building competitive hashrate. 

BTC mining activity grew by 500% in the past five years, reflecting the rise of big data centers. The coming halving cycle will further test that ecosystem and may further push for a shift to AI computation. As a result, mining stocks may further decouple from crypto, while retaining the option for gains in the case of a bull market.

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