Disclaimer: This post contains references to products from one or more of our advertisers. We may receive compensation (at no cost to you) when you click on links to those products. Read our Disclaimer Policy for more information.
MARA, HUT, RIOT, BITF, CORZ, and GLXY are the six best bitcoin mining stocks for 2022.
Best Bitcoin Mining Stocks: Background
Before we get into the best Bitcoin mining stocks, it’s important to understand their role in the Bitcoin ecosystem and their business models.
Miners verify transactions and combine them to form a block of transactions. After encrypting the block’s transaction data, miners compete to solve a cryptographic puzzle and show “proof of work.”
The miner that is first to solve the puzzle has their block added to the previously verified chain of blocks – hence, blockchain – and is rewarded with a block reward, which is currently 6.25 BTC per block.
This process happens every 10 minutes, on average.
Miners with more computing power, or “hash rate”, have a better chance of solving the puzzle faster, which makes them more likely to receive block rewards.
Miners seeking profitability attempt to maximize their hash rate while minimizing production costs.
Alright, enough background. Here are the best Bitcoin mining stocks.
Best Bitcoin Mining Stocks
#1. Marathon Digital (MARA)
- Market Cap: $2.91 billion
- 1-Year Trailing Performance: -37.24%
- Percent Off All-Time High: -87%
Marathon Digital has the highest hash rate and holds the most BTC of any miner in North America. It has operations in Montana, North Dakota, and Texas.
The company’s total bitcoin holdings have grown to approximately 6,695 since it started mining in 2020.
Marathon is forecasting massive growth in its hash rate too, expecting to scale its hash rate from its current level of 2.3 EH/s to 13.3 EH/s by mid-2022.
The chart below shows Marathon’s consistent hash rate growth:
The company plans to achieve this hash rate by growing its mining fleet to 133,000 miners by next year.
Marathon also benefits from having strong relationships with Bitmain — one of the world’s largest suppliers of mining equipment.
We believe that Marathon, and the next stock on the list, are your best bets when it comes to mining stocks.
#2. Hut 8 Mining (HUT)
- Market Cap: $1.09 billion
- 1-Year Trailing Performance: -12.23%
- Percent Off All-Time High: -55%
Hut 8 is the number one holder of self-mined bitcoin in North America. The company’s recent earnings report said it will continue to “strategically emphasize its ‘hodl’ strategy” and is taking active steps to “avoid selling bitcoin.”
Hut 8’s management team is committed to hodling, and maximizing the amount of BTC on its balance sheet. It has a balance-sheet-first approach to business management.
The company’s current valuation sits around 10x the amount of balance-sheet BTC.
Hut 8 also announced its hash rate increased to 2.7-3.3 E/H, and projects the rate to reach 6.0 E/H by mid-2022.
Marathon is projecting to double Hut 8’s hash rate growth over the same period. Both metrics will be important to watch moving forward.
If you’re bullish on bitcoin – and we imagine you are if you’re reading this article – then Hut 8 is a great stock to consider.
The amount of BTC it holds, despite its smaller size, gives it great potential to become a Bitcoin platform-play in the future.
#3. Riot Blockchain (RIOT)
- Market Cap: $2.07 billion
- 1-Year Trailing Performance: -71.37%
- Percent Off All-Time High: -99%
Riot is the second-largest North American miner behind Marathon and has the third largest reserve of self-mined BTC.
It recently acquired Whinstone, North America’s largest Bitcoin hosting facility, to diversify its revenue and expand capacity.
Riot’s CEO Jason Les said, “The acquisition of Whinstone is the most significant achievement in Riot’s growth to date and positions Riot as an industry leader in Bitcoin mining.”
Whinstone’s Texas facility (now Riot’s) is the largest single Bitcoin mining facility in North America, as measured by developed capacity.
Riot currently has a deployed hash rate capacity of 2.2 EH/s utilizing around 73 MW of energy.
Riot is waiting to receive an additional 58,000 miners from Bitmain. It expects to have these miners fully deployed by Q4 2022 and estimates they’ll increase the company’s hash rate capacity to 7.7 EH/s.
#4. Bitfarms (BITF)
- Market Cap: $621 million
- 1-Year Trailing Performance: -35.06%
- Percent Off All-Time High: -59%
Bitfarms is a Canada-based company that operates blockchain computing centers to power the DeFieconomy.
It currently has five computing centers across Quebec with an aggregate power capacity of 69 MW.
Bitfarm’s emphasis on vertical integration differentiates it from other miners in the industry — its data centers are designed, constructed, and operated in-house with no reliance on third-party services.
The company owns 100% of its infrastructure and computing power. It owns its electrical contractor, Volta Electrique, and has on-staff electricians to provide cost-effective and timely buildouts.
Bitfarms has an on-site monitoring and repair lab to streamline maintenance workflows.
Bitfarms powers just over 1% of the Bitcoin network with greater than 99% green hydroelectricity.
It holds +2,000 BTC, and is currently mining around 10 BTC each day at costs well below the market value of 10 BTC.
#5. Core Scientific (CORZ)
- Market Cap: $2.44 billion
- 1-Year Trailing Performance: -22.54%
- Percent Off All-Time High: -17%
Core Scientific provides various services related to bitcoin mining, and a handful of service unrelated to mining.
The company designs, owns, and operates facilities to host its customers’ mining hardware, in addition to its own self-mining operation.
It has facilities in Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, North Dakota, and Texas — all of which are strategically placed in areas with favorable and stable energy pricing, geopolitical and regulatory stability, and optimal climates.
Core Scientific grew its hash rate to 13.5 EH/s by the end of 2021, and plans to reach as high as 42 EH/s by the end of 2022.
Core Scientific finds a lot of blocks. In the three-month stretch between December and February, Core Scientific mined 3,102 bitcoin. The next highest amount from a public miner was Riot Blockchain with 1,319.
#6. Galaxy Digital Holdings (GLXY)
- Market Cap: $4.28 billion
- 1-Year Trailing Performance: -52.83%
- Percent Off All-Time High: -64%
Galaxy Digital Holdings is a financial services and investment management firm that provides institutions and clients with financial solutions spanning the digital assets ecosystem.
These solutions are offered across five business lines: asset management, trading, investment banking, mining, and principal investments.
So GLXY is not a pure bitcoin mining play considering its self-mining operation is just getting off the ground, but it provides indirect exposure via investment in miners.
Here are some parting stats from Galaxy Digital:
- AUM: $2.9 billion, up 256% year-over-year
- Net income: $1.7 billion, up 345%
- Portfolio companies: 180, up 70%
- Bitcoin mining: 80% of coins mined below fair market value
Please note that Galaxy Digital is not a bitcoin-only firm. It has passive exposure to Ethereum, Solana, and other DeFi projects.
Alternatives to the Best Bitcoin Mining Stocks
There are plenty of options beyond mining stocks if you’re just seeking public market exposure to bitcoin.
For example, MicroStrategy (MSTR) is an option from a balance sheet perspective, considering Michael Saylor has bought about $4 billion worth at an average price of $30K per bitcoin.
Another common strategy is to buy into the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) — an inefficient version of a Bitcoin ETF that you can own in tax-advantaged accounts.
Or you can buy shares in companies that facilitate bitcoin transactions like Coinbase or Block.
You can even consider going to the next layer of the Nvidia play and looking into semiconductor stocks like TSMC, Samsung, and ASML.
However, we expect more and more miners to go public as the ecosystem expands. For example, Argo Blockchain recently went public and now trades on the Nasdaq.
The number of ways to gain public market BTC exposure has dramatically increased over the last year, and we expect it to continue until every company is bitcoin-enabled in some way.
Best Bitcoin Mining Stocks: FAQs
What is the best Bitcoin mining company?
The best Bitcoin mining companies are Marathon Digital (MARA), Hut 8 Mining (HUT), Riot Blockchain (RIOT), Bitfarms (BITF), Argo Blockchain (ARBK), Core Scientific (CORZ), and HIVE Blockchain (HIVE).
What stocks are Bitcoin miners?
Stocks that are Bitcoin miners are Hive Blockchain (HIVE), Hut 8 Mining (HUT), Bit Digital (BTBT), Riot Blockchain (RIOT), and Bitfarms (BITF), Marathon Digital (MARA), Argo Blockchain (ARBK), and Core Scientific (CORZ).
What are the best Bitcoin stocks?
The best Bitcoin stocks are companies that mine it or facilitate its growth in some way. Here is a list of the best bitcoin stocks:
- MicroStrategy (MSTR)
- Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC)
- Marathon Digital (MARA)
- Hut 8 Mining (HUT)
- Riot Blockchain (RIOT)
- HIVE Blockchain (HIVE)
- Argo Blockchain (ARBK)
- Coinbase (COIN)
- Bitfarms (BITF)
- Block (SQ)
- PayPal (PYPL)
- Nvidia (NVDA)
- TSMC (TSM)
- Samsung
Bottom Line: Best Bitcoin Mining Stocks
The best bitcoin mining stocks are relatively unknown small companies, but they play a critical role in the future of sound money.
We believe that owning the underlying asset and the infrastructure that supports it will be a successful investment strategy, given long enough time horizons.
This article is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be investment advice. To learn more about how we selected the Best Bitcoin Mining Stocks, read our editorial guidelines and research methodology for stocks. This article was updated on April 17th, 2022 to reflect changes in the mining industry. It removed Nvidia from the list and added Core Scientific and Galaxy Digital Holdings.
