The year-to-date returns of most mining stocks have surpassed the rise of Bitcoin, with the exception of two underperforming mining firms, Argo Blockchain and TeraWulf. According to CoinGecko data, Bitcoin has seen an 84.61% increase, while the average return of the top eleven public mining companies stands at 148.59%. Marathon Digital Holdings and Cipher Mining lead the gains with year-to-date increases of 120.67% and 356.00% respectively.
Higher Beta and Increased Volatility
The mining stocks have exhibited a higher beta over Bitcoin, indicating increased volatility and a tendency to move with a greater magnitude in the same direction as the market or benchmark index, in this case, Bitcoin. This means that during positive rallies, mining stocks frequently outperformed Bitcoin, while during Bitcoin's downfall in the third quarter, the majority of mining stocks retraced by an average of 50% compared to Bitcoin's price drop of around 10%.
Benefiting from Increased Bitcoin Mining Revenue
In addition to enjoying a higher beta over Bitcoin's price, mining stocks have also benefited from the increase in Bitcoin mining revenue due to the increased usage of Ordinals. Ordinals are digital files stored on the smallest Bitcoin unit, known as a satoshi or simply sat, and have created an NFT market on the Bitcoin blockchain. Rich Rines, an initial contributor to Core DAO, stated that mining companies are taking advantage of renewed Bitcoin excitement and market performance, leveraging new use cases such as Ordinals inscriptions and BRC 20 tokens to increase profitability and demand for mining.
Increased Production and Greater Mining Revenues
Anthony Power, a mining analyst at Compass Mining, highlighted in a recent report that public miners saw increased production and greater mining revenues in September. This can be attributed to an increase in Bitcoin's price and a temporary negative adjustment in mining difficulty. Mining difficulty refers to the algorithmic adjustment that occurs every 2016 blocks, or roughly every two weeks, to maintain the average block production time at 10 minutes.
In summary, while two mining stocks have underperformed Bitcoin's rise this year, the majority of mining companies have far outpaced its gains. These mining stocks have exhibited higher beta and volatility compared to Bitcoin, and have also benefited from the increased usage of Ordinals, leading to greater profitability and demand for mining. With increased production and mining revenues, the mining sector is capitalizing on the renewed excitement and market performance of Bitcoin.
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