Publicly traded U.S. cryptocurrency mining companies doubled their bitcoin (BTC) holdings last year, bringing the total to 92,473, valued at $8.6 billion at the end of December, while the price of the largest cryptocurrency rose 120%, according to data from TheMiningMag.
The largest amount, almost half of the total, is held by MARA Holdings (MARA) with 44,893 BTC. MARA has the second largest reserve among publicly traded companies, surpassed only by MicroStrategy’s (MSTR) 450,000 BTC.
The strategy of investing in bitcoin and holding it for the long term, known as HODL after a typo made over a decade ago, has gained popularity over the past 12 months.
Three other miners hold more than 10,000 BTC: Riot Platforms (RIOT) with 17,722 BTC, Hut 8 (HUT) with 10,171 BTC, and CleanSpark (CLSK) with 10,097 BTC, according to Bitcoin Treasuries.
Not all miners subscribe to the HODL playbook. IREN (IREN), TeraWulf (WULF), and Core Scientific (CORZ) all hold very little, if any, bitcoin. Due to the competitive nature of their business, these companies have shifted their focus to the artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) sectors.
Stock prices have not followed the trajectory of Bitcoin. In general, miners have underperformed Bitcoin and other crypto-related stocks, such as MicroStrategy. The top performers, Core Scientific and Terawulf, with their new focus on AI, both saw returns in excess of 300%.
This year, however, miners using bitcoin HODL have benefited greatly, with RIOT, HUT, and CLSK all outperforming bitcoin. Only Bitdeer (BTDR) generated negative returns, after posting a strong performance in 2024.
