This high beta Bitcoin proxy sector is lagging behind BTC price 2025

Bitcoin is up nearly 10% since the beginning of the year, climbing from $94,383 to over $105,000 after several volatile months. However, the equity class that once served as a high-beta proxy for Bitcoin’s upside is failing to keep pace.

Publicly traded Bitcoin mining firms listed in the US are underperforming both the asset itself and the broader S&P 500 index, and in most cases, they’re underperforming by a wide margin. With capital flowing into spot Bitcoin ETFs and investor preference leaning toward direct exposure vehicles, the post-ETF launch environment has created a pricing regime where scale and operational strength no longer translate to equity outperformance.

The top five US-listed Bitcoin miners by hash rate (Marathon, Riot, CleanSpark, Cipher, and TeraWulf) have seen mixed results through 2025, with all but one posting double-digit YTD declines. In this report, CryptoSlate will dive deep into the performance of these mining stocks to analyze how their performance fares compared to Bitcoin’s spot price, direct exposure products like ETFs, and indirect vehicles like MSTR.