Bitcoin mining stocks posted strong gains in the first half of 2026, with Riot Platforms rising 60% year-to-date by early August, Hut 8 climbing nearly 98%, Core Scientific up 43%, and CleanSpark gaining 20%. This rally stems less from mining activity itself than from miners repositioning as power and data center suppliers for AI companies. The trend is illustrated by Anthropic’s agreement to pay Riot $9.1 billion over 20 years for 191 megawatts in Texas and IREN’s $3.4 billion cloud contract with Nvidia. Meanwhile, MARA sold 2,213 BTC in Q2 while posting a $611.3 million net loss, as public miners collectively invested in AI contracts estimated at roughly $70 billion in the first quarter of 2026.
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