Analysis: Crypto mining stocks outperform benchmark cryptocurrencies in U.S. market

According to CoinDesk on August 10, benefiting from the Bitcoin rally, cryptocurrency mining stocks have performed significantly better than benchmark cryptocurrencies in the U.S. market.

Riot Blockchain and Marathon Patent Group, two cryptocurrency mining companies, have seen their stocks rise 97% and more than 128% respectively over the past year, while Bitcoin has risen 3% during the same period. Both companies underperformed Bitcoin slightly in the first quarter of 2020, but both have taken off since mid-April.

The relatively small size of the crypto space is reflected in the size of both companies, with neither company reporting a market capitalization of more than $150 million. Ryan Watkins, a bitcoin analyst at Messari, said “spillover from renewed interest in cryptocurrencies” was one reason for the recent gains in mining stocks.

He said: "Crypto mining stocks have grown naturally with the growth of cryptocurrencies." Riot and Marathon currently have mining capacities of 357PH and 19PH per second. The strong performance of the two companies is due to record trading volumes.