Bitcoin Mining Stocks Fell on Friday but Still Outperformed BTC in 2026

On Friday, May 15, 2026, shares of publicly traded Bitcoin mining companies experienced a sharp decline. In a single trading session, all major listed mining stocks dropped between 2.52% and 9.59%, despite significantly outperforming Bitcoin itself since the beginning of the year.

Key Takeaways:

• All ten tracked mining stocks declined on May 15, 2026, with Bitdeer recording the steepest drop at 9.59%.
• Every miner on the list outperformed Bitcoin’s year-to-date return of -11.1%, led by Hut 8 with gains of 123.16%.
• IREN Limited’s five-day decline of 12.37% signals short-term pressure, even though the sector’s overall year-to-date growth remains strong.

Bitcoin Mining Stocks Suffered on Friday but Continue to Show Strong Growth in 2026

Bitcoin ended the week at $77,849, down 11.1% from the beginning of the year. Nevertheless, all ten leading miners remain well above that benchmark, and the reasons extend far beyond BTC price action alone.

Hut 8 Corp. leads the group in year-to-date performance among the ten largest publicly traded mining companies by market capitalization. The stock has surged 123.16% year-to-date, trading at $102.52 per share despite falling 6.26% on Friday.

According to Bitcoinminingstock.io, the company’s market capitalization stands at $11.54 billion. Hut 8 is building artificial intelligence infrastructure under a 15-year, $7 billion lease agreement at its River Bend facility, offering GPU-as-a-Service and high-performance computing capacity to enterprise clients.

Terawulf, Inc. follows with a 95.56% year-to-date gain after declining 7.03% during the day. Its market capitalization stands at $9.17 billion. The company has secured approximately $12.8 billion in high-performance computing contracts, including agreements tied to Google and Fluidstack-backed partners covering more than 200 megawatts of capacity.

Applied Digital Corporation posted a 72.38% year-to-date return but lost 9.50% on Friday, marking the second-largest one-day drop among the leaders.

Riot Platforms, Inc. fell 3.96%, the third-largest daily decline. Its year-to-date gain of 86.62% and market capitalization of $8.94 billion reflect a company selectively scaling back Bitcoin mining while transitioning toward broader computing services.

Core Scientific, Inc. declined only 2.52%, the smallest daily loss among the top ten.

The company’s market capitalization stands at $7.72 billion, while its year-to-date gain reached 66.82%. Core Scientific is aggressively expanding into AI colocation services through a 12-year contract with Coreweave currently valued at approximately $10.2 billion. AI-related revenue already accounts for roughly 39% of the company’s total revenue structure.

MARA Holdings, Inc. recorded a daily decline of 6.39%, bringing its share price to $12.44. However, its year-to-date return of 38.53% still exceeds Bitcoin’s performance.

In the first quarter of 2026 alone, MARA sold more than 20,800 BTC, using the proceeds to reduce debt and expand infrastructure. The company became one of the largest contributors to a record-breaking quarter in which publicly traded miners sold more than 32,000 BTC collectively — exceeding both the entire 2025 total and the previous quarterly record set during the 2022 Terra-Luna collapse.

Cleanspark, Inc. shares fell 5% on Friday, trading at $13.28 per share. Its year-to-date return of 31.22% remains slightly above Bitcoin’s performance. The company sold part of its April production, including approximately 748 BTC through spot sales and options, while retaining most of its mined coins.

Bitdeer Technologies Group recorded the largest one-day drop in the group, falling 9.59% to $13.34 per share.

Bitdeer stated this week that, as of May 15, it held no Bitcoin other than customer deposits, having mined and sold all 198.3 BTC produced during the period. Its year-to-date gain of 18.95% is the lowest on the list, though it still outperformed Bitcoin.

IREN Limited, which holds the highest market capitalization at $19.14 billion, dropped 8.17% on Friday and lost 12.37% over the last five days — the sharpest five-day decline among the top ten.

IREN signed a five-year, $9.7 billion contract with Microsoft covering more than 200 megawatts of Nvidia GPU capacity and plans to expand to five gigawatts in partnership with Nvidia.

Cipher Digital Inc. declined 7.82%, closing at $20.55 with a market capitalization of $8.4 billion and a year-to-date gain of 39.19%. The company secured multi-billion-dollar agreements involving hundreds of megawatts, including deals backed by Google and Fluidstack.

Miners Are Rapidly Pivoting Toward AI and HPC

The broader driver behind this year-to-date growth is the industry’s rapid transition away from pure Bitcoin mining. Following the 2024 halving, block rewards fell to 3.125 BTC while network difficulty continued rising, leading to operational losses across roughly 20% of the sector at various points in early 2026.

Miners with established energy infrastructure quickly redirected megawatts from Bitcoin mining toward artificial intelligence and high-performance computing workloads, which offer longer contract durations and more stable revenue per megawatt.

By the end of 2026, AI and HPC revenue could account for up to 70% of total revenue across publicly traded miners. Combined AI and HPC contracts across the sector now exceed $70 billion.

Friday’s Wall Street session ended with a broad sell-off across the ten largest public mining companies. However, year-to-date performance still reflects a much stronger long-term trend.

See also: "Mining Giant MARA Sold Nearly 21,000 BTC to Expand Into AI Sector"

#Shares #Mining

Share: