Riot Platforms Leads Mining Stocks Surge Amid Shift to AI Infrastructure
Bitcoin mining stocks have seen significant gains in 2026, particularly Riot Platforms and Hut 8, which have posted year-to-date increases of 83% and 72%, respectively. However, not all miners are faring as well, with Bitdeer, Argo Blockchain, and Canaan down by 20%, 24%, and 71% over the same period.
The surge in these stocks is less about mining Bitcoin itself and more about miners positioning themselves to provide power and data center infrastructure for AI companies. This shift has led to a change in how the market prices these stocks.
Riot's shares jumped 24% after it secured a $9.1 billion deal with Anthropic, which would pay for 191 megawatts of computing capacity at its Texas site. IREN also saw its shares rise by nearly 10% after landing a $3.4 billion cloud contract with Nvidia.
MARA's results show why miners are looking elsewhere, as the company reported a Q2 revenue loss and continued to invest in new infrastructure.