Shares of pure-play bitcoin miners jumped on Thursday, signaling renewed investor interest in firms focused solely on BTC mining after months of lagging behind data-center-oriented peers.
MARA and CleanSpark Drive Sector Gains
MARA Holdings (MARA) surged 10%, while CleanSpark (CLSK) climbed 17%, topping the CoinShares Bitcoin Mining ETF leaderboard. The move highlights a rotation back into miners directly leveraged to bitcoin’s price.
Bitcoin Approaches Record Levels
Bitcoin (BTC) rose 2.2% to around $115,700, edging closer to its all-time high and now trading just 5% below $118,000. The rally follows the Federal Reserve’s interest rate cut and reflects optimism for a historically strong year-end period, which has often been a peak performance window for BTC.
Miners with substantial BTC holdings stand to benefit if the rally continues. MARA and CleanSpark hold 52,477 BTC ($6.2 billion) and 12,703 BTC ($1.5 billion), respectively. MicroStrategy (MSTR), the world’s largest corporate BTC holder, also climbed 7% on Thursday.
Investor Rotation From AI and HPC Miners
Profit-taking in AI and HPC-focused miners may also be driving the shift into pure-play bitcoin miners. Bitfarms (BITF) has jumped 150% in September, Iren Energy (IREN) is up 600% since April, and Cipher Mining (CIFR) has gained 500% over the same period.
Thursday’s trading saw some cooling in the high-growth segment, with CIFR down 7% and IREN down 4%, indicating a rotation of capital toward bitcoin-focused operations.
