Who are the biggest bitcoin mining companies?

Bitcoin mining companies suffered in 2022, with the price of bitcoin (BTC) getting hit by a bear market. 

The performance of the exchange traded fund (ETF) Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners (WGMI) showed the extent to which the value of the crypto mining business was affected. It lost more than 80% of its value over the course of the year, with its price at the end of last year coming in at $4.47, compared to its February 2022 launch price of $26.20.

However, WGMI isn't the only public company associated with mining the world's largest crypto. So what are the largest public bitcoin mining companies and how are they coping? Here we take a look at the biggest bitcoin mining stocks by market capitalisation.

What is bitcoin mining?

Bitcoin mining involves solving mathematical equations to process transactions on the blockchain and earn rewards. By doing this, new BTC tokens are created and miners are compensated for their efforts, equipment and electricity bills as they take part in the proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism. 

Some sophisticated hardware is needed to mine bitcoin profitably as the difficulty of the puzzles increases to reduce the speed at which the asset’s supply expands. The largest bitcoin mining companies own thousands of devices that can solve the problems faster than a human. The total value of the BTC they receive in return is considered to be the company’s revenue.

The cost of running large bitcoin mining companies includes the electricity needed to power the devices, maintenance for the mining farms’ expensive cooling systems, personnel and other operating costs typical to any business.

In 2022, bitcoin mining entered one of its worst bear markets since the digital asset made its appearance in 2009 as a deterioration in macroeconomic conditions across the world, coupled with a series of crypto market crashes, such as the collapse of the Terra ecosystem and the Celsius Network, along with the bankruptcy of the FTX exchange, saw the coin sink below $16,000 in late November, its lowest price in more than two years. 

Since then, however, the coin has made a recovery and was able to trade above $30,000 for a brief period in April 2023. 

Largest public bitcoin mining companies

So what are the largest bitcoin mining companies? Below are some of the biggest bitcoin mining companies by market capitalisation as of 18 April 2023, according to data from CompaniesMarketCap.

Riot Blockchain (RIOT)

Riot Blockchain (RIOT) is at the head of the list of top bitcoin mining companies with a market cap of $2.15bn. The business also offers its facilities to other large-scale mining businesses so they can establish their own farms by taking advantage of the firm’s proprietary infrastructure.

Riot’s primary mining location is in Rockdale, Texas. The firm operated 88,556 mining rigs by the end of 2022, and had 6,974 BTC tokens in reserve that were valued at about $116m at the time.

In 2022, the company earned $259.2m in revenue, most of which came from its proprietary mining operation. It also had a net loss of $509.6m, had no long-term debt, and boasted $230m in cash and equivalents. 

Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA) 

Marathon Digital (MARA) is the second stock on the list of bitcoin mining companies with a market cap of $1.91bn. The firm is a former uranium and vanadium exploration business turned to bitcoin mining after the firm merged with Global Bit Ventures in 2017. By the end of 2021, the company reportedly accounted for 2.1% of the global bitcoin hash rate.

Marathon has facilities in South Dakota, Nebraska, Montana and Texas.

By the end of 2022, Marathon had reserves of 12,232 BTC, worth $190.7bn. During this same period, the firm generated total revenues of $117.75m, but incurred a loss of $686.7m. 

In addition, Marathon had long-term debt of $805m on total assets of $1.475bn, including $55m in cash and equivalents. This appeared to be the most indebted bitcoin mining company on the list.

Cipher Mining (CIFR)

Cipher (CIFR) is the third largest bitcoin mining company with a market cap of $660m. Cipher is a fast-growing industrial-scale firm with operations in the US. In February 2022, the firm started running its first facility in the country and had plans to activate another two to four sites that could be fully powered by renewable energy.

Cipher is an unaudited company. In 2022, the firm booked net losses of $29m, had no long-term debt, and reported cash and equivalents of $11.9m. The company went public in August 2021 via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) called Good Works. 

In August 2021, it signed agreements with Bitmain Technologies and SuperAcme Technologies to acquire 27,000 and 60,000 miners respectively. Cipher’s mining operations will be based in Alborz, Texas, where its first facility has been built.

Canaan (CAN) 

Canaan (CAN) is a Chinese company that has established a subsidiary in the Cayman Islands to be able to offer its common shares to US-based investors via American Depositary Shares (ADS). It has a market cap of $490m. The firm has manufactured crypto mining rigs since 2013 for bitcoin mining companies under the Avalon brand.

So far the company has developed nine mining rigs, including the first generation of its A1246 units, which was released in 2020. The miner also produces AI-powered applications.

By the end of 2021, the last year for which a company has issued an annual report, Canaan had 346 employees, produced revenue of $1.42bn – most of which came from the sale of its flagship mining rigs – and booked a net loss of $1.02bn. The company also reported no long-term debt and had cash and equivalents of $421.23m. 

Hut 8 Mining (HUT) 

Founded in 2017, Hut 8 (HUT) is one of North America’s oldest cryptocurrency mining companies and the fifth largest overall, with a market cap of $430m. The firm is headquartered in British Columbia, Canada, and, apart from its main mining operation, also offers processing services to institutions..

By the end of 2022, Hut 8 had 9,086 bitcoin,  generated revenues of $150.7m (Canadian) and net losses of $242.8m (Canadian). In addition, the firm had cash and equivalents of $30.5m (Canadian).

On 7 February 2023, however, Hut 8 announced it would merge with American firm Bitcoin Corp. 

The bottom line about bitcoin mining companies

Note that the current list of the largest bitcoin miners is subject to change as the prices of individual shares fluctuate. Hence, this data shouldn’t be used as a substitute for your own research. Always conduct your own due diligence, studying the company’s fundamentals and technicals in detail, looking at the latest news and a wide range of analyst commentary. 

Remember, past performance does not guarantee future return. And never trade money you cannot afford to lose. 

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