Bitcoin (BTC) opened 2026 near $88,700 and has since declined to the $76,000–$78,000 range by late April, posting a year-to-date loss of approximately 12%. In stark contrast, shares of the top ten publicly traded Bitcoin mining companies have surged between 25% and 73%, decoupling almost entirely from the underlying cryptocurrency. The reason is not better mining economics but a strategic pivot toward artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure.
Terawulf Soars 73.58% on $12.8B AI Backlog
Terawulf (NASDAQ: WULF) leads the group with a 73.58% YTD gain. The company has secured over $12.8 billion in contracted HPC revenue via long-term leases with Google-backed Fluidstack and Core42 across sites in Hawesville, Kentucky, and Morgantown, Maryland, totaling over 1 GW of available power. HPC now accounts for more than half of Terawulf’s annual revenue, fundamentally re-valuing the company as a data center operator rather than a pure-play miner.
Hut 8, Core Scientific, and Others Follow Suit
Hut 8 (NASDAQ: HUT) gained 67.75%, trading at $77.06—the highest share price among top miners. The company signed a $7 billion, 15-year lease with Anthropic and Fluidstack at its River Bend campus and maintains an 8.5 GW development pipeline. Core Scientific (NASDAQ: CORZ) rose over 40%, backed by approximately $10–12 billion in contracted revenue through its Coreweave partnership across 590 MW of critical IT load at six locations. Riot Platforms (NASDAQ: RIOT) gained 47.04%, leveraging its 1.7 GW capacity in Texas to begin constructing 112 MW of AI-ready core-and-shell space. Applied Digital (NASDAQ: APLD) and IREN Limited each posted gains above 40% and 29%, respectively, after securing multi-billion-dollar HPC agreements with Coreweave and Microsoft.
Lagging Miners: Bitdeer and Cleanspark Still in Transition
Not all miners are capturing the same premium. Bitdeer (NASDAQ: BTDR) managed only a 7.62% YTD gain, as its 180 MW AI data center in Norway has not yet generated contracted revenue. Cleanspark (NASDAQ: CLSK) rose 25.88% but expects its first AI deployments only in 2026–2027, despite having over 1.8 GW of contracted power. Investors are clearly rewarding companies that have already signed long-term contracts with top-tier hyperscalers like Google, Anthropic, and Coreweave.
Conclusion: AI Has Replaced Hashrate as the Valuation Anchor
The data from January to April 2026 is unambiguous: miners are outperforming Bitcoin because they are transforming into AI data center operators. Terawulf, Hut 8, and Core Scientific have demonstrated that converting power capacity into contracted HPC revenue unlocks massive equity gains. While Bitcoin’s future price direction will still matter, for the leading names in this group, AI revenue has become the dominant valuation driver.