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Cryptocurrency mining equities are on a torrid pace to start 2026. Just look at the CoinShares Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI), one of the bellwether ETFs addressing this industry. WGMI is higher by more than 31% year-to-date.
The transitions of many of its member firms to AI-tethered plays by way of data center and other AI-related competencies has fueled the ETF’s hot start to 2026.. That evolving thesis goes a long way toward explaining why WGMI ranked as one of 2025’s best-performing non-leveraged ETFs.The fund is up nearly 96% over the past 12 months.
While the AI data center theme is increasingly relevant and undoubtedly compelling as it relates to WGMI member firms, investors cannot gloss over the fact that many of the ETF’s holdings are still engaged in mining Bitcoin. There may be positive news emerging on that front.
Bitcoin Mining Burdens May Ease
Following the 2024 halving, Bitcoin mining got harder, meaning miners to expend more computing power for reduced rewards. Increased mining often creates a scenario where miners, including WGMI components, need the cryptocurrency’s prices to soar to be profitable from mining activities, but that didn’t happen last year as the largest digital asset posted a loss.
Still, we can’t ignore that the ease of mining on the Bitcoin network got a bit easier last week. Some market observers believe that will be bullish for miners.
“Mining difficulty automatically drops to encourage more mining machines to join the network and earn new Bitcoin as a reward,” reported DL News. “Mining difficulty automatically drops to encourage more mining machines to join the network and earn new Bitcoin as a reward.”
Indeed, some miners may be compelled to increase activity or turn on more mining machines. This is because prior rivals have significantly reduced mining or outright left the industry in favor of focusing on data centers. That frees up computing power for crypto miners, including WGMI holdings, to close the gap and potentially boost their bottom lines.
Some WGMI member firms are also displaying flexibility, dancing between AI and mining – a posture that could benefit investors over the long haul.
“The two industries can work in harmony, with miners having flexible energy requirements — Bitcoin miners can quickly power up or down depending on an energy grid’s needs — while HPC operations need constant, reliable power,” according to DL News.
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