Cathie Wood is probably the most important person in the world of finance right now. Her meteoric rise over the past two years as perhaps the best stock picker in the world is well documented. But she’s also a star backer of bitcoin, holding strong exposure to the cryptocurrency through a number of major portfolio holdings in her famous Ark funds.
During a Thursday webcast hosted by CBOE, Wood put out a new message for other bitcoin enthusiasts, and one that could further drive the price of the coin higher: don’t transact in bitcoin until the tax code changes.
She believes the code will change and spending on purchases by using profits from successful bitcoin investments could unnecessarily subject one to outsized tax penalties.
Why might this help to push BTC even higher? Because it gives people another reason to lock up secondary market supply. If you are a bitcoin enthusiast, and have recently logged huge investment profits during the steep rally of the past 6-8 months, then you control some of the supply in the market. If you use some portion of that supply to purchase, say, a riding lawnmower from Home Depot (who accepts Bitcoin as a form of payment), then Home Depot will take your BTC and likely immediately sell it for dollars.
Most places that accept Bitcoin as a form of payment will prefer to convert BTC to USD upon receipt. Hence, popularizing Wood’s message could become yet another tailwind for further gains in the coin.
With that in mind, we take a look at some of the current leaders among Crypto stocks, including: Bit Digital Inc (NASDAQ:BTBT), Riot Blockchain Inc (NASDAQ:RIOT), ISW Holdings Ord Shs (OTCMKTS:ISWH), and Marathon Patent Group Inc (NASDAQ:MARA).
Bit Digital Inc (NASDAQ:BTBT) trumpets itself as the Bitcoin company dedicated to integrating resources globally for bitcoin and bitcoin mining.
It commenced bitcoin mining in early 2020 and currently operates 2,253.5 PH/S of Bitcoin Hash Rate across the entire Bitcoin network, making it one of the largest bitcoin mining companies listed on NASDAQ.
Bit Digital Inc (NASDAQ:BTBT) most recently announced its unaudited Bitcoin production data for the month ended January 31, 2021. During the month, the company earned 424.7 bitcoins, accounting for approximately $14.8 million in revenue. As of January 31, 2021, the company held 488.5 bitcoins in treasury, versus 262.6 bitcoins as of December 31, 2021.
“Bit Digital plans to release production reports to support key milestones on a regular basis,” shared interim CEO and CFO Erke Huang. “We believe in our leadership position within the mining sector, and will strive to protect both our brand’s reputation and our stakeholders’ interests in Bit Digital.”
In total, over the past five days, shares of the stock have dropped by roughly -15% on above average trading volume. All in all, not a particularly friendly tape, but one that may ultimately present some new opportunities.
Bit Digital Inc (NASDAQ:BTBT) recently announced revenues from bitcoin mining business was $7.91 million for the quarter ended in December 2020. In that same report, the company noted that the number of bitcoins earned from bitcoin mining business was 739.51. The net loss from discontinued operations was $0.10 million on net income of $54 and earnings per share of $0.00, compared with the net loss of $3.0 million and loss per share of $0.20 for the same period last year.
Riot Blockchain Inc (NASDAQ:RIOT) is expanding and upgrading its mining operations by securing the most energy efficient miners currently available. The company also holds certain non-controlling investments in blockchain technology companies.
Riot is headquartered in Castle Rock, Colorado, and the company’s mining facility operates out of upstate New York, under a co-location hosting agreement with Coinmint.
Riot Blockchain Inc (NASDAQ:RIOT) recently announced that it will achieve an estimated hash rate capacity of 1.06 Exahash per second with the deployment of the newly received 2,002 S19 Pro Antminers.
“Exceeding 1 EH/s in hash rate capacity marks a major milestone for the Company,” said Jason Les, CEO of Riot. “While we are proud of this accomplishment, we view it as the successful completion of just one of many steps of our ongoing growth plan. Riot continues to receive and deploy next-generation miners from Bitmain and remains on schedule to more than triple our currently deployed capacity by the fourth quarter of 2021.”
The stock has suffered a bit of late, with shares of RIOT taking a hit in recent action, down about -20% over the past week.
Riot Blockchain Inc (NASDAQ:RIOT) pulled in sales of $2.5M in its last reported quarterly financials, representing top line growth of 41.6%. In addition, the company has a strong balance sheet, with cash levels far exceeding current liabilities ($39.1M against $1.3M).
ISW Holdings Ord Shs (OTCMKTS:ISWH) recently signed a partnership agreement with Bit5ive and began designing its POD5IVE datacenter mining pod early last year. That process has come to fruition with the assembly, shipping, and full operational launch of the POD5IVE, which is now actively mining Bitcoin at the Bit5ive renewable energy crypto mining project in Pennsylvania.
The POD5IVE Datacenter mining solution offers next-generation dynamic self-management functionality, plug-and-play operation, virtually non-existent maintenance needs, and an industry best-in-class 1.06 Power Usage Effectiveness score.
ISW Holdings Inc (OTCMKTS:ISWH) announced this morning that it will be presenting in a keynote slot at the Mining Disrupt conference this summer at the Miami Airport Convention Center in Miami, FL, July 20-21, 2021. As an Elite Sponsor at the event, ISW Holdings will have access to a number of valuable branding amenities, including: Main exterior of conference building logo on 10’x40′ foot banner, social media, website, sponsor logo wall, and other marketing material, a 15min keynote, 2 panel slots, up to 10 VIP Lounge passes, up to 5 VIP Experience passes, and a 10×20 End-Cap Booth.
Robert Collazo, CEO of Bit5ive, LLC, the Company’s partner in major operations in its Cryptocurrency Mining and Mining Equipment division, will be the primary presenter on behalf of ISW Holdings in its keynote presentation slot.
“Our model is about driving shareholder value in the cryptocurrency space through both our own mining operations and marketing an equipment solution to other firms and projects establishing serious cryptocurrency mining operations,” commented Alonzo Pierce, President and Chairman of ISW Holdings. “Building our brand visibility is essential for the latter objective. And the Mining Disrupt conference is quickly becoming one of the most important events for establishing that presence.”
The company noted in its release that it continues to build out its own mining capacity, with plans to bring multiple additional pods online this year. However, data from pod mining operations is also being collected for the purpose of marketing the POD5IVE datacenter to other businesses and individuals interested in a self-contained industry-leading cryptocurrency mining solution.
ISW Holdings Ord Shs (OTCMKTS:ISWH) has demonstrated strong growth, with seven consecutive quarters of sharp sequential growth. Its most recent quarter put the company on an annual run-rate to pull in more than $1.5 million in revenues not counting what appears to be significant growth brewing in its crypto mining and mining equipment segment over coming months as it continues to scale up operations.
Marathon Patent Group Inc (NASDAQ:MARA) currently operates its proprietary Data Center in Hardin MT with a maximum power capacity of 105 Megawatts.
Once fully deployed, the Company will have 21,500 Antminer Bitmain S-19 Pro Bitcoin Miners in operation at this facility. MARA also owns 2,060 advanced ASIC Bitcoin Miners at a co-hosted facility in North Dakota.
Marathon Patent Group Inc (NASDAQ:MARA) most recently announced that the Company has named William Beam to the position of Controller.
According to the release, Mr. Beam comes to the Marathon team as a senior-level financial executive with extensive finance, accounting, administration, and development experience in SaaS industries, regulated markets, and resort & casino operations. His career spans 20+ years with the proven ability to improve operations, impact business growth, and maximize profits. He is well-respected for a wide range of knowledge and experience, creative problem-solving skills, and recruiting and managing high performance teams, bringing an entrepreneurial mindset to the creation and strategic development of businesses in a variety of stages and industries.
While this is a clear factor, it has been incorporated into a trading tape characterized by a pretty dominant offer, which hasn’t been the type of action MARA shareholders really want to see. In total, over the past five days, shares of the stock have dropped by roughly -18% on above average trading volume. All in all, not a particularly friendly tape, but one that may ultimately present some new opportunities. Marathon Patent Group Inc (NASDAQ:MARA) pulled in sales of $2.6M in its last reported quarterly financials, representing top line growth of 854.2%. In addition, the company has a strong balance sheet, with cash levels far exceeding current liabilities ($143.6M against $1.4M).
