Key Takeaways:
- The Valkyrie Bitcoin Mining ETF (WGMI) has recorded a staggering decline of 43% since the beginning of 2025.
- The fund’s top holding, IREN, constitutes 15% of the assets and has depreciated by over 40%, heavily impacting the ETF’s overall performance.
- By contrast, metal-focused ETFs have excelled this year, with many gold mining funds making it to the top of the rankings.
CoinShares’ Valkyrie Bitcoin Mining ETF (WGMI) is currently the least performing ETF of 2025, declining by 43% year to date, based on insights from Senior Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas. This ETF includes various publicly traded Bitcoin (BTC) miners, with IREN as its major asset, weighing in at 15% yet facing a 42% decrease. Other significant holdings include Core Scientific (14% allocation, down 48%) and Cipher Mining (9.6%, down 52%). Even NVIDIA, holding 5%, has experienced a drop greater than 20% this year.
The investment strategy outlined for the ETF states, “The ETF will invest in companies that derive at least 50% of their revenue or profits from Bitcoin mining operations or providing specialized chips and services related to BTC mining.”
Interestingly, metals ETFs have showcased the best performance, with several gold mining ETFs performing strongly and the Equity World Basic Materials DAXglobal Gold Miners ETF up 38% year-to-date. Bitcoin miners are facing heightened challenges due to the escalating network hash rate, indicating robust computational power requirements for mining.
This situation has created a significant divergence between Bitcoin’s pricing and the hash rate, stressing miner profitability due to increased difficulty levels and minimal transaction fees.
