Crypto miners wrap up Q4 with robust mining growth even as bitcoin slumps

A large chunk of cryptocurrency miners including, Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA) Riot Blockchain (NASDAQ:RIOT) Hut 8 Mining (NASDAQ:HUT) and Bitfarms (NASDAQ:BITF), finish 2021 on a strong note, with expanding crypto production and hash rates even as digital currencies trade in a broad, nearly 3-month decline. These crypto miner stocks, with the exception of MARA and RIOT, gain at least triple digit returns in the past year. However, the group shed at least 25% of gains in the past month. Recent macro factors, including Kazakhstan riots and internet blackout and the Federal Reserve's hawkish pivot triggered a decline in bitcoin and a selloff in other risk assets as well. One of the more notable crypto miners, Core Scientific, which is expected to go public through a merger deal with special purpose acquisition company Power & Digital Infrastructure Acquisition (NASDAQ:XPDI), mined 1,044 BTC in December - the largest sum compared with peers. This represents a 313% increase