TL;DR:
- Institutional correlation: Strategy registered a 78% correlation against Bitcoin’s price, leading the analyzed companies with market caps over $2 billion.
- Mining decoupling: Core Scientific posted a correlation with Bitcoin of just 16%, while Cipher Mining and TeraWulf stood at 17% and 18%, respectively.
- Revenue transformation: The artificial intelligence data center business contributed $136.7 million to Core Scientific in the quarter ending in June, representing 83% of its total revenue.
This Friday, analyst Tom Lee published a ranking of 17 large-cap crypto stocks based on their 90-day rolling correlation with Bitcoin and Ethereum. The assessment evaluated companies with valuations exceeding $2 billion against the performance of BlackRock’s exchange-traded funds.
Data presented by Fundstrat and FactSet showed a marked dispersion in the performance of public companies linked to the sector. While firms holding direct treasury reserves closely tracked the digital asset’s price, companies dedicated to mining infrastructure reflected an almost complete technical disconnection from Bitcoin’s valuation.
For equity investors seeking exposure to crypto, particularly the sizable moves made by @ethereum and Bitcoin
The 17 large cap (>$2b) stocks with correlation to crypto shown below:
– $BMNR highest correlation to $ETH (80%)
– next closest is $COIN (74%)– $MSTR highest… pic.twitter.com/p7CM92Uk6m
— Thomas (Tom) Lee (not drummer) FundstratDirect.com (@fundstrat) August 21, 2026
Strategy topped the Bitcoin correlation table, recording a 78% reading during the 90-day period analyzed. In the case of Ethereum, BitMine Immersion Technologies reached an 80% correlation, followed by the exchange Coinbase at 74%.
The pivot to artificial intelligence dilutes mining correlation
Bitcoin mining companies ranked lowest in the assessment. Core Scientific recorded a 16% tracking level, Cipher Mining reached 17%, TeraWulf posted 18%, and Hut 8 stood at 19%.
Other firms in the segment showed similar readings. Riot Platforms reported a 31% correlation against Bitcoin, while IREN reached 33%.
According to financial statement breakdowns, the divergence stems from the redirection of power capacity toward artificial intelligence data centers. Rising operational costs and reduced block rewards incentivized operators to sign power leasing agreements with technology developers.
Corporate accounting records reflect this operational shift. Core Scientific reported $164.2 million in revenue at the close of the second quarter, of which $136.7 million came from AI hosting and infrastructure services, compared to $21.5 million derived from direct cryptocurrency mining.
TeraWulf presented a similar breakdown in its May reports. The company generated $21 million by leasing high-performance computing (HPC) capacity and $13 million from block extraction, allocating 62% of its revenue to the tech sector.
In contrast, IREN recorded $33.6 million from cloud services and $111.2 million from mining during the quarter ending in March. The figures confirm that the lower the share of revenue from artificial intelligence, the higher the observed correlation with Bitcoin’s price.
This business model transition came with significant capital expenditures for the industry. Companies like MARA and CleanSpark accumulated combined losses of $851 million during their respective infrastructure adaptation processes.
In the equity market, a high correlation did not automatically translate into positive returns. Strategy shares traded near $118.86 at the close of the session, compared to their 52-week high of $365.21.
The industry will assess the full impact of this operational pivot during the upcoming quarterly corporate earnings season, when revenue figures for high-performance computing contracts will be updated.
