Public bitcoin-mining stocks diverged in 2025 as firms that repurposed operations for AI and HPC outperformed pure-play miners. IREN led with ~+300% YTD after major GPU cloud deals and Microsoft backing; Cipher Mining ~+230% (AI hosting); Hut 8 ~+139% after a $7B, 15-year, 245 MW AI data center lease. Large BTC-holding miners lagged: Marathon -44% YTD (53,250 BTC), Riot +32% (19,324 BTC), CleanSpark +16% (13,011 BTC). Core Scientific rose ~9% after rejecting a $9B takeover bid. Bitdeer (BTDR) was the biggest laggard, down ~50% after a wider-than-expected Q3 loss and an ASIC chip delay.

The story shows clear, factual divergence: AI-diversified miners delivered large YTD gains (IREN ~+300%, Cipher ~+230%, Hut 8 ~+139% tied to a $7B, 15-year AI data-center lease), while large BTC-holding miners underperformed (Marathon -44% YTD) and Bitdeer dropped ~50% after a wider-than-expected Q3 loss and an ASIC chip delay. Core Scientific’s ~+9% move followed rejection of a $9B takeover bid. These are concrete, market-moving results and corporate developments, producing a mixed but actionable signal.