Just noticed something wild about the bitcoin miner etf space this year. The Valkyrie Bitcoin Mining ETF has been absolutely brutal, down 43% since the start of 2025. Most of the pain is coming from its top holdings like IREN, CORZ, and CIFR, which are all down 40-50% themselves. Meanwhile, gold mining funds are crushing it, which is kind of ironic when you think about it.

The real issue is that bitcoin miners are getting squeezed from every angle right now. The network hash rate keeps hitting new highs around 832 EH/s, which means mining difficulty is staying near peaks. That's making it harder to turn a profit even though BTC is holding around $73K. Add in the fact that transaction fees are basically zero, and you've got miners earning almost nothing from that revenue stream. It's a tough environment for any bitcoin miner etf investment.

What's interesting is that despite all this mining pressure, companies like SpaceX are still stacking bitcoin. They're holding over 8,000 BTC in custody even after taking a huge loss in 2025. Says something about long-term conviction in the asset, I guess. The contrast between struggling mining operations and institutional accumulation is pretty telling about where people think this goes next.