Tom Lee’s Crypto Stock Rankings Show Bitcoin Miners Losing BTC Correlation

Bitcoin mining stocks are increasingly behaving less like Bitcoin proxies as miners shift toward artificial intelligence and high-performance computing, according to crypto stock rankings shared by Fundstrat co-founder Tom Lee.

Lee compared 90-day correlations between major crypto-linked equities and BlackRock’s Bitcoin and Ethereum funds. Strategy (MSTR), formerly MicroStrategy, recorded the strongest Bitcoin correlation at 78%, while BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR), which Lee chairs, led Ethereum exposure at 80%. Coinbase followed with a 74% ETH correlation.

Bitcoin miners ranked much lower. Core Scientific (CORZ) posted only a 16% correlation with Bitcoin, followed by Cipher Mining at 17%, TeraWulf at 18% and Hut 8 at 19%. Riot Platforms reached 31%, while IREN stood at 33%.

The weakening connection reflects the mining industry’s growing pivot toward AI data centers and computing infrastructure. Core Scientific generated $164.2 million in quarterly revenue through June, including $136.7 million from colocation services and just $21.5 million from self-mining. That means roughly 83% of revenue came from its data center business versus 13% from Bitcoin mining.

TeraWulf showed a similar transition, earning $21 million from high-performance computing capacity compared with $13 million from mining. IREN remained more exposed to crypto, generating $111.2 million from mining and $33.6 million from AI cloud services in its March quarter.

The figures suggest miners become less correlated with Bitcoin as AI revenue grows. Companies already control valuable power contracts and data center infrastructure, allowing them to generate recurring revenue by leasing capacity to AI customers.

For investors, the shift changes the role of Bitcoin mining stocks. Buying miners may no longer provide direct exposure to BTC price movements, while Bitcoin treasury companies such as Strategy remain more closely linked to the cryptocurrency.

However, correlation does not guarantee positive returns. Strategy traded near $118.86 on Friday, far below its 52-week high of $365.21.

Bitcoin was trading around $77,151, up 6.3% on the day, while Ethereum rose 3.5% to approximately $2,412. With the correlations based on trailing 90-day data, upcoming earnings could reveal whether growing AI revenue pushes Bitcoin miners even further away from BTC.