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By the Verse Press Research Desk | September 9, 2026

Among publicly traded Bitcoin mining companies tracked by The Block, only one has managed to outpace Bitcoin's own price performance during the 2026 crypto rally. That company is Canaan Inc. (NASDAQ: CAN), a hardware manufacturer and self-miner with global operations. Every other major mining stock in The Block's tracked set has trailed the asset they produce, even as exchanges and stablecoin issuers log the strongest gains in the sector.

On September 3, Coinbase (COIN) climbed 10% to close at $191.98, while Circle Internet (CRCL), the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, surged 14% to $100.63. Circle had gained roughly 30 to 38% year-to-date as of March 2026, the most recent period for which figures were reported, making it the best-performing tracked crypto equity of the current cycle; that figure may have moved in the months since. The total stablecoin market reached $301.7 billion as of September 3, with Tether (USDT) at $183.3 billion and USDC at $73.6 billion accounting for 93% of that figure combined.

Why miners are struggling despite a rising Bitcoin price

The root cause traces back to April 2024, when the Bitcoin network underwent its scheduled "halving," cutting the block reward paid to miners from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC per block. The network now distributes roughly 450 BTC per day in total subsidies across all miners globally. At the same time, the total computing power pointed at the Bitcoin network (called hashrate) has kept climbing to record levels between 700 and 800 exahashes per second (EH/s). More machines competing for a smaller reward pool means less revenue per unit of computing power deployed. Electricity costs make up 60 to 80% of a miner's operating expenses, leaving very little room for inefficiency at current reward levels.

Several US-listed mining companies have posted strong stock gains this year, but the gains have little to do with mining. Riot Platforms (RIOT) is up roughly 83% year-to-date, Hut 8 (HUT) has gained 72%, Bitfarms (BITF) has gained 50%, and Core Scientific (CORZ) has risen 31%. In each case, the driver is revenue from artificial intelligence and high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure hosted in their data centres. Core Scientific's most recent quarter showed $136.7 million in hosting revenue against just $21.5 million from self-mining Bitcoin. Marathon Digital (MARA), whose stock gains have not kept pace with those of AI-pivoting peers, reported a 27% year-over-year revenue decline in Q2 2026.

What makes Canaan different, and why its Ethiopia exposure matters

Canaan's outperformance appears to stem from a different approach: aggressive self-mining expansion, a growing Bitcoin treasury (1,917 BTC and 3,952 ETH as of July 2026), and a global footprint spanning the Americas, Middle East, Malaysia, Canada and Ethiopia. The company also generates revenue from ASIC hardware manufacturing, a business line that adds a layer of diversification beyond pure self-mining. Additional recent developments include a Nordic Hash-to-Heat deal covering 8 MW of district heating infrastructure and a Tether partnership for immersion-cooled South American mining operations. Its North American fleet runs at 17.9 joules per terahash (J/TH), a measure of energy efficiency, and its global average power cost sits at $0.043 per kilowatt-hour.

However, Canaan's July 2026 operational update revealed that it paused mining in Ethiopia while still including 4.96 EH/s of Ethiopian installed capacity in its reported hashrate totals. That figure represents nearly 35% of its stated operating capacity. CryptoSlate flagged this as a transparency concern. The cause of the pause is unclear, whether operational, seasonal, or regulatory, and investors should treat the gap between reported and active output with appropriate caution until Canaan provides further clarification.

The stablecoin advantage and what it means outside the US

Exchanges and stablecoin issuers benefit from a fundamentally different revenue model. Exchanges earn fees on trading volume regardless of whether prices are rising or falling. Stablecoin issuers earn yield on the dollar reserves backing their tokens. As institutional use of crypto payment rails grows, both models scale with transaction volume rather than with Bitcoin's block reward schedule.

Circle President Heath Tarbert testified before Congress on the GENIUS Act, a proposed US stablecoin regulatory framework expected to take effect no later than January 2027. The legislation would establish reserve requirements, par redemption standards and disclosure rules for stablecoin issuers. "American law, American institutions, and the dollar will remain embedded in systems that do succeed," Tarbert told lawmakers.

For users in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Pakistan, Bangladesh and India, that regulatory clarity carries direct relevance. Stablecoins serve as a key infrastructure layer for dollar access, remittance, and inflation hedging across much of South Asia and Africa. The specifics vary significantly by country. India imposes a 30% flat tax on crypto gains with no deductions allowed for electricity or hardware costs, making Indian mining among the least competitive globally on an after-tax basis. Pakistan's Virtual Assets Act 2025 established the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA) as a national crypto regulator and allocated 2,000 MW for licensed Bitcoin mining and AI data centres, signalling a more structured path for industry participants. B2B stablecoin payments grew from under $100 million per month in early 2023 to more than $6 billion per month by mid-2025. Visa's stablecoin settlement volume hit a $4.5 billion annualized run rate by January 2026.

Ethiopia is now the eighth-largest Bitcoin mining jurisdiction in the world at roughly 2.7% of global hashrate, powered largely by surplus hydropower from the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam at approximately $0.02 per kilowatt-hour. Even so, Canaan's operational pause there is a reminder that favourable energy economics do not eliminate the full range of risks present in emerging market mining locations.

What comes next

The current rally is separating the crypto investment landscape into distinct business models with distinct risk profiles. The simplest summary: building settlement infrastructure has been more rewarding than running computation this cycle. Circle's Arc mainnet, scheduled to launch September 16, is the next near-term catalyst flagged by ARK Invest, which recently purchased approximately 35,000 Circle shares worth around $3.4 million. For the mining sector, the question heading into Q4 is whether any company other than Canaan can demonstrate that pure-play Bitcoin mining, without an AI revenue line, can still outperform the asset it produces.