Quick Read

• BMNR holders are dealing with the deepest losses at -46% year-to-date while CRCL is holding up best (relatively speaking) at -20%, driven by a 19% Q1 EPS beat and strong stablecoin growth; meanwhile, MSTR stock is down 38% in 2026 so far.

• The IBIT and ETHA ETFs offer lower single-stock risk exposure to Bitcoin and Ethereum for investors wary of leveraged treasury proxies like MSTR.

• Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and Circle Internet Group didn't make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.

The crypto-linked equities are having another rough session midday Wednesday, and the year-to-date scoreboard tells a clear story about which treasury strategy has held up best. Bitmine Immersion Technologies (NYSE:BMNR) is down 46% year to date (YTD) and down slightly today at $14.73, extending a brutal stretch for the Ethereum (CRYPTO:ETH) treasury proxy.

The Ethereum-treasury proxy is lagging both of its higher-profile peers. Strategy (NASDAQ:MSTR), the Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) treasury pioneer formerly known as MicroStrategy, is down 38% YTD and off 3% today to $94.87. Circle Internet Group (NYSE:CRCL), the USDC (CRYPTO:USDC) stablecoin issuer, is down 20% YTD and off 1% today to $64.22.

With Bitcoin down 29% YTD and Ethereum down 41% YTD, the question for shareholders of Bitmine Immersion Technologies is whether to rotate.

Why Bitmine Immersion Technologies Stock Keeps Sliding

Bitmine Immersion Technologies runs an Ethereum treasury strategy, and the pain reflects Ethereum's steeper drawdown versus BTC. The company holds more than 3.73 million ETH, so the 40% ETH decline has hit net asset value hard.

Bitmine Immersion Technologies posted FY2025 net income of $328.16 million on the back of prior-year token gains, but the current fiscal year looks very different. Chairman Thomas Lee has publicly called for a V-shaped crypto recovery, though BMNR shares haven't confirmed the thesis yet.

The Case for Strategy

Strategy holds 818,334 BTC as of May 3, making MSTR stock effectively a leveraged Bitcoin bet. Barclays initiated coverage with an Overweight rating and a $130 price target, and consensus targets sit at $321 with a rating mix of 1 Strong Buy, 12 Buy, and 1 Hold.

The bear case is real. Strategy's Q1 2026 results delivered a $12.54 billion net loss driven by a $14.46 billion unrealized loss on BTC holdings, and Polymarket traders assign only a 13% probability that Strategy reaches 1 million BTC by year-end. Reddit sentiment has flipped bearish as retail digests headlines that "Strategy just sold $216 million in Bitcoin to pay dividends and the model is showing its limits." With a beta near 3.5, MSTR stock is the highest-potential-upside, highest-volatility choice.