Bitcoin Mining Stocks Provide an Alternative Way to Participate in Cryptocurrency

<p>Rockdale, a little town of 5,600 people an hour outside of Austin, lost a key employer when Alcoa closed its aluminium smelter in 2008. However, the electrical infrastructure that Alcoa left behind is being repurposed for a new purpose: Bitcoin mining.</p> <p>At the old Alcoa facility, more than 11,000 computers hum 24 hours a day, performing billions of operations every second to help run the Bitcoin network. Riot Blockchain is in charge.</p> <p>Riot earned $54 million from the machines' "mining" of 1,292 Bitcoins in the third quarter. Rockdale is now one of North America's largest Bitcoin production facilities. Riot intends to add 63,000 machines by the end of 2022, more than doubling its mining capacity. </p> <p>"We intend to make it one of the world's largest Bitcoin mining assets," adds Riot CEO Jason Les. The Alcoa site contained a big electrical switching yard, which was excellent for a miner looking to expand to 700 megawatts of capacity, which would be enough to power 650,000 homes. </p> <p>Because of this level of electricity use, some argue that crypto mining contributes to carbon emissions. However, if you believe in Bitcoin's promise, the miners provide an alternative to holding the coin by betting on the network's high-tech plumbing and potential for substantial returns. </p> <p>Riot is interesting due to its expanding market share and efficiency improvements as it expands. Core Scientific, a miner that plans to go public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, is another stock to consider. </p> <p>Acquisition of Power and Digital Infrastructure Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA) may also emerge victorious. The stock dropped this week after the Securities and Exchange Commission revealed an investigation into the past issuing of restricted shares. </p> <p>"There is no allegation that we did anything improper," Marathon CEO Fred Thiel tells Barron's. Marathon, he adds, is flying in mining "rigs" from Malaysia and expects to more than triple its Bitcoin capacity i