Why the Pure Bitcoin-Miner Fund Crushed the Blockchain Basket, Up 184%

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By David Beren Published

Quick Read

  • WGMI surged 111% over the trailing year while BLOK returned just 8%, as diversification diluted miner exposure across fintech and enterprise holdings.

  • Enterprise names like AMD dragged on BLOK's returns while pure miners like MARA thrived, and this concentration is something only WGMI captures fully.

  • WGMI fell 17% in a single week versus BLOK's 2% drop, proving concentration amplifies losses as sharply as it amplifies gains.

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

Why the Pure Bitcoin-Miner Fund Crushed the Blockchain Basket, Up 184%

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The Amplify Transformational Data Sharing ETF (NYSEARCA:BLOK) is the go-to actively managed vehicle for investors who want one ticker that covers the entire blockchain economy. BLOK owners get miners, exchanges, treasury holders, payment processors, and enterprise adopters bundled together, which is exactly the pitch: diversified exposure to a volatile theme without the risk of picking the wrong horse.

The trailing 12 months have exposed the cost of that diversification. A concentrated pure-play bitcoin miner fund has outrun BLOK by a factor that is difficult to ignore, and the mechanism behind the gap is straightforward enough that BLOK holders seeking miner exposure may want to evaluate the wrapper.

What BLOK Actually Owns

An actively managed basket with 54 holdings and $1.26 billion in assets under management, the fund’s top ten positions account for 37.91% of the portfolio, and their composition tells the story. The five largest positions are Figure Technology Solutions at 4.53%, Robinhood Markets at 4.39%, TeraWulf at 4.03%, Galaxy Digital at 3.95%, and Cipher Digital at 3.95%.

The rest of the top 25 includes semiconductor and infrastructure names like AMD at 3.24%, IBM at 3.12%, and Dell at 3.10%. That is a spread across mining, fintech, exchanges, and enterprise hardware. The fund charges 0.70% and has generated an average annual return of 17.89% since its January 16, 2018, inception. Beta sits at 2.14, so this has never been a low-volatility vehicle. Owners accept the swings in exchange for a broader read on crypto adoption. 

Where BLOK Falls Short Right Now

Over the trailing year, BLOK returned 7.77%, with year-to-date performance of 8.35%. That looks weak in a period when bitcoin miners rallied, and the reason is the same diversification that BLOK sells as a feature. The semiconductor names, enterprise blockchain plays, and payment processors, sitting alongside the miners, did not participate in the mining rally to the same extent.

Owners who thought they were buying a blockchain rally were actually buying a blended portfolio where the strongest sub-theme was diluted to roughly a third of the book. 

The Alternative: WGMI

The Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF ((NASDAQ:WGMI)) skips the diversification. It concentrates on publicly traded bitcoin miners, with names like MARA, CleanSpark, Riot Platforms, IREN, Cipher, and TeraWulf making up the bulk of the book. Over the trailing 12 months, WGMI returned 111.45%, with year-to-date performance of 37.52%. That is a wide gap versus BLOK over the same window.

The mechanism is direct. Miner equities carry embedded operating leverage to hash price, and when the mining economics improve, the equity prints amplify the move. BLOK captures a portion of that through its miner sleeve, but the sleeve is one theme among several. WGMI is the theme. 

The Tradeoffs Are Real

Concentration cuts both ways. Bitcoin itself is down 40.73% over the trailing year, currently near $64,167, yet miners rallied on hash rate economics and operational scale. When that dynamic reverses, WGMI has no fintech or enterprise sleeve to cushion the fall. The past week alone shows the volatility. WGMI dropped 16.55% over the last five sessions and 14.55% over the past month. BLOK dropped 1.71% and gained 0.93% over the same windows. BLOK’s diversification is the cushion, and it works exactly as designed on the way down. BLOK’s dividend picture has also thinned.

The June 2026 distribution was $0.0799 per share, down sharply from $0.40756 in December 2025 and $2.5903 in December 2024. Yield sits at roughly 0.79%, so neither fund is an income vehicle. The swap only makes sense for investors who bought BLOK specifically for miner exposure and are willing to accept single-theme risk. In a taxable account, selling BLOK after a rally can trigger capital gains, so the tax cost has to be weighed against the concentrated upside.

A partial reallocation, keeping BLOK for the diversified sleeve and adding WGMI for the direct miner bet, is one way to sidestep the all-or-nothing framing. In a tax-advantaged account, the friction is lower. BLOK is a legitimate blockchain basket that delivers on its promises.

The problem is that the mining sub-theme has run far ahead of the rest of the basket, and owners who wanted that exposure got roughly one-third of it. WGMI is the concentrated version of the same bet, priced in higher volatility. Investors who are clear on their goal and comfortable with the drawdown profile have a specific alternative to evaluate against their own situation.

 

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

Photo of David Beren
About the Author David Beren →

David Beren has been a Flywheel Publishing contributor since 2022. Writing for 24/7 Wall St. since 2023, David loves to write about topics of all shapes and sizes. As a technology expert, David focuses heavily on consumer electronics brands, automobiles, and general technology. He has previously written for LifeWire, formerly About.com. As a part-time freelance writer, David’s “day job” has been working on and leading social media for multiple Fortune 100 brands. David loves the flexibility of this field and its ability to reach customers exactly where they like to spend their time. Additionally, David previously published his own blog, TmoNews.com, which reached 3 million readers in its first year. In addition to freelance and social media work, David loves to spend time with his family and children and relive the glory days of video game consoles by playing any retro game console he can get his hands on.

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