Valkyrie CIO: Miners focused on more renewables will ultimately win

Steven McClurg, chief investment officer at Valkyrie Investments, joined "The Exchange" to discuss the launch of the first-ever Bitcoin miner ETF on Nasdaq. "We believe companies that focus on more renewable energy will ultimately win, as alternative energy sources such as hydro, solar and natural gas will be able to provide miners with better cost savings compared to traditional energy sources, such as coal, and in the future," McClurg said. The cost of coal energy will increase significantly. We found that these mining companies (which use mostly renewable energy) have taken extra steps than other initiatives (such as carbon neutrality commitments), and they tend to keep their overhead low because renewable energy is generally less expensive than other sources . The Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF, which began trading on the Nasdaq on Tuesday under the ticker "WGMI," rose 0.8 percent in early trade. Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have an expense ratio of 0.75%. The fund is tasked with investing 80% of its net assets in miners who generate at least 50% of their profits from Bitcoin mining and use mostly renewable energy. Miners in the fund’s portfolio use about 77 percent renewable energy, compared with the 31 percent average for the entire U.S., Valkyrie noted. The fund's top five holdings (all allocated in the 8% to 10% range) are Argo Blockchain (ARBK), Bitfarms (BITF), Cleanspark (CLSK), Hive Blockchain (HIVE) and Stronghold Digital Mining (SDIG).