In Canada, the mining industry has seen some significant growth as of late. Especially when it comes to gold mining, there is still a lot of money to be made. Even so, some companies are pivoting their business models from mining gold to mining Bitcoin and altcoins. Vancouver-based Hive Blockchain Technologies, Inc is worth keeping an eye on in this regard.

Mining Gold is Passe, it Seems

Plenty of people dream of mining gold, for obvious reasons. Due to its scarce nature and high market value, a successful gold mining operation can quickly turn into a lucrative business. It does involve a lot of hard work – mainly manual labor – and it requires a ton of money just to get started. Even then, there is no guarantee of success whatsoever, which means a lot of people will lose money in the process. Still, the allure of finding a gold vein woos a lot of people to this day.

Even experienced gold miners like Frank Giustra are keeping an eye on cryptocurrencies, though. This new breed of mining money has been attracting a lot of attention of late. Especially now that one Bitcoin is worth about four times as much as an ounce of gold, mining operators are increasingly contemplating switching from gold to cryptocurrency. The latter still requires a significant upfront investment, but the manual labor is kept to a minimum as computers do all of the hard work. Overall, it appears to be a far more lucrative venture right now; that much is obvious.

It is not entirely surprising, then, to learn that Giustra is one of the many people backing a Vancouver-based cryptocurrency mining initiative. The company goes by the name of Hive Blockchain Technologies Inc, and it is one of the first publicly traded stocks to provide exposure to cryptocurrency mining. This news comes at a time at which investors are looking for exposure to cryptocurrency valuations through CFDs and ETNs. Exposing such people to the mining process in this way is an interesting, albeit justifiable course of action. Under a previous name, the company used to be involved in gold mining operations. 

It has to be said, Giustra’s decision has proven rather prudent so far. As an early backer, he’s successfully netted a 633% return on his investment as of right now, as the Hive shares are shooting up in value. After the initial share sale brought in CA$30 million, the company’s market capitalization has grown to around CA$553 million. That’s quite significant growth, considering this was mainly achieved well ahead of the current Bitcoin price rise. It is evident investors know where the real money is made, and cryptocurrency is the market to keep an eye on in every way possible.

Importantly, Hive has a first-mover advantage in this industry. Up until now, there have been virtually no companies exposing investors to cryptocurrency mining earnings. The company entered the space at a most opportune time, considering the trading of Hive Blockchain Technologies Inc only began on September 18th. Such spectacular growth in just a month should not be overlooked by any means.

For the time being, Hive only mines Bitcoin by the looks of things. However, the company will mine different cryptocurrencies moving forward. It also plans to purchase a second Genesis Mining data center in the near future. Plus, it will buy more mining hardware in both Iceland and Sweden, which should open up a lot of new and exciting opportunities. It is evident the cryptocurrency mining industry is firing on all cylinders right now and a lot of people want to be a part of it. It will be interesting to see how this market evolves in the coming months and years.