Bitfarms’ shares slump on Nasdaq debut amid crypto market pull-back

The highly anticipated Nasdaq debut of renewable energy-focused BTC mining firm, Bitfarms (BITF), saw the company’s stock fall by as much as 8.6% amid weakness in the broader crypto markets.

BITF opened at $4.04 and quickly climbed a couple of percent to tag a high of $4.11 before dropping as low as $3.90 as cryptocurrency prices tumbled. Bitfarm’s shares last traded hands for $3.96.

The share prices of publicly-listed Bitcoin mining firms have taken a beating over recent months.

Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA) is down roughly 51% from its early-April all-time high of $56.50 after its stock last changed hands for $27.83, while Hive Blockchain (HIVE) trading at $2.38 for a loss of 57% from its February high of $5.50, and Riot Blockchain (RIOT) priced at $31.57 after falling nearly 60% from its February peak of $77.90.

In addition to the heavy BTC sell-off that followed Bitcoin’s April all-time high, the poor performance of mining stocks has resulted from negative perceptions concerning the sector’s energy consumption, and reactions to China’s escalating crackdown on domestic miners.

However, Bitfarms claims to have benefited from the recent hash rate exodus from China amid the clampdown, with the Canada-based firm estimating 99% of its computation is powered by “green” hydroelectricity. In its June 10 production update, Bitfarms company stated:

"As the hashrate of Chinese miners falls, Bitfarms has earned higher transaction fees and increased its share of the total Bitcoin network hashrate. As a result, Bitfarms has been earning more Bitcoin for the same amount of computational power and operational cost."

Related: Nvidia GPU prices in China fall amid crypto mining crackdown

Despite the heavy drawdowns recently observed in the price of mining stocks, Cointelegraph reported in March that the sector had outperformed the spot price of Bitcoin by 455% during the preceding 12 months.