Bitcoin 

BTC

$18,935

 may have fluctuated in price this year, but BTC remains a better play than the biggest crypto stocks.

New data currently circulating shows that for all the growth in the industry surrounding Bitcoin, it still pays simply to buy and hold.

Stocks fail to compete with BTC, ETH

Looking at the stock performance of firms with the largest BTC allocations on their balance sheets, it becomes immediately apparent that it was more profitable to hold BTC than those equities — at least this year.

“Buying crypto stocks to outperform coins is hard,” Three Arrows Capital CEO Zhu Su commented alongside comparative performance data from Bloomberg.

Both Bitcoin and Ether 

ETH

$1,408

 have fared significantly better than stocks from companies, such as MicroStrategy (MSTR) and Coinbase (COIN), despite the successes of both in 2021.

The figures highlight the differences between traditional and crypto markets, the latter having a degree of freedom of expression long absent from equities, commodities and other assets.

“Markets are forward looking. Crypto even more so bc it’s not under anyone’s control. It’s the only free market left in the world,” popular trader and analyst Pentoshi noted earlier this month.

For retail entities, in particular, a dollar-cost averaging strategy involving allocation into BTC, mitigating short-term volatility, thus looks all the more attractive.

Miners struggle against BTC

Further data from the largest publicly traded mining corporations supports the trend.

Related: Bitcoin nears $50K — Here are the BTC price levels to watch next

Versus their inception and even stock price at the time of their initial public offering, the vast majority are significantly lower in BTC terms.

Only BitFarms (BITF) is currently turning a profit as of December.

Nevertheless, the extent of progress among United States mining industry participants has been eye-opening, and as Cointelegraph reported, listing deals continue to flow in.

Texas, looking to become a mecca for mining, could see demand for power jump severalfold by next year.