HIVE vs RIOT: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?

Same yardstick, side by side (as of August 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.

The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. HIVE and RIOT share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.

This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined HIVE and RIOT exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

HIVE Digital Technologies Ltd. is one of the earliest publicly listed digital-asset miners, founded in 2017 and marketing itself as a green-energy-powered operator. It builds and runs data centers across Canada, Sweden, and Paraguay that serve both Bitcoin mining and, increasingly, high-performance computing (HPC) and AI clients. Its revenue comes mainly from mining Bitcoin, which it either sells or holds on its balance sheet, so the top line rises and falls with both the amount of Bitcoin it mines (its hashrate) and the price of Bitcoin itself.

Full HIVE guide

Riot Platforms is a Nasdaq-listed company whose core business is mining bitcoin: it runs large fleets of specialized computers (ASICs) that compete to validate transactions on the Bitcoin network and earn newly issued bitcoin plus fees as a reward. Riot is unusually vertically integrated for a miner, owning its Rockdale and Corsicana, Texas facilities, negotiating long-term low-cost power, and participating in Texas grid demand-response programs that pay it to curtail during peak demand. In Q1 2026 the company produced 1,473 bitcoin, down about 4% year over year, and ended the quarter with roughly 42.5 EH/s of deployed hash rate, up about 26% from a year earlier. Mining revenue was around $111.9 million, pressured by lower bitcoin prices and a roughly 24% jump in the global network hash rate that raised its average cost to mine to about $44,629 per coin (excluding depreciation).

Full RIOT guide

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

• HIVE drivers: Bitcoin price and mining economics; Hashrate expansion.
• RIOT drivers: Scaling and lowering the cost of bitcoin mining; Converting spare power into AI and HPC leases.

A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: The dominant risk is Bitcoin price volatility: because revenue and the value of held coins track the crypto market, a sharp Bitcoin decline can quickly turn a profitable quarter into a large loss. For RIOT, the dominant risk is bitcoin price volatility, which drives mining profitability and the mark-to-market value of Riot's large treasury; Q1 2026's roughly $500 million net loss shows how sharply reported results can swing.

Growth-minded investors who believe the theme has years to run tend to accept the richer multiple for more upside; value-minded investors lean toward the cheaper forward earnings and steadier profile. Pick HIVE if you believe its drivers more; RIOT if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the HIVE and RIOT guides.

HIVE. Figures are approximate and tied to the asOf date; verify live numbers before acting. For a Bitcoin miner, traditional earnings multiples mean little because results swing with the crypto cycle, coin holdings are marked to a volatile price, and heavy depreciation distorts reported profit. What matters more is hashrate growth, cost of power, Bitcoin price, and progress on the AI and HPC pivot. This is a speculative stock and its valuation reflects sentiment on crypto and AI as much as company fundamentals.

RIOT. Figures are approximate and tied to the asOf date; verify live numbers before acting. Riot does not trade on a meaningful price-to-earnings basis because it is reported-loss-making, so investors tend to value it on hash rate, bitcoin held, and power capacity instead of earnings. The stock is highly volatile (beta around 3), with a 52-week range of roughly $10.59 to $30.32, so the figures matter most as a gauge of how much the market is pricing bitcoin upside and the AI pivot rather than current profits.

Headline figures (approximate, Jul 2026): HIVE shows revenue trajectory Full-year revenue around $297.8 million, up sharply (roughly 158%) on higher hashrate, profitability Large net loss reported (around negative $145 million) despite revenue growth, bitcoin mining scale Hashrate expanded from about 6.5 EH/s to above 25 EH/s, ai / hpc revenue Contracted high-performance-computing recurring revenue in the tens of millions; RIOT shows revenue (q1 2026 quarterly) ~$167 million (mining ~$112M, data center ~$33M), bitcoin produced (q1 2026) ~1,473 BTC, down ~4% year over year, deployed hash rate ~42.5 EH/s, up ~26% year over year, bitcoin held (treasury) ~15,680 BTC (~$1.3 billion), ~5,800 restricted.

HIVE and RIOT are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined HIVE and RIOT exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.