Share prices for publicly traded bitcoin mining companies are soaring as the leading cryptocurrency sliced through the highly-anticipated $20,000 mark Wednesday morning.

• Riot Blockchain (RIOT), Marathon Patent Group (MARA) and Hive Blockchain (HIVE) all show double-digit percentage gains since the daily open at last check. Hive is up 25% on the day.
• All three companies are now individually worth over $450 million.
• Toronto-based Hut 8 (HUT) mining gained nearly 9% since the trading started Wednesday. The company currently is worth $168 million.
• Over the same period, bitcoin gained 7%.
• “Mining stocks are a very attractive way for investors to get upside exposure to [the] bitcoin price while being limited on the downside due to the infrastructure nature of the business,” Ethan Vera, co-founder of mining company Luxor Technologies, told CoinDesk earlier this month.
• “The best mining companies can deliver profits in bear markets and have outsized returns in bull runs,” Vera said.
• Year to date, bitcoin has gained over 185%.