We recently published a list of 10 Best Bitcoin and Blockchain Stocks To Buy Right Now. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Iris Energy Limited (NASDAQ:IREN) stands against other best bitcoin and blockchain stocks to buy.

Crypto Market Updates: Where is Bitcoin Heading?

While Donald Trump had revealed his plans to make America the crypto capital of the world, he also stated that he would be sacking the chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Gary Gensler, who has led the SEC’s crackdown on the crypto market. Gensler tried to regulate the market which he believed to be at least partially made up of securities trading illegally.

The price of bitcoin rose above $80,000 for the first time ever following Donald Trump’s victory in the US elections. Other cryptocurrencies such as dogecoin which is the favorite coin of Elon Musk, a strong Trump supporter, also posted gains. On November 29, CNBC reported that Bitcoin was on pace to post a 38% gain for November which would make the month its best since February.

While Tom Lee, Fundstrat Capital CIO, is confident that Bitcoin is going to close well above $100,000 before year-end as he joined CNBC, Bitwise’s Matt Hougan previously appeared on CNBC to call the market a win-win post-election. According to him, there is a clear path right up to $100,000 by 2024’s end while $200,000 is completely reasonable for 2025 considering that the trend is up and is going to stay intact for a while. As of December 5, Bitcoin is trading at $101,158.

Meanwhile, there is a noticeable shortage on the supply side. Frank Speiser, Metafide CEO joined ‘The Exchange’ to discuss his Bitcoin outlook on November 29. He mentioned ETF inflows being at record highs, an intention by the new administration to assemble a strategic Bitcoin reserve, and smaller trades simultaneously showing up on the market. However, there is not enough Bitcoin to satisfy the current rising demand.

An interesting new statement on the US crypto market was recently made by Fed Chair Jerome Powell as he called Bitcoin a competitor for gold, not the U.S. dollar, negating the stance of those crypto fans who see Bitcoin as a possible replacement for the dollar. Powell sees Bitcoin as a speculative asset such as gold, rather than something comparable to a currency.

With the new administration expected to legitimize digital assets and Bitcoin surpassing $100,000, the market is yet to see how things unfold.

Our Methodology

In order to compile a list of the 10 best bitcoin and blockchain stocks to buy right now, we used stock screeners and relevant ETFs to make a list of the most dominant companies. Moving on, we shortlisted the top 10 stocks from our list which had the highest number of hedge fund holders. The 10 best bitcoin and blockchain stocks to buy right now have been arranged in ascending order of their hedge fund holders, as of Q3.

At Insider Monkey we are obsessed with the stocks that hedge funds pile into. The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).

Iris Energy Limited (NASDAQ:IREN)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 28

Iris Energy Limited (NASDAQ:IREN) owns, builds, and operates data centers and electrical infrastructure to mine Bitcoin. The company’s business model has been built on sustainably-mined Bitcoin. Its sites are powered by 100% renewable energy. The company’s facilities are optimized for Bitcoin mining, AI cloud services, and other power-dense compute.

The firm’s bitcoin mining business is robust as it is about to achieve its 31 EH/s milestone and has also announced the acceleration of its growth trajectory to 50 EH/s in H1 2025, which was previously H2 2025. As compared to other public miners, the firm has a lower all-in cash cost per bitcoin through best-in-class efficiency, high uptime, operating leverage, and lower electricity cost as the Childress site scales.

For Q1 FY25, Iris Energy Limited (NASDAQ:IREN) recorded Bitcoin mining revenue of $49.6 million which declined over the year, as a result of an increase in network difficulty and lower Bitcoin prices which was offset by growth in operating hashrate during the month of September. Simultaneously, there was a 28% year-over-year increase in AI Cloud Services revenue.

Following the energization of its Childress Phase 3 substation, the firm has successfully increased its installed capacity from 21 EH/s to 28 EH/s. Childress Phase 3 construction is nearing completion and the firm expects to achieve 31 EH/s of installed capacity in December. As of Q3, Iris Energy Limited (NASDAQ:IREN) is held by 28 hedge funds and ranks on our list of the best bitcoin and blockchain stocks to buy.

Overall, IREN ranks 5th on our list of best bitcoin and blockchain stocks to buy right now. While we acknowledge the potential of IREN as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some deeply undervalued AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for a deeply undervalued AI stock that is more promising than IREN but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: 8 Best Wide Moat Stocks to Buy Now and 30 Most Important AI Stocks According to BlackRock.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.