Cryptocurrency mining stocks recover as bitcoin climbs back above $50,000

• Bitcoin mining stocks mounted a recovery on Friday after bitcoin found support at the $50,000 per-coin level.
• Shares of Riot Blockchain, Marathon Digital Holdings, BitDigital, and other crypto-associated stocks all rose early Friday.
• Bitcoin has been under pressure after Elon Musk reversed a decision to accept bitcoin as payment for Tesla vehicles.

Cryptocurrency mining stocks recovered on Friday as bitcoin climbed back above the $50,000 per-coin level despite continued pressure on the cryptocurrency for its environmental impact.

Shares of crypto miners like Riot Blockchain, Marathon Digital Holdings, and Bit Digital all rose during premarket hours on Friday.

However, over the past month, shares of Riot Blockchain are down 62%, while shares of Bit Digital and Marathon Digital Holdings are down 37% and 61%, respectively.

The fall comes amid a breakdown in bitcoin's price due to repeated questions about the cryptocurrency's environmental drawbacks, competition from Ethereum and Dogecoin, and more recently, comments from Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

Musk announced Tesla would suspend vehicle purchases using bitcoin due to the environmental impact of the digital currency on Wednesday.

The billionaire CEO's bitcoin "U-turn" caused the digital asset's price to plummet below $48,000 per coin before mounting a mild recovery back above the $50,000 resistance level.

Bitcoin's fall from grace came just a day after the US Securities and Exchange Commission said the digital currency is a "highly speculative" investment in a warning to investors.

"As such, investors should consider the volatility of bitcoin and the bitcoin futures market, as well as the lack of regulation and potential for fraud or manipulation in the underlying bitcoin market," the SEC said in a statement.

Despite warnings from the SEC and an Elon Musk "U-turn," bitcoin miners have continued to invest in their businesses.

Marathon Digital Holdings announced on Monday in its first-quarter earnings report that it produced 386 newly minted bitcoins in 2021 and increased the number of active miners in its operations to 6,800.

Last week, Bit Digital announced that it earned 1,013.40 bitcoin from mining operations in the first quarter and now owns more than 40,000 miners.

And on Monday, Riot Blockchain announced that it mined 206 bitcoin in April, a 90% jump from the 108 bitcoin the company mined in April of last year.

Shares of Riot Blockchain traded up 9.99%, while shares of Bit Digital and Mara Digital Holdings traded up 6.11% and 12.36% as of 9:40 a.m. ET.