Bitcoin Miner Executives Face Backlash Over Skyrocketing Pay
Major shareholders of Bitcoin mining companies are challenging what they see as lavish executive compensation packages.
Named Executive Officer (NEO) average compensation more than doubled from $6.6 million in 2023 to $14.4 million in 2024, driven by equity-bonus awards.
Executive Compensation Increases with Equity Awards
Bitcoin mining is key for validating transactions on the Bitcoin network and has seen executive pay skyrocket.
VanEck’s 2025 report details that NEO compensation across eight United States-listed miners—Bit Digital, Cipher Mining, CleanSpark, Core Scientific, Hut 8, MARA Holdings, Riot Platforms, and TeraWulf—rose from $6.6 million in 2023 to $14.4 million in 2024, based on draft proxy statements.
Equity awards accounted for 89% of total compensation in 2024, up from 79% in 2023, compared to a 63% benchmark for Russell 3000 and energy sector firms.
Average NEO compensation by factor (Source: VanEck)
Notable compensation packages include a $79.3 million equity grant to Riot Platforms’ CEO Fred Thiel, $40.1 million at Marathon, and $39.5 million at Core Scientific. Riot allocated 73% of its $315 million market capitalization growth—$230 million—to NEOs in 2024, while TeraWulf and Core Scientific distributed just 2%.
Bitcoin miner compensation vs market capitalization (Source: VanEck)
Average base salaries remained at $474,000, in line with industry standards. However, equity plan expansions by TeraWulf and Core Scientific, equivalent to 10% of shares outstanding, have raised investor concerns about stock dilution.
Shareholders Reject Pay Proposals in 2025 Votes
Investor dissatisfaction with executive pay has increased, with executives’ pay packages being approved at only 64% on average across the 2024 proxy season, well below the greater than 90% benchmark for S&P 500 and Russell 3000 companies.
In 2025 advisory votes, support for pay packages dropped: Core Scientific received 38%, Riot Platforms 32%, and Marathon 22%. Six of the eight miners that were evaluated failed the 70% approval test and had a 75% failure rate compared to 4% for the Russell 3000.
This pushback is similar to past tensions. In 2022, Riot Platforms’ shareholders rejected a say-on-pay proposal after a $22 million CEO compensation package was disclosed.
The 2025 rejections are in line with the ongoing concerns over pay misalignment with shareholder value, especially at a time of operational challenges in the Bitcoin mining sector. None of the companies have issued public statements addressing these vote outcomes, leaving shareholders asking for greater transparency.
Bitcoin Miners Adopt Reforms, but Stakeholder Concerns Remain
Some Bitcoin mining firms are responding to criticism by adopting performance-based compensation. Six of the eight companies have implemented Performance Stock Units (PSUs) with multi-year vesting linked to share price or total shareholder return, up from two in 2022.
CleanSpark and Bit Digital have not fully adopted PSUs, with Bit Digital authorized but not issuing them. Most companies support annual say-on-pay votes, which promote shareholder dialogue.
VanEck recommends linking bonuses to operational metrics, such as cost per coin mined, and incorporating return on invested capital to align pay with performance.
