Shares of several Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) mining stocks including Marathon Digital Holdings Inc , Riot Platforms Inc  and CleanSpark Inc are trading higher Monday amid strength in the price of Bitcoin on the heels of the latest halving event.

What Happened: The halving is a programmed process in the bitcoin protocol that occurs every 210,000 blocks, or approximately every four years. On Friday, the bitcoin network completed its fourth halving event, marking a significant reduction in the amount of rewards miners receive for successfully mining transactions. Miner rewards were reduced from 6.25 bitcoin to 3.125 bitcoin.

Bitcoin has been volatile leading up to the halving. It’s worth noting that crypto markets have historically rallied in the months following a halving event.

JPMorgan analyst Reginald Smith believes the halving is going to be a big test for mining companies, but sees it as a positive for the strongest operators long term, according to a recent report from CNBC.

"All else equal, the halving will cut industry revenues in half, triggering a wave of consolidation and business closures, while (hopefully) rationalizing the network hashrate and industry capex, which is ultimately good for the remaining operators," Smith reportedly said in a recent note to clients.

Marathon Digital ( MARA ) is engaged in mining digital assets and focuses on the Bitcoin ecosystem. The stock was up 3.03% at $17.01 at publication time. 

Riot Blockchain is focused on building, supporting and operating blockchain technologies with a vision to become the leading Bitcoin-driven infrastructure platform. Shares were up 5.15% at $9.61 Monday morning.

CleanSpark ( CLSK ) is an energy company that transitioned its expertise to focus on Bitcoin mining in 2020. Cleanspark ( CLSK ) shares were up 3.14% at $17.70 at the time of publication.

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$BTC Price Action: Bitcoin was up 1.26% over a 24-hour period, hovering around 65,960 at the time of publication, according to Benzinga Pro.