Equities update | July 24th, 2026

Week 30 was characterised by continued volatility across major US equity indices as rising AI capital expenditure weighed on mega-cap technology stocks, particularly following Alphabet’s first negative free-cash-flow quarter in several years. Price action remained highly bifurcated: capital-intensive hyperscalers and software companies faced pressure over the timing of returns on AI investment, while data-centre operators, power providers and former Bitcoin miners rallied as direct beneficiaries of accelerating infrastructure spending and constrained compute capacity. Within crypto, renewed progress on the CLARITY Act supported exchanges and stablecoin-related companies, although the probability of the bill becoming law this year remains relatively low. Corporate blockchain adoption was otherwise limited during the week, with investor attention shifting towards a busy earnings calendar and the upcoming FOMC meeting.

Week 30 key developments in Blockchain Equities:

• Index performance: The Index rose 6.9% during the week, outperforming Bitcoin, which was broadly unchanged. Oil prices moved sharply higher amid renewed concerns over Middle East supply, pushing the US 10-year Treasury yield towards 4.7% and reviving inflation concerns. The yield curve bear flattened as short-term yields rose more sharply than longer-term yields, supported by initial jobless claims falling to their lowest level since 1969. Markets are now pricing approximately two US interest-rate increases by year-end, while the ECB held rates unchanged but left the door open to further tightening as higher energy prices increase inflation risks. 

• Block Index key movers: 7-day top performers: Cipher Digital (+45.7%), Hut-8 (+28.0%), RIOT Platforms (+26.8%) 7-day worst performers: Meta Platforms (-8.8%), Canaan (-7.6%), Block Inc (-6.2%) 

• Bitcoin miners lead Index gains on accelerating AI infrastructure demand - Bitcoin miners and former miners were the largest positive contributors to the Index this week, as a series of announcements reinforced the value of their power and data-centre assets. Hut 8 signed a second 15-year, 352MW lease at its Beacon Point campus, increasing total contracted AI capacity to 949MW and aggregate base-term contract value to US$26.6bn. IREN announced US$2.8bn of new AI-cloud contracts and raised its year-end annualised revenue run-rate target to more than US$4bn, while Galaxy priced US$3.51bn of secured debt to fund the next phase of its contracted Helios campus. The announcements were supported by Alphabet raising its 2026 capital-expenditure guidance and stating that it expects to rely increasingly on third-party data-centre capacity while its own infrastructure is built. This suggests hyperscaler demand continues to exceed available capacity, benefiting miners that control large-scale power and development sites, and helping explain their strong contribution to the Index despite only a modest increase in Bitcoin prices.

•  Earnings Recap – Key Holdings:

  • CME Group, Nextera Energy  – Positive

Other news - index constituents:

• The CLARITY Act gained momentum after revised ethics provisions removed a key obstacle to Senate consideration, supporting Coinbase and Circle briefly during the week. Clearer market-structure rules would benefit Coinbase’s trading and custody businesses and encourage broader institutional use of Circle’s USDC. However, passage remains uncertain, with Polymarket assigning a 39% probability of approval by year-end.

• Coinbase launched USDC-settled perpetual futures linked to Circle, Robinhood and Strategy for eligible non-US users, offering 24/7 trading and leverage of up to 10 times. The launch extends Coinbase’s derivatives strategy beyond digital assets and creates a new way to trade crypto-equity exposure through a crypto exchange.

• Strategy increased its USD reserve by US$225m to approximately US$3.2bn, while its Bitcoin holdings remained unchanged at 843,775 BTC. The move reflects the company’s increased focus on maintaining liquidity to support preferred dividends and debt-interest payments.

• AMD announced a strategic partnership with Anthropic to deploy up to 2GW of AMD Instinct MI450 GPUs. Microsoft also agreed to deploy next-generation AMD Instinct accelerators and EPYC processors, while AMD and Cerebras announced a joint low-latency AI inference solution. The announcements materially expand AMD’s contracted AI-compute opportunity and support demand across the wider data-centre supply chain.

• Standard Chartered-backed Anchorpoint Financial is reportedly preparing to launch its regulated HKD-pegged stablecoin, HKDAP, during July. Listed exchanges OSL and HashKey are expected to distribute the token, creating potential revenue opportunities across trading, custody, conversion and payments.

Other news – non - index constituents:

• Stablecoin-focused financial infrastructure company Augustus raised US$180m at a reported US$1bn valuation to develop a stablecoin-enabled clearing bank focused on cross-border and correspondent-banking services.

• BNY reportedly plans to pilot tokenised US Treasuries on its private blockchain by year-end, with the longer-term objective of supporting round-the-clock settlement for conventional and tokenised Treasuries by 2027.

• Jack Mallers stepped down as CEO of Twenty One Capital following the collapse of a proposed merger involving Twenty One, Strike and Elektron Energy. Twenty One reportedly holds 43,514 Bitcoin, making it one of the largest listed corporate Bitcoin holders, but the management change and failed transaction introduce additional uncertainty around its strategy and corporate structure.

• Shareholders of UK-listed Satsuma Technology reportedly approved the liquidation of the company’s remaining 668 Bitcoin treasury and the cancellation of its London listing. The company had raised approximately US$218m through convertible notes in 2025 but suffered a severe decline in its share price as Bitcoin weakened and financing obligations increased. The development highlights the refinancing, dilution and governance risks associated with leveraged digital-asset treasury strategies.