Equities update - November 9th 2026

Week 45 saw Democrats win control of both chambers of Congress in the US midterms, ending Republican control from January. The initial relief rally quickly reversed, with the VIX reaching an eight-month high as investors reassessed the pace and cost of the AI buildout. For blockchain equities, the most consequential result may have been in Texas, where governor-elect Gina Hinojosa has called for tighter oversight of data centres. That could slow projects still seeking approvals and make existing power connections more valuable, particularly for miners that already have a customer and can deliver capacity in 2027. Brent’s retreat below USUS$100 and lower Treasury yields offered some relief, although October payrolls rose by 165,000, well above expectations of 70,000, keeping a December Fed hike in play. Corporate progress continued through the sell-off, with Riot securing its US$28bn Corsicana lease, Cipher recognised its first HPC lease revenue at Black Pearl, and IREN’s AI Cloud revenue rose to US$200m from US$71m in the previous quarter. In payments, Samsung Wallet began rolling out USDC with custody support from Coinbase, while Circle agreed to acquire Tazapay to expand its access to local payment networks. Standard Chartered completed live transactions using tokenised deposits for corporate clients in Hong Kong, and Block raised its full-year outlook after reporting 22% gross profit growth. The week brought signed contracts, first revenues and live products across several parts of the Index, even as investors marked down the sector’s growth prospects. 

Week 45 Key Developments in Blockchain Equities:

• Index Performance: The Index returned −6.6% over the week, compared with −2.1% for Bitcoin. The US midterm election results drove sharp swings in markets, with the initial relief rally giving way to concerns that greater scrutiny of AI infrastructure could slow development and increase costs. Oil offered some relief, with Brent falling back below US$100 a barrel on hopes of de-escalation in Iran, easing inflation concerns and supporting lower Treasury yields, while gold attracted demand. Friday’s stronger-than-expected employment report added another consideration, October nonfarm payrolls increased by 165,000 against expectations of 70,000, alongside combined upward revisions of 84,000 to the previous two months. Unemployment fell to 4.1% even as participation edged higher, while average hourly earnings rose 0.4% month-on-month, above the 0.3% forecast. The report supports confidence in underlying economic activity, but also gives the Fed greater scope to address persistent inflation, keeping a December rate hike firmly in consideration. 

• Block Index Key Movers: 7-day top performers: Block Inc (+9.2%), Nextera Energy (+7.4%), RIOT Platforms (+7.4%) 7-day worst performers: Cipher Digital (-31.5%), IREN (-31.3%), Hut-8 (-30.8%) 

• US midterms reshape the outlook for blockchain equities, bringing new risks and opportunities – Democrats’ victories in Congress and Gina Hinojosa’s election as Texas governor have brought data-centre approvals and electricity costs into sharper focus. While this creates uncertainty around new developments, the implications for blockchain equities are more balanced than the sector’s sell-off suggests. Slower approvals could make existing power connections and operating sites more valuable, particularly where companies already have customers, established community relationships and a clear route to delivery. For miners that have spent years securing these assets, the political shift could strengthen an advantage that new entrants would find difficult to replicate.

• Riot stressed that the power interconnections at Rockdale and Corsicana are already fully approved, with both campuses operating for years. Management highlighted these existing connections, substations and community relationships as important advantages in securing its new Corsicana lease. Cipher, speaking before the election, also described exceptionally strong demand for sites available in 2027 and confirmed that Reveille and Ulysses are fully approved for interconnection outside ERCOT’s Batch Zero process. These examples show why the outlook needs to be assessed site by site: restrictions on future development can increase the appeal of capacity that is already further advanced.

• Hut 8 was similarly constructive, saying it did not expect the election result to change Beacon Point’s outlook and that it expected Texas to remain business-friendly. Management supported the governor-elect’s call for guardrails and argued that responsible development could align with her objectives. Its development opportunities also extend well beyond Texas, with less than 5% of its front-of-meter greenfield pipeline in ERCOT. Beacon Point Phase I still requires completion of the existing audit process, with management expecting final classification in December, but the company’s message was one of continued execution.

• At IREN, management described customer demand as stronger than ever, pointing to newly signed contracts, expanding customer commitments and one agreement with prepayments covering approximately 90% of the associated GPU investment. It also viewed community expectations that data centres pay their own way as reasonable, highlighting local hiring and closed-loop cooling. Ownership of its land, power and facilities gives IREN flexibility to adjust construction spending as financing conditions change. This matters in the current environment: demand can remain strong while companies take a more selective approach to funding growth.

• The opportunity increasingly favours operators that can combine established infrastructure with financeable contracts and responsible development. Geographic diversification, including international operations at HIVE and Bitdeer, provides further flexibility. Approvals and construction costs remain important, but greater discipline around new supply could support the economics of well-positioned existing projects.

• The implications for exchanges, stablecoin providers and tokenisation platforms are different. A Democratic Congress can increase oversight and reshape legislative priorities, while Trump retains executive authority and the presidential veto. The GENIUS Act is already law, and the election does not automatically reverse existing regulatory decisions. Further market-structure legislation will require continued political negotiation, but companies can keep developing services within the frameworks already established.

• Earnings Recap – Key Holdings:

• AMD, Block Inc, SBI Holdings, Sony Group, RIOT Platforms, IREN, Core Scientific, Mercari, Circle, Hyperliquid Strategies – Positive

• Cipher Digital, Hut-8 – Mixed

• MercadoLibre - Negative

Other news - Index constituents:

• Riot Platforms signed a 15-year powered-land lease covering 910MW of critical IT capacity at Corsicana, representing approximately US$28bn of contracted revenue. Delivery is phased across 2027–28. The structure shifts the modular compute deployment to the tenant, although Riot still estimates approximately US$5.5bn of project capital. Q3 data-centre revenue was US$18.4m, including US$7.7m of base rent. Riot also disclosed approximately US$1.5bn of Bitcoin sales year-to-date, primarily to fund development, illustrating the reallocation of its balance sheet towards AI infrastructure.

• Circle reported US865m of revenue and reserve income and US$317m of adjusted EBITDA. The results included US182m of ARC token presale revenue, while reserve income declined 8% year-on-year. Circle also agreed to acquire Tazapay, which brings more than US$25bn of annualised payment volume; closing is expected in 2027, subject to approvals. The deal expands local payment connectivity. Separately, Circle said it froze approximately US$1.1bn of USDC associated with the Binance incident in coordination with law enforcement, highlighting the issuer’s role in incident response.

• Hyperliquid Strategies announced that a subsidiary had applied to become a futures commission merchant, seeking a regulated route to service US clients accessing markets deployed on Hyperliquid. This is an application, with approval and implementation still ahead. The development could extend PURR’s activities beyond its HYPE treasury and staking operations. Quarterly staking revenue and validator commissions were approximately US$12.3m, while US$620.6m of net income primarily reflected unrealised token gains. Holdings reached approximately 38.9m HYPE by 28 October.

• Bullish named Solana, Aptos and Ethereum as its initial equity-tokenisation network partners, extending its issuer-sponsored approach across multiple chains. Its 3 November announcement also detailed the earlier transfer of 61m reserved Bullish shares, earmarked for the proposed Equiniti acquisition; this was not newly raised capital.

• SBI Holdings first-half revenue increased 17.2% to ¥1.06trn and attributable profit rose 39.1% to ¥230.6bn, although crypto-asset revenue fell 30.1% and the segment reported a ¥1.6bn pretax loss. Commercial initiatives continued: JPYSC handling balances exceeded ¥30bn, including more than ¥10bn in its lending service, and the tokenised Japanese equity fund JX expanded distribution through Hong Kong’s HashKey Exchange. SBI also announced a US$100m investment in Erebor Bank, which supports blockchain-based settlement and stablecoin deposits and withdrawals, while SBI Securities joined Norinchukin-group partners on a Progmat digital-securities initiative.

• Standard Chartered launched tokenised deposits for corporate clients in Hong Kong, using its blockchain infrastructure and the HKMA’s Ensemble platform. The release describes live transactions and tokenised money-market-fund settlement, alongside work with Fireblocks and HashKey. The opportunity extends existing treasury and transaction-banking relationships through programmable deposits and around-the-clock transfers across participating banks.

• Strategy acquired 811 BTC for approximately US$65.5m in the week to 1 November, bringing holdings to 849,327 BTC, and repurchased US$208.2m of STRC preferred shares. Its USD Reserve stood at approximately US$4.79bn, alongside US$132.7m of additional USD cash.

Other news – Non - Index constituents:

• Morgan Stanley said it had tokenised US equities and Treasuries through DTCC’s recently launched service. Its separate plan to support tokenised equities on its own trading platform is now expected in Q1 2027. The development demonstrates use of established post-trade infrastructure, although the bank did not disclose transaction scale.

• Cross River partnered with Offchain to integrate tokenisation into its lending platform on Arbitrum One, enabling loans to be tokenised at origination. The model connects creation, servicing and distribution of credit assets within the same infrastructure, providing a relevant comparison for Figure’s blockchain-native marketplace.