Equities update - August 24th 2026

Week 34 saw a sharp revival across digital-asset markets following a series of supportive announcements from the White House, with Bitcoin gaining 18.2% for its strongest week in recent months. Sentiment was further supported by a weaker US dollar, with the DXY declining 1% on the week as concerns around fiscal sustainability and increased Treasury intervention at the long end weighed on the currency. Broader equities remained volatile, particularly across the AI trade, although leadership continued to broaden into other sectors, an encouraging sign that market performance is becoming less dependent on a narrow group of technology names. At the corporate level, positive developments remained broad across the Index, ranging from Metaplanet’s expansion into the US through a new Bitcoin treasury platform to HIVE securing a US$350m AI-cloud contract.

Week 34 Key Developments in Blockchain Equities:

• Index Performance: The Index gained 5.4% during the week, outperforming broader equities but lagging Bitcoin, which rallied 18.2%. Macro attention centred on a more hawkish set of FOMC minutes, which showed that inflation concerns had broadened beyond the three officials who voted for a 25bp hike in July, with several members indicating that further tightening may be required if inflation remains persistent. At the same time, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stepped up efforts to influence conditions at the long end of the curve, doubling long-duration Treasury buybacks to US$4bn per operation and signalling that purchases could increase further. The intervention temporarily pulled 30-year yields lower after they reached their highest levels since 2007, although the move was short-lived as fiscal and inflation concerns remained. 

• Block Index Key Movers: 7-day top performers: Hyperliquid Strategies (+47.8%), HIVE Digital (+21.3%), Nexon (+21.2%) 7-day worst performers: Oracle (-9.1%), Meta Platforms (-8.3%), Core Scientific (-7.0%) 

• US regulatory momentum and higher crypto prices support a re-rating across crypto equities: Crypto-sensitive equities rallied as a combination of higher digital-asset prices and improving US regulatory momentum strengthened the earnings outlook for exchanges, brokers and stablecoin-related businesses. Bitcoin moved back above US$77,000 during the week following the White House crypto summit and renewed positive commentary from President Trump around Bitcoin accumulation and the broader digital-asset industry. Higher crypto prices support expectations for stronger trading volumes, transaction fees, assets on platform and retail engagement at Index companies such as Coinbase, Circle, Galaxy, Bullish and Robinhood, while also improving sentiment across the wider crypto-equity complex. At the same time, President Trump renewed calls for Congress to pass the CLARITY Act, while the SEC and CFTC continued to progress more supportive digital-asset regulation. Prediction-market expectations for the CLARITY Act passing in 2026 have recovered to around 28% from lows of approximately 12% earlier in the month, although this remains well below roughly 80% earlier in the year, with a Senate vote now pushed to September and the legislative calendar increasingly constrained.

•  Earnings Recap – Key Holdings:
  - HIVE Digital – Mixed

Other news - Index constituents:

• Hyperliquid Strategies (PURR) rallied 47.8% on the week after President Trump said the CFTC was working to bring Hyperliquid into the US in a fully compliant framework. HYPE also rose around 20%, but PURR materially outperformed the token as investors priced in an additional regulatory and US market-access premium. Given PURR’s >20m HYPE treasury, the move highlights how policy developments are increasingly driving the valuation of listed crypto-equity proxies beyond movements in the underlying digital assets.

• Samsung Electronics expects its 2026 shareholder returns to total KRW 90–110tn (US$65–79bn), broadly in line with expectations. Around KRW 30tn (US$22bn) is expected to be distributed through cash dividends, including the regular Q3 dividend, with the final size and form of the remaining returns to be determined by the Board in January 2027. The programme reflects the sharp improvement in semiconductor cash generation from the AI-driven memory cycle.

• Metaplanet agreed to contribute 2,100 Bitcoin to Super League Enterprise to launch Superplanet, a Nasdaq-listed US Bitcoin treasury platform. The transaction broadens Metaplanet’s access to US capital markets and represents an evolution towards a permanent-capital structure rather than relying solely on Japanese common-equity issuance.

• HIVE Digital’s BUZZ HPC signed a five-year US$350m AI-cloud agreement, adding approximately US70m of contracted ARR. The deployment requires around US$185m oof capex, partly offset by a US$35m customer deposit. 

• Strategy raised US$333.7m through MSTR issuance, with no Bitcoin purchases during the week. Instead, US$52.4m funded STRC dividends, US$132.2m was used to repurchase 1.39m STRC shares and US$149.1m increased the USD reserve to US$4.8bn.

• PayPal introduced automatic PYUSD settlement for US merchants, allowing businesses to convert a chosen proportion of their PayPal balance into PYUSD and earn 4% rewards. The product is particularly relevant because it creates merchant-side demand for PYUSD and moves the stablecoin beyond consumer ownership towards treasury and settlement use cases.

• Coinbase launched direct BRL/USDC trading in Brazil, reducing the cost of onboarding into USDC through Coinbase Advanced by approximately 85%.

Other news – Non - Index constituents:

• BitMine added another 9,926 ETH, taking holdings to approximately 5.82m ETH, equivalent to around 4.8% of total Ethereum supply. The company has also repurchased 20.8m shares since July.

• Nebius upsized its convertible-note offering from US$4.5bn to US$5.0bn, with potential proceeds reaching US$5.75bn if additional options are exercised. The financing provides significant capital for data-centre and GPU expansion, but also highlights the scale of external funding required across AI infrastructure and provides an important comparison for miners attempting to finance similar transitions.

• Cypherpunk Technologies launched what it described as the world’s largest Zcash mining fleet, activating 4.2 GSol/s of US-based hashrate, approximately 18% of the Zcash network, through an equity-based transaction with Winklevoss Capital.