Equities update | March 13th, 2026

Blockchain equities saw declines during week 11, underperforming Bitcoin as tightening liquidity expectations weighed on risk assets, with markets now pricing in fewer than one U.S. rate cut by year end. Payments companies had the largest drag on the Index, with Block Inc. among the weakest performers, whereas Circle outperformed. Strategy continued its aggressive Bitcoin accumulation, purchasing approximately 18,000 BTC for US$1.3 billion, while institutions continued to embrace digital assets, as BlackRock launched its first staking Ethereum ETF and Nasdaq partnered with Kraken to develop tokenised equity trading.

Week 11 key developments in Blockchain equities:

Index Performance: The Index declined 3.5% over the week, while Bitcoin fell 1.3%. Performance was negatively impacted by payments businesses, which provided a disproportionate drag on the Index. Markets are also now pricing in less than one interest rate cut in the U.S. for the end of the year, and lower liquidity expectations are likely to be driving equities and crypto lower. 

Block Index Key Movers: 7-day top performers: Circle (+8.0%), CoinShares (+7.3%), Iris Energy (+3.1%) 7-day worst performers: Block Inc. (-11.1%), Blackrock (-10.3%), Cipher Digital (-9.5%)

Earnings Recap – Key Holdings: Notable earnings from portfolio constituents included:

• Oracle – Positive

• Sharplink – Neutral

Strategy acquired nearly 18,000 bitcoin this week, for US$1.3 billion. It is the company’s 13th largest purchase since it started its accumulation strategy, and its second biggest this year. Financing was done via STRC (US$377m) and MSTR stock (US$900m), which has become attractive in the company’s view as its mNAV (including preferreds, and debt) is at 1.2x. 

Strive Inc. announced that it had purchased US$50 million of Strategy's STRC, with a view that it provides a compelling risk-return profile, optimizing their capital structure. Strive has their own preferred instrument, SATA, which works similarly to STRC, paying a 12.75% dividend  (STRC: 11.50%) and aims to trade at par, with current price target price range between $99 and $101. SATA is considerably more volatile than STRC, as Strive does not have the same credit profile as Strategy.

Nasdaq and Kraken have announced a partnership aiming to offer 24/7 tokenised stock trading, enabling public company shares to be issued and traded as blockchain-based tokens. The launch is expected to happen in early 2027, with Kraken becoming a distribution partner to Nasdaq. The announcement follows Intercontinental Exchange's investment in OKX last week, which also aims tokenised equities (NYSE), while also allowing OKX to launch U.S. regulated futures products.

BlackRock's first staking crypto ETF, the iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHB) began trading on the Nasdaq from 12 March, attracting US$43.5m of net inflows on its first trading day. ETHB holds spot ETH and aims to stake between 70% and 95% of its total assets and expects to pass on 82% of staking rewards to investors through monthly distributions.