Equities update | July 3rd, 2026

Week 27 saw a clear divergence between crypto assets and broader risk-on equities, as Bitcoin rallied on a weaker US dollar while technology stocks declined. Equity weakness was concentrated in AI capex-sensitive sectors, particularly the memory trade, where corrections and the unwinding of leveraged positions in Asian markets weighed on sentiment. Bitcoin miners faced an additional headwind after Meta outlined plans to monetise surplus data-centre capacity through a cloud offering, raising concerns around increased competition for cloud and colocation providers. Although several miners have adopted a colocation model rather than building full cloud platforms, they were still affected by the broader repricing of AI infrastructure exposure. On the corporate front, Open Standard announced OUSD, intensifying stablecoin competition and raising questions around the economics of USDC for Circle and Coinbase. Strategy shifted into balance-sheet repair mode to stabilise its preferred securities, while Robinhood unveiled a range of new crypto and tokenisation products at its “The World Is Flat” event in London.

Week 27 Key Developments in Blockchain Equities:

• Index Performance: The Index declined 6.0% this week, underperforming Bitcoin, which rose 3.0%. US non-farm payrolls surprised to the downside, with 57,000 jobs added compared with expectations of 113,000. Fed Chair Warsh provided some hawkish relief by noting that certain inflation risks had subsided, contributing to a weaker US dollar and supporting a rally across Bitcoin and broader crypto assets. Blockchain equities nevertheless lagged as a correction in technology stocks, particularly AI capex-sensitive names, drove a broader risk-off move in Bitcoin miners and weighed on Index performance. 

• Block Index Key Movers: 7-day top performers: Ceres (+29.3%), Robinhood (+20.6%), Strategy Inc (+18.1%) 7-day worst performers: Cipher Digital (-22.0%), Keel Infrastructure (-21.8%), Core Scientific (-21.4%) 

• Stablecoin competition intensifies with the launch of Open USD (OUSD) - Open Standard announced OUSD, a dollar-backed stablecoin supported by more than 140 companies, including Visa, Mastercard and Coinbase. Its model of free minting and redemption, combined with the distribution of reserve income to participating businesses, directly challenges Circle’s issuer-led economics by increasing pressure to share more of USDC’s reserve yield with distribution partners. This creates a potential headwind for Circle’s margins and market share, particularly if large payment and technology companies favour a more economically aligned model. Coinbase’s participation, however, represents a strategic hedge: it retains substantial exposure to USDC through its existing partnership with Circle while gaining access to a competing stablecoin ecosystem that may offer more attractive economics. Circle nevertheless retains important advantages through USDC’s established liquidity, regulatory positioning and institutional distribution, reinforced by BNY’s decision to support USDC across its custody, minting and redemption platform.

• Index constituent Strategy Inc announces an active capital management plan to control STRC volatility - Strategy introduced a five-part Digital Credit Capital Framework following the sharp June dislocation in STRC. The company formalised a minimum USD Reserve equal to 12 months of preferred dividends and interest expense, with its US$2.55bn reserve providing approximately 17.4 months of coverage, and increased STRC’s annualised dividend rate from 11.5% to 12.0%. Strategy also authorised up to US$1.0bn of preferred-security repurchases, initially prioritising STRC, a separate US$1.0bn MSTR repurchase programme and up to US$1.25bn of Bitcoin monetisation to support reserves, financial obligations or buybacks. The announcement was taken well by markets with STRC rallying from lows of US$72 to over US$90 before closing out Thursday at US$87. While this should reduce liquidity and refinancing concerns surrounding STRC, the willingness to sell Bitcoin introduces a potential trade-off between protecting the preferred securities and maximising Bitcoin accretion for common shareholders.

Other news - Index constituents:

• Metaplanet acquired 2,823 BTC during the second quarter for approximately US$170.7m, increasing its holdings to 43,000 BTC. Its Bitcoin Income Generation business also generated ¥1.75bn of quarterly revenue, demonstrating that the company continued accumulating despite weaker Bitcoin prices and limited intra-quarter purchase disclosures.

• Robinhood launched the public mainnet of Robinhood Chain, an Arbitrum-based Layer 2 designed for tokenised assets and DeFi applications. The company also introduced stock tokens across more than 120 countries, decentralised USDC lending, expanded European perpetual futures and announced further expansion into Canada, Singapore and the UK.

• IREN was added to the large-cap Russell 1000 Index following FTSE Russell’s June reconstitution, effective after the market close on 26 June. Keel Infrastructure added to Russell 3000 index.

• Keel Infrastructure was added to the broad-market Russell 3000 Index, effective from the opening of US markets on 29 June.

• Meta Platforms was reported to be developing a cloud business that would sell external customers access to its AI models and surplus computing capacity. The initiative could improve returns on Meta’s substantial infrastructure investment and diversify revenue beyond advertising.

Other news – Non - Index constituents:

• Tradeweb completed a real-time on-chain US Treasury transaction on the Canton Network, with Franklin Templeton transferring a tokenised Treasury security to Virtu Financial in exchange for USDCx.

• Securitize completed its business combination with Cantor Equity Partners II and began trading on the NYSE under the ticker SECZ. Shares closed their first session 4.4% higher, while Securitize also made a tokenised representation of its own common stock available through its regulated platform.

• Forward Industries acquired more than 500,000 SOL during its fiscal third quarter at an average price of approximately US$79, increasing its Solana treasury to 7.55m SOL as of 30 June.

• Bitdeer signed a colocation lease for its Tydal AI data-centre site in Norway, with further details on the customer, commercial terms and financial impact expected once the agreement becomes effective.