Equities update | January 20th 2025

Week 3 saw renewed momentum in crypto payments, with corporates continuing to expand digital-asset products and distribution channels. That progress was partially offset on the policy front, as the U.S. CLARITY Act/market-structure push was delayed amid disagreements over key provisions (notably around stablecoin incentives, tokenised assets and DeFi guardrails), highlighting that legislative clarity is still moving, just not in a straight line. Meanwhile, Bitcoin miners continued to scale their HPC/AI hosting strategies, with demand for powered capacity showing little sign of slowing. Finally, late on Friday the U.S. floated a potential additional 10% tariff on the EU tied to geopolitical tensions around Greenland, weighing on equity futures particularly notable with U.S. markets closed on Monday for the holiday, potentially amplifying thin-liquidity moves.

Week 2 Key Developments in Blockchain Equities:

• Index Performance: This week, the Index rose 3.4% while Bitcoin advanced 5.4%, led by strength in mining-related names. US CPI prints were broadly in line with expectations, with a modest downside surprise in month-on-month core CPI (0.2% vs 0.3%), although slightly firmer PPI and retail sales limited support for a near-term rate cut, keeping June as the earliest plausible window. On the regulatory front, progress on the US CLARITY Act was delayed, with industry support, most notably from Coinbase fracturing over concerns around restrictions on stablecoin yields and limitations on tokenised equities and DeFi, adding pressure to crypto-exchange stocks during the week.

• Block Index Key Movers: 7-day top performers: Galaxy Digital (+25.5%), Metaplanet (+22.8%), Iris Energy (+13.6%) 7-day worst performers: Block Inc (-7.5%), Softbank (-6.8%), Mastercard (-6.3%)

• Index constituent Galaxy Digital secures additional 830 MW approval at Helios – Galaxy announced that ERCOT has approved an incremental 830 MW of power capacity at its Helios data-center campus in Texas, taking total approved capacity to over 1.6 GW. To date, the site has a single announced hyperscale customer, CoreWeave, highlighting both the scale of the initial commitment and the importance of future customer diversification. Prior disclosures indicate that Helios has the physical and electrical potential to support up to 3.5 GW at full build-out, implying meaningful long-term optionality for AI and Bitcoin mining. Separately, on the digital-assets side, Galaxy closed the initial US$75 million issuance of its first tokenised CLO, marking a notable step in applying blockchain rails to institutional private-credit markets. Taken together, these developments underscore Galaxy’s strategic pivot away from a pure crypto broker-dealer model toward a more diversified platform spanning HPC infrastructure and tokenised financial products, both of which offer structurally more durable revenue opportunities over time.

• Earnings Recap – Key Holdings:

  • Taiwan Semiconductor Corporation, BlackRock - Positive

  • Citigroup - Mixed

• Other news: Other news: Index constituent Strategy Inc (MSTR US Equity) made its largest Bitcoin purchase since July 2025, acquiring 13,267 BTC funded via a mix of equity issuance and STRC. CleanSpark (CLSK US Equity) acquired 447 acres in Texas for a new AI-focused data-centre site, its second in the state. On the institutional side, CME Group (CME US Equity) announced plans to launch Cardano, Chainlink, and Stellar futures, expanding its regulated crypto-derivatives suite. Standard Chartered (STAN LN Equity) plans to scale its crypto prime-brokerage offering, while State Street (STT US Equity) launched a digital-asset platform focused on tokenised finance. Interactive Brokers (IBKR US Equity) also enabled eligible clients to fund brokerage accounts using stablecoins, underscoring accelerating adoption of tokenised rails across traditional markets.