Blockchain equities: expanding beyond Bitcoin

Blockchain Equities: Expanding Beyond Bitcoin Blockchain Equities: Expanding Beyond Bitcoin

Blockchain Equities: Expanding Beyond Bitcoin

Over the past 12 months or so, the Bitcoin has dropped close to 50% fromits previous highs. Yet, in the meantime the listed crypto and blockchain ecosystem has significantlydeveloped. Equity investors today have access to a broader, deeper, and more diversified universe of companies spanning blockchain infrastructure, financial services, payments, exchanges, custody, distributed computing, and tokenization. Recent IPO activity—including players such as Circle and Bit Go—as well as prospective listings (e.g., Kraken, Ledger) illustrate the sector’s maturation and increasing institutional credibility. Blockchain equities are no longer simply proxies for Bitcoin. The sector is converging with the traditional economy, creating structural, long-term investment themes that extend beyond digital asset price movements and thus create shareholder value.

Bitcoin Miners Reinventing Themselves Through AI & Infrastructure

The first pillar of this transformation is the reinvention of Bitcoin miners.

Historically perceived as highly volatile, capital-intensive businesses tightly linked to Bitcoin prices, miners have faced mounting structural pressures, including rising energy and hardware costs, declining block rewards following halvings, and limited access to financing. However, the rapid growth of artificial intelligence and high-performance computing (AI/HPC) has opened a new strategic pathway. Bitcoin miners already control large-scale, power-ready infrastructure with grid interconnections, substations, and technical teams in place—precisely the assets that AI data center operators urgently require in an energy-constrained environment. By reallocating capacity toward AI workloads, miners can secure long-term contracted revenues and benefit from higher valuation multiples.

Equity markets have already begun to differentiate between miners successfully executing this pivot and those remaining purely exposed to mining economics, resulting in significant valuation dispersion. The "Big Four" pivot-miners (Hut 8, Cipher, Wulf, and IREN) are collectively scaling from an installed HPC/AI base of approximately 100–150 MW at the end of 2025 to a committed development pipeline of over 1,650 MW targeted for 2026 completion or commissioning. This represents a massive 10x to 15x expansionin AI-ready infrastructure in a single year, shifting the group's total power profile from majority-Bitcoin to nearly 40% dedicated HPC by late 2026.

Performance of Terra Wulf, Hut8 and Cipher Mining since 2025

Cumulative relative performance when Bitcoin is up/down.

A miner that has held up - and even delivered positive YTD performance - despite Bitcoin’s decline. Strategic backing (including investment from Google) and strong data center expansion have enhanced financing flexibility. Since 2025,Terawulf’s stock performance exhibits clear upside convexity, generating approximately over 200% cumulative relative performance on BTC up days with a 72.9% hit ratio. On BTC down days, while the percentage of up days drops to 34.2%, the cumulative relative performance reaches roughly 35%, supporting a positively asymmetric beta profile where upside participation structurally outweighs downside sensitivity over time.

A vertically integrated energy infrastructure leader that has transitioned by leveraging self-owned power and proprietary liquid-cooling, they deliver "warm shell" sites for hyperscalers like Google and Anthropic. Following a 2025 restructure, the company now invests in high-density data center development. Hut 8 demonstrates even stronger upside convexity, delivering roughly +400% cumulative relative performance on BTC up days with a 73.9% hit ratio. On BTC down daysthe cumulative relative performance remains contained at around -15% highlighting a positively asymmetric beta. For investors seeking exposure to a Bitcoin rebound without fully absorbing spot volatility, selected miners offer embedded optionality and asymmetric upside, while maintaining correlation to Bitcoin recovery scenarios.

The rise of stablecoins as foundational financial infrastructure

The second pillar is the institutionalisation of stablecoin usage.

Stablecoins have moved beyond their origins as tools for crypto trading and are increasingly functioning as digital dollar settlement rails. With annual transaction volumes approaching $50 trillion and market capitalization projections reaching $3–4 trillion by 2028, stablecoins now rival traditional payment networks in scale. Although crypto trading and De Fi activity still account for the majority of usage, approximately one quarter of volumes originate from emerging markets, where stablecoins provide access to dollar liquidity, protection against inflation, and efficient cross-border transfers.

Source: Andreessen Horowitz, “State of Crypto”, 22 October, 2025

Stablecoins are emerging as a core enabler. For example: Coinbase recently reported strong growth in stablecoin-related revenues (+60% Yo Y), despite weaker trading results. Institutional transaction revenues are growing faster than retail (+39% yoy), signalling diversification and lower business model volatility. Markets are rewarding this diversification: institutional adoption and payment integration are viewed as reducing cyclicality and improving structural earnings visibility.

Lastly, traditional financial incumbents are not resisting this shift but integrating it.

Companies such as Visa and Mastercard are actively incorporating stablecoin settlement capabilities into their networks, enabling near-continuous settlement, improved liquidity management, and regulated digital asset integration. This development underscores that decentralized and traditional finance are converging rather than competing.

Accessing the theme through a UCITS-compatible framework

Against this backdrop, investors increasingly seek structured ways to access this expanding ecosystem without relying on single stocks or direct digital asset exposure. TOBAM Global Blockchain Equity follows a diversified, rules-based UCITS approach, allocating to stocks structurally linked(and historically correlated)to Bitcoin across treasury companies, infrastructure players such as miners, and ecosystem service providers including exchanges, payments, and custody platforms. The objective is to capture the structural growth of the Bitcoin ecosystem while maintaining diversification and disciplined portfolio construction. In 2025, TOBAM’s strategy delivered a return of 33%, while Bitcoin’s performance was negative. Since its launch in September 2023, the fund has outperformed Bitcoin, delivering higher returns with only three-quarters of the risk,driven bydiversification.

Most importantly, indirect exposure currently represents a compelling way for investors to position for a potential Bitcoin rebound, given the return asymmetry it offers.

CONCLUSION

Blockchain equities now represent a broad and increasingly institutionalized investment universe—extending far beyond Bitcoin mining. Key structural drivers include AI/HPC infrastructure expansion, stablecoin-driven innovation, asset tokenisation, and the accelerating institutional adoption of digital assets. The opportunity set is expanding rapidly. For long-term investors, indirect exposure to the Bitcoin ecosystem has consistently offered a compelling proposition to completement direct digital asset exposure, providing both structural diversification and the ability to capture value from ongoing infrastructure innovation. In the current market context, utilizing a diversified UCITS equity vehicle, such as the TOBAM Global Blockchain Equity strategy, represents the most effective way to position for a Bitcoin price rebound without the peril of precise market timing—a task notoriously difficult given the asset's inherent volatility.

For more information, please visit www.tobam.fr or contact info@tobam.fr ABOUT TOBAMTOBAM TOBAM’s mission is to provide exposures that established market players do not yet offer. It is anchored in three flagship strategies: Maximum Diversification®, based on original, patented research and a mathematical definition of diversification, defined what would become Smart Beta. LBRTY®, which aims to outperform benchmarks by substantially reducing direct and indirect exposure to autocratic regimes. ₿TOBAM®, dedicated since 2016 to Bitcoin-related investments. In addition, TOBAMSolutions®, driven by our Research team, designs bespoke solutions and services for sophisticated institutional investors. The Maximum Diversification®, TOBAMSolutions®, ₿TOBAM® and TOBAM LBRTY® approaches illustrate TOBAM’s systematic commitment to innovation in the service of demanding investors. For more information, please visit www.tobam.fr, www.tobamdirect.com, or contact us at info@tobam.fr CONTACTSParis 24-26, Avenue des Champs-Elys ées75008 Paris France Dublin New York Client Service:clientservice@tobam.fr ABOUT TOBAMTOBAM TOBAM’s mission is to provide exposures that established market players do not yet offer. It is anchored in three flagship strategies: Maximum Diversification®, based on original, patented research and a mathematical definition of diversification, defined what would become Smart Beta. LBRTY®, which aims to outperform benchmarks by substantially reducing direct and indirect exposure to autocratic regimes. ₿TOBAM®, dedicated since 2016 to Bitcoin-related investments. In addition, TOBAMSolutions®, driven by our Research team, designs bespoke solutions and services for sophisticated institutional investors. The Maximum Diversification®, TOBAMSolutions®, ₿TOBAM® and TOBAM LBRTY® approaches illustrate TOBAM’s systematic commitment to innovation in the service of demanding investors. For more information, please visit www.tobam.fr, www.tobamdirect.com, or contact us at info@tobam.fr CONTACTSParis 24-26, Avenue des Champs-Elys ées75008 Paris France Dublin New York Client Service:clientservice@tobam.fr