Author: Ben Strack, Blockworks; Translated by: Wu Zhu, Jinse Finance
When researching cryptocurrency stocks, chatting with the co-portfolio manager of the Amplify Transformational Data Sharing ETF (BLOK), which has long focused on blockchain, is a great conversation.
Dan Weiskopf told me that he is now more optimistic about 2025 than he was at the end of 2023 about this year.
What are the main reasons? With more pure cryptocurrency companies going public, investors will encounter "crazy opportunities."
Some expect that stablecoin issuer Circle may be the next company to go public.
Weiskopf pointed out that while several Bitcoin miners may also go public, it is a crowded field. However, BLOK would consider holding the cloud computing company CoreWeave—one of the largest clients of mining giant Core Scientific.
Speaking of Core Scientific, this stock—up about 320% year-to-date—is BLOK's largest holding (4.67%). Another miner of interest to Weiskopf is Hut 8—ETF's sixth-largest holding, with a holding ratio of 4.16%.
"I think we are doing very well in repositioning and readjusting miners, capturing diversification opportunities in AI," Mike Venuto noted.
Hut 8's weighting is slightly higher than MicroStrategy's—this stock will enter the Nasdaq 100 index next week (I will provide more details on this on Monday). Weiskopf and co-principal Mike Venuto noted that BLOK began purchasing MSTR in August 2020 (when the price was $14).
MSTR's stock price is trading at about $350 (up over 400% year-to-date). After MicroStrategy increased its Bitcoin holdings to 439,000 BTC, benchmark analysts raised the stock's target price to $650 on Monday.
Nonetheless, Weiskopf and Venuto recently reduced BLOK's exposure to MSTR and CORZ, as these stocks "have risen beyond our weight limit," they added. In other words, they are cutting back on the winners' shares, hoping to achieve success elsewhere.
As BLOK fund managers await more IPOs in 2025, they began purchasing Japan's Metaplanet last month.
While more and more companies are adding BTC to their treasuries (according to Weiskopf, about 60 companies), many of these companies are quite small. He stated that so-called "zombie companies" are unlikely to rebound simply because they bought crypto assets.
"They make headlines, but do they really have a strategy?" Weiskopf added as he evaluates these BTC buyers.
He believes that Metaplanet is a company dedicated to these BTC purchases, which announced its intention to emulate MicroStrategy's efforts in April. The company stated this week that it will issue 5 billion yen in ordinary bonds to accelerate Bitcoin purchases.
Therefore, for those monitoring cryptocurrency stocks, BLOK holdings seem worth a look. Additionally, there may be emerging opportunities in this sector as it could become a transformative year.
