Crypto stocks split in 2025 as operators rally and balance-sheet plays lag

Frank Holland (Anchor) 00:00.000

All right, another market flash on strategy. Take a look at the shares this morning. We were telling you about this new milestone, looking at the shares and the action we're seeing actually up about 3/4 of 1%. So this action after closing at a 15-month low yesterday, the value

Frank Holland (Anchor) 00:12.960

of the company's Bitcoin reserves hit a 7-month low. Strategy disclosing it sold more than 650,000 shares over the past week to raise cash to buy more Bitcoin. It sold 15 million shares this month to raise about $2.7 million or just about 6% of its market cap of $44 billion.

Frank Holland (Anchor) 00:30.000

Microstrategy's an example, what's known as a crypto proxy stock or a publicly traded company whose performance is very closely tied to the performance of cryptocurrencies offering investors a way to get exposure to that market. Our McKenzie Segalos looks at how 2025 has been

Frank Holland (Anchor) 00:43.720

both the best of times and the worst of times for some of these names.

Mackenzie Sigalos (Business News Reporter) 00:48.360

Crypto stocks split into three camps this year. The winners were miners that pivoted to AI infrastructure. Iris Energy led the pack up almost 300% year to date after signing a nearly $10 billion cloud deal Microsoft. Cipher mining up more than 200% on the back of major contracts

Mackenzie Sigalos (Business News Reporter) 01:04.840

with Amazon AWS and Fluid Stack. Hut 8 up around 140% after $7 billion AI data center lease. These are all operating businesses with long-term revenue visibility that doesn't depend on where Bitcoin trades. And then you have the exchanges. Coinbase, bullish and eToro all in the

Mackenzie Sigalos (Business News Reporter) 01:22.440

red from their 2025 highs. These are businesses tied to trading volumes and crypto sentiment. And finally, this was the year of the highs and fall of the digital asset treasuries. Strategy down nearly 50% this year. The pure play Bitcoin miners like Marathon down 45% and it's

Mackenzie Sigalos (Business News Reporter) 01:39.520

not just Bitcoin. Tom Lee's Bitmine immersion and Ethereum treasury is down 80% from its summer highs. DeFi Development Corp. a Solana treasury play down 85% from its peak. The problem here is dilution, financing costs, and sentiment swings that can undermine the trade. And that

Mackenzie Sigalos (Business News Reporter) 01:55.720

matters heading into January. MSCI is set to decide whether to reclassify crypto-heavy balance sheets, which could force passive funds to cut exposure. That's a real liquidity risk for the treasury names. Back to you, Frank.