Of course, not all crypto-exposed companies have witnessed such enthusiastic spikes. After all, internal issues and other factors can weigh more heavily than crypto trends. However, it is clear that most stocks allowing investors to profit from the crypto’s ascent from the security of their traditional portfolios are bound to rise with the crypto market.

Crypto exposure can take different forms, from crypto-focused operations to including crypto in the firm’s general service offer or even simply holding large amounts of crypto in the company’s treasury.

Here’s an overview of the most prominent crypto-exposed stocks: Coinbase, Marathon, Block, Microstrategy, PayPal, Robinhood, Hut 8, and Canaan, all traded on Nasdaq.

Coinbase ($COIN)

One of the world’s biggest and oldest crypto exchanges, Coinbase was founded in the US in 2012 and went public in 2021.

In broad strokes, its shares have followed the crypto market, crashing 88% in 2022. However, it managed to outperform both Bitcoin and Ethereum in its recovery: + 308% vs BTC’s +148% and ETH’s +131% from their respective lowest points in 2022.

Coinbase still faces the SEC lawsuit for offering “unregistered securities”, but the community believes that its chances to emerge victorious are quite high.

Marathon Digital ($MARA)

The US-based Marathon Digital is one of the biggest Bitcoin miners with an impressive fleet of over 105,000 machines.

The company puts a special emphasis on renewable energy, with operations including a recently launched project in Utah powered by landfill methane gas or a mining farm in Paraguay powered by hydro energy.

Block ($SQ)

Initially named Square, Block was founded in 2009 by Jack Dorsey, also known as the founder of Twitter. The company has since diversified, adding to its portfolio CashApp, a P2P transaction and savings service with Bitcoin exposure, Afterpay, a financial service, Tidal, a music streaming service, and Weebly, a web hosting provider.

Over the years, Jack Dorsey has become a fierce Bitcoin maximalist, and Block’s ventures now also include TBD, which develops Bitcoin-based DeFi services, as well as the project of “custom silicon” mining hardware.

Microstrategy ($MSTR)

Microstrategy is a US-based business intelligence company, which has made it to this list thanks to its founder Michael Saylor’s unwavering faith in Bitcoin. Since 2021, the company has been steadily buying it for its treasury, amassing an impressive 158,245 BTC, the equivalent of $6 billion.

Microstrategy’s Bitcoin holdings have become so big that the company’s stocks have effectively become a proxy for investors who seek exposure to BTC, but for some reason are not ready to buy it.

PayPal ($PYPL)

PayPal’s foray into crypto started in 2020 when it first included Bitcoin into its services. The payment company has since added multiple features allowing its 431 million users to on and off-ramp cryptocurrencies. In August, PayPal announced the launch of its own USD-pegged stablecoin PYUSD.

Since the beginning of November, $PYPL gained 14%.

Robinhood ($HOOD)

This American user-friendly stock trading platform started supporting crypto operations as early as 2018 (initially only in four states). It has since become a popular place to trade and transfer crypto through brokerage accounts.

Robinhood’s stock was underperforming this month (-4%), which probably explains why the famous crypto asset manager ARK Investment has recently offloaded $5.3 million of $COIN to buy $1.2 million of $HOOD.

Hut 8 ($HUT)

Hut8 is a Canadian Bitcoin mining company that leverages renewable energy. This year’s results have been disappointing though, with Q3 registering a 66% decrease in mined BTC compared to a year earlier. According to the company’s press release, this was due to a higher network difficulty and operational issues on one of its sites.

As $HUT lost 8% in a month, the company is preparing for a merger with US Bitcoin Corp, a US-based miner, which can happen as soon as this week.

Canaan ($CAN)

Canaan is a Chinese manufacturer of mining rigs. Canaan’s results this year were not great either, with Q3 registering only $33 million in revenues, a notable decrease from the $145 million the firm generated during the same period in 2022.

According to the company’s CEO, the stagnant BTC price, interest rate hikes, and “a noticeable softening in purchasing power on the demand front” are to blame. $CAN lost 12% since the beginning of November.

Written by D.Center