Two crypto-related ETFs were the worst-performing in Australia for 2022

December 30, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Australia

ETFs tracking crypto companies have seen significant drawdowns over the year as a result of major macroeconomic headwinds.

Cryptocurrency-related exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have taken the two top spots for the worst-performing ETFs in Australia for the year, with the same story playing out in the United States.

BetaShares Crypto Innovators ETF (CRYP) and Cosmos Global Digital Miners Access ETF (DIGA) have provided investors Down Under with respective negative returns of nearly 82% and 72% year to date (YTD) throughDec. 30.

BetaShares launched its ETF on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in October 2021, mere weeks before most cryptocurrencies hit all-time highs that they’re yet to regain.

*CRYP was down slightly over 81.8% YTD at the time of writing. Image: Google* *Finance*

CRYP provides exposure to publicly listed blockchain and crypto companies such as Coinbase and mining company Riot Blockchain, among others. The largest current holding at 12.3% of its portfolio is Mike Novogratz's investment firm Galaxy Digital.

Cosmos’ DIGA ETF tracked the performance of a portfolio of companies focused on mining Bitcoin (BTC) or other cryptocurrencies through the Global Digital Miners Index.

DIGA was similarly listed at a poor time in October 2021 on the Cboe Australia exchange.

Only a year later Cosmos requested the ETF, along with two others tracking BTC and Ether (ETH), to be delisted from Cboe as declining interest in crypto saw the funds' net asset value dip below $1 million.

U.S.-based ETFs have seen a similar pattern, with the top four worst-performing ETFs being crypto-related, according to ETF.com data. This however excludes inverse and leveraged funds.

The worst performer was the Viridi Bitcoin Miners ETF (RIGZ), which aims to provide exposure to publicly listed crypto miners such as Riot and CleanSpark. It provided investors with a negative 87% return YTD.

*RIGZ has dropped just over 87% for the year. Image: Google* *Finance*

VanEck Digital Transformation ETF (DAPP), the Bitwise Crypto Industry Innovators ETF (BITQ) and the First Trust SkyBridge Crypto Industry and Digital Economy ETF (CRPT) followed closely behind. All tracked the crypto industry through holdings in crypto firms such as Jack Dorsey’s Block Inc., Coinbase, Riot, Galaxy and others.

DAPP and BITQ gave investors a YTD negative return of nearly 86% and 84.5% respectively while CRPT was down nearly 81.5% over the same time.

However, the losses this year haven't been limited to the crypto industry alone. Over the past year, U.S. bonds, stocks and even real estate have recorded their worst-performing year in decades, and in some cases, centuries.

A traditional portfolio consisting of a respective 60/40 mix of stocks and bonds has seen the worst performance since the middle of the Great Depression in 1932.

MAMAA stocks, the collective name for Big Tech players Meta, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet (Google) have seen share price falls of up to 70% over the year. Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market cap fell around 64.5% over the year.

Voyager’s 60% share price plunge leads sea of red for crypto stocks

June 23, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

VYGVF dropped as much as 60% during regular trading hours on June 22 before closing at $0.5998 to mark a drop of 50.84% for the day.

A 60% plunge of Voyager Digital’s (VYGVF) share price since it disclosed its Three Arrows Capital (3AC) exposure has been accompanied by further falls in crypto industry stocks.

According to data from trading view, VYGVF plunged as much as 60% during regular trading hours on June 22 before closing at $0.5998 to mark a drop of 50.84% for the day.

The sharp drop followed Voyager Digital disclosing that the potentially insolvent Three Arrows Capital (3AC) owes the company 15,250 Bitcoin (BTC) and 350 million USD Coin (USDC) worth around roughly $660 million in total.

Voyager has given 3AC until Friday (June 24) to pay $25 million, and until the following Monday (June 27) to pay full the amount before the loan will be considered in default. The company also stated that it is working with lawyers on how to pursue legal action against 3AC, should the supposed venture fund be unable to repay its debt.

Alameda Research has extended a 200 million USDC revolving loan and a 15,000 BTC revolving loan to cover Voyager’s current liquidity troubles. The company has also tightened its 24 hour withdrawal limit this week from $25,000 to $10,000.

“$10,000 better than $0 at Celsius,” commented Redditor AdLongjumping5010 in the r/CelciusNetwork sub-Reddit in response.

Other crypto-related stocks continued to suffer. Coinbase stock (COIN) suffered a 9.71% dip to $51.91, while the heavily BTC exposed MicroStrategy (MSTR) led by Michael Saylor saw its shares drop 4.50% to $170.91.

Coinbase at $14 billion is one of the dumbest things I've ever seen in the public markets.

Rivaled maybe only by Apple trading at 50% above its cash balance in late 2008.

I can't believe boomer mispricing is going to cause me to move money into stonk account.
— Ryan Selkis (@twobitidiot) June 22, 2022

Crypto mining stocks also saw notable damage, with Riot Blockchain (RIOT) shedding 9.63%, while Bitfarms (BITF), Hut 8 (HUT), Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA), Core Scientific (CORZ) all dropped around 5-7% a piece.

The crumbling prices of crypto stocks are just a microcosm of a broader downward trend in the stock and crypto markets in 2022, with the benchmark S&P 500 Index in bear market territory and down 21.6% since the start of the year. This marks the first time this has happened since 1970 according to Bloomberg data.

Investors have in general been spooked by the U.S. Federal Reserve’s monetary policy and efforts to curb inflation this year by introducing a series of interest rate hikes.

Fed chair Jerome Powell has kept his cards close to his chest on how the government body will reel in inflation of late however, but did suggest that as the Fed continues to push borrowing costs higher, it could be bracing for a recession.

Testifying to the Senate Banking Committee on June 22, Powell stated "It's certainly a possibility," in response to a question from Democrat Sen. John Tester, adding that "It's not our intended outcome, but it's certainly a possibility."

The total market cap of public crypto stocks has quadrupled since January

September 2, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

The combined capitalization of publicly-traded crypto stocks surged from roughly $25 billion in January to around $100B today.

The combined market cap of publicly-listed crypto firms has roughly quadrupled this year while the number of public digital asset firms has increased by 28% over the same period.

A new report from CoinShares estimates that public “cryptocurrency pure play companies” were worth roughly $25 billion at the start of the year, with mining firms and financial service providers representing the lion’s share of value.

While the report notes that 16 digital asset firms have gone public this year — increasing the number of public crypto companies to 57 public companies, the combined capitalization of said firms has skyrocketed to nearly $100 billion.

This year has already seen the greatest influx of public crypto firms out of any calendar year, followed by 2018 with 14. Just three firms went public during 2014, 2016 and 2017 respectively.

Number of crypto firms going public each year: CoinShares

The report highlighted the April initial public offering (IPO) of leading U.S.-based centralized exchange Coinbase, describing the offering as “the first true large cap pure play in this sector.”

Amid Coinbase’s April IPO, the capitalization of public digital asset firms surged to a record high of nearly $120 billion. By contrast, the sector’s combined market cap was less than $3 billion at the start of 2020.

The 15 public crypto exchanges now represent 62% of the sector’s combined capitalization at roughly $59 billion, followed by 19 financial services firms with nearly $20 billion and 20 mining companies with $10 billion.

Public mining firms have seen the strongest year-to-date (YTD) gains with 121% on average, followed by crypto financial services companies with 105% and exchanges with just 34%.

The crypto firms that went public in 2016 have enjoyed the largest gains in share price this year, posting an increase of roughly 140% on average. Then 2018’s cohort ranks second by YTD gains with 115% on average, followed by 2017 with approximately 110%, and 2019 with 95%.

2020’s firms are currently up by just 19% on average, with the report suggesting that “most of these companies were already floated at higher valuations.”

Average YTD performance public crypto stocks by year of listing: CoinShares

CoinShares also notes that the average capitalization of public crypto firms has increased dramatically this year from $1.1 billion in 2019 and 2020 to $3.8 billion.

The liquidity of public crypto stocks has also increased significantly this year, with most shares representing less than $500,000 in daily volume until the end of 2020.

While only two of 23 listed crypto firms were considered liquid at the end of the 2019, the figure jumped to 20 of 41 in December 2020, and 48 of 57 as of July 2021.

Goldman Sachs Lists 19 ‘Crypto’ Stocks That Crushed S&P 500 Thanks to Bitcoin’s Surge

May 1, 2021 Bitcoin.com

Crypto stocks