Despite Bitcoin’s 7% Drop, Amplify Blockchain Technology ETF Soared 32%

• BLOK has gained 32% year to date while Bitcoin has fallen 7% allocating just 5% to the Bitcoin ETF spot.

• Leading HUT 8 stock surged 140% as miners benefited from operational leverage independent of the Bitcoin price.

• Bipartisan crypto legislation expected in 2026 could deepen institutional adoption of blockchain infrastructure.

• A recent study identified a single habit that doubled Americans’ retirement savings and took retirement from dream to reality. Learn more here.

When Bitcoin drops 7% and your blockchain ETF jumps 32%, you don’t bet on Bitcoin. Amplify Transformational Data Sharing ETF (NYSEARCA:BLOK) launched in 2018 as one of the first blockchain-focused funds and has spent 2025 proving that exposure to crypto infrastructure beats direct ownership of Bitcoin when the digital currency falters.

The fund’s 32% year-to-date gain through the end of December crushed the S&P 500’s 17% return and left Bitcoin’s 7% decline in the dust. Only about 5% of the portfolio is in spot Bitcoin ETFs like Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (NASDAQ:FBTC) and the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (NASDAQ:IBIT). The rest are Bitcoin miners, cryptocurrency exchanges, fintech platforms and chip makers who profit whether Bitcoin is trading at $88,000 or $105,000.

The main macro factor driving BLOK forward is not the price of Bitcoin. This accelerates institutional adoption of blockchain infrastructure, which creates sustainable revenue streams for BLOK-owned companies. Grayscale’s 2026 Outlook predicts that bipartisan crypto legislation will become U.S. law next year, deepening the integration between public blockchains and traditional finance. This regulatory clarity is more important for companies building crypto rails than for Bitcoin itself.

Watch for updates from the SEC and Treasury Department on stablecoin frameworks and custody rules for digital assets. These typically arrive quarterly and indicate whether institutional capital can flow more freely to blockchain services. When banks and asset managers get clearer rules, companies like Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) see trading volume increase and custody activities expand, regardless of the Bitcoin spot price.

The difference appears in BLOK’s main titles. Robinhood is up 213% year to date as retail and institutional cryptocurrency trading activity picks up. Even as Bitcoin declined, the volatility generated revenue for platforms facilitating transactions.

BLOK’s largest holding, HUT 8 Corp (NASDAQ:HUT), represents 5.3% of the portfolio and achieved a gain of 140% in 2025. The Bitcoin miner doubled while Bitcoin fell. The explanation lies in operational leverage. Miners benefit from improvements in hash rate efficiency, energy cost optimization, and diversification into AI data center hosting. When the price of Bitcoin stabilizes or declines slightly, well-managed miners with low production costs can increase their margins.

Together, Bitcoin mining stocks like HUT 8, CleanSpark (NASDAQ:CLSK) and encryption extraction (NASDAQ:CIFR) represent approximately 15% of BLOK’s portfolio. Check out Amplify’s monthly BLOK-Chain commentary for mining economics and hash rate trends. The fund publishes overviews of its holdings twice a year on the Amplify ETFs website.

While BLOK’s 0.73% expense ratio seems high, iShares Blockchain and Tech ETF (NYSEARCA: IBLC) charges 0.47% and offers similar exposure to blockchain. IBLC holds many of the same miners and exchanges, but with a passive indexing approach rather than the active management of BLOK. The trade-off: IBLC only has $90 million in assets, compared to BLOK’s $1.2 billion, which can mean wider bid-ask spreads and less liquidity during volatile periods.

Watch institutional adoption signals from regulators for the macro tailwind and track Bitcoin mining profitability metrics in BLOK’s monthly updates for the micro factor that could drive the next 12 months of performance.

Most Americans significantly underestimate the time they need to retire and overestimate how prepared they are. But data shows that people with a habit have more of them double the savings of those who do not.

And no, it has nothing to do with increasing your income, your savings, cutting coupons, or even downsizing your lifestyle. It’s much simpler (and powerful) than all that. Frankly, it’s shocking that more people don’t adopt this habit given how easy it is.