Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the CoinShares Q1 Earnings Broadcast. All participants dialing in are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there'll be a question-and-answer session. You can submit your questions via the postbox below the video on the platform. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I'd now like to hand the conference over to your host, Jeri-Lea Brown. Thank you.
Thank you, Operator. I would like to welcome you all to the CoinShares 2025 Q1 Earnings Call and Webcast. Speaking from management today will be Jean-Marie Mognetti, Chief Executive Officer, and Richard Nash, Chief Financial Officer. All those joining today are encouraged to log in to the live event, where you'll be able to view the accompanying presentation during today's call. Alternatively, the results and a copy of the presentation are available to download from the Investor Relations section of the CoinShares website. A replay of the webcast will be available for 30 days following the live call, and a transcript will be posted on the company's website as soon as it is available. Following the presentation, we will host a short Q&A via the webcast platform. Should you wish to submit a question to the management team, please provide your name and company affiliation.
We will do our best to get to as many as we can within the allotted time. Lastly, our safe harbor statement. CoinShares would like to remind everyone that, except for historical information contained herein, statements made on today's call and webcast that would constitute forward-looking statements are based on currently available information. The company assumes no responsibility to update such forward-looking statements, and I would like to appoint you to the risk factors associated with our business, which are detailed in our prospectus. At this time, I will turn the call over to Jean-Marie.
Good afternoon, and thank you for joining our Q1 2025 Earnings Call. This is our 18th earnings call since we listed the company in March 2021. From the very first one, where we had no analyst question, to today, we have kept adjusting. After the last earnings call, we had a follow-up discussion with one of our long-time analysts in the U.S., who suggested we continue to adjust by removing repetition in the main earnings call and leaving more space for a non-rush discussion/Q&A at the end. This is our first attempt at doing so, and we will continue to improve. As usual, constructive feedback is always welcome. Before we dive into the financial results with Richard, I'd like to take a moment to address a broader economic context in which we are operating as a scaling company. What we are witnessing today is not mere market volatility.
It is a wholesale transformation of the global economic dynamics. We are experiencing a shift from one epoch to another, and this is not just computational science language. Indeed, it requires us to challenge our very own approaches and strategies. Several structural undercurrents are accelerating. Global fragmentation is deepening with a flavor of mercantilism. Dedollarization is on the agenda. Sovereign debts keep rising, and monetary expansion continues. The Federal Reserve now, more than ever, faces a true dilemma: manage inflation, sustain growth, and maintain market confidence. One will need to decide what comes first. Perhaps most telling is the U.S. dollar decoupling from Treasury yields, a historic warning sign that reflects growing skepticism over institutional stability. In this environment, superficial narratives are being stripped away. Only fundamentals enter, which is good news for CoinShares. It's no coincidence that capital is flowing back to gold, pushing it to record highs.
Gold is no longer alone in this space. A new store of value has emerged, purpose-built for the digital age: Bitcoin. Finite, decentralized, and incorruptible by design, Bitcoin is increasingly regarded as a systemic hedge. Its growing independence from risk assets, evident in the recent decorrelation from the Nasdaq- 100, marks a crucial turning point. Today, Bitcoin's annual inflation rate is lower than gold's, reinforcing its position as a superior store of value amid widespread monetary debasement. At CoinShares, we fully grasp the magnitude of this shift. As pioneers in digital assets, we are not simply adapting. We are actively shaping this transformation. Our responsibility to our clients remains clear: to inform, to guide, and to provide access to the next frontier of Capital Markets. The market signals speak plainly. Bitcoin volatility has dropped during Q1 to record lows.
Its price remained well above previous cycle highs, and institutional interest continues to grow rapidly. As an illustration, CoinShares welcoming Q4 2024 is the very first pension fund client. Bitcoin is evolving and is evolving into a strategic resource in the current economic landscape. Seller recent accumulation of 538,000 Bitcoin and the launch of 21 Capital, a $3.6 billion joint venture between Cantor Fitzgerald, Tether, Bitfinex, and SoftBank signal a race for absolute scarcity, echoing deeply with previous mercantilist theory. Like nations once upon a time competed for gold, land, and other mineral resources, institutions are now competing for Bitcoin, generating what we might call synthetic halvings that further constrain supply. This is not speculation. It is a strategy which will reshape geopolitical equilibrium. CoinShares is built for that moment. Our platform offers institutional-grade access. Our research anticipates rather than reacts.
Our resilience has been tested and proven across market cycles. We remain disciplined, forward-looking, and resolutely committed to empowering investors in this new paradigm we foresaw 10 years ago. Keeping it short, just one last point on investor relations before I let Richard comment on our financial, or maybe three points on investor relations. Since our listing in March 2021 in Stockholm, CoinShares has affirmed repeatedly our clear and consistent strategic ambition to secure a listing on the U.S. exchange and expand our strategic presence in the largest market for digital asset companies. This ambition is becoming increasingly attainable as the U.S. regulatory environment continues to evolve positively. In parallel, we are actively advancing initiatives to enhance liquidity in our shares, which increased in 2024 by 3.3x. This includes expanding analyst coverage and intensifying institutional engagement through targeted non-deliverables.
These actions are aimed not only at raising CoinShares profile among investors, but also at improving our average daily trading volume, an essential metric for potential inclusion in passive index funds, further extending our global reach and market visibility. To that point, there are already some positive signs with passive ETF issuers like Fidelity, BlackRock, Dimensional, or Invesco disclosing, albeit still small, but yet exposure to our stock. On a second note, the first quarterly trend of the 2024 dividend was distributed on the 6th of May, reaffirming our commitment to shareholder value in all market conditions. Finally, before turning to our Q1 performance in detail, I would like to highlight that effective January 1st, 2025, the group has adopted the U.S. dollar as its functional and presentation currency, replacing the British pound. This transition reflects the increasing role of U.S. dollar-denominated transactions in our operation and financing activities.
It also improves the comparability and clarity of our financial reporting for our global investor base. Now, on this technical note, or let's call it accounting note, it is a perfect time to hand over to Richard Nash, our CFO, to walk through our quarterly results. Richard, over to you.
Thanks very much, Jean-Marie. Let me begin this quarter just by highlighting a few important changes that we made to our financials. Firstly, as already mentioned by Jean-Marie, as of the 1st of January 2025, we transitioned both our presentation and functional currency from GBP to USD. This move better reflects the group's increasingly U.S.-focused operating environment and our growing exposure to U.S.-denominated transactions. All prior period data has been restated accordingly in both this presentation and in the Q1 report. Next, we are now presenting any gains and losses on the group's treasury positions on a standalone basis.
Now, previously, these were included within the Capital Markets business unit, but given the growing size of the position and the resultant unrealized gains and losses that we're seeing on a regular basis, we've removed these from the Capital Markets P&L so as to not distort its performance over any given period. Finally, moving into 2025, we've also amended the way in which we are allocating costs across the business units, which has resulted in a higher proportion of our group costs manifesting within either Asset Management or Capital Markets. This has been done to better reflect the resourcing requirements of these business units while simultaneously providing a more accurate view for management around the costs that the group incurs for its corporate activities and the maintenance of its listing. Now on to the numbers.
We started 2025 facing the most significant quarterly decline in digital asset prices since Q2 2022. Despite this, we delivered a solid and stable Q1 performance, which speaks to the resilience and diversification of our business model. Revenue, being our Asset Management fees for the quarter, came in at $29.6 million, up from $24.5 million in Q1 last year. Gains and other income within Capital Markets totaled $11.9 million versus $14.1 million in Q1 last year. The movement we see on principal investments is $-1.5 million, but like our treasury loss of $3 million, which we can now see at the bottom of the table, this has shown good recovery post-quarter end. From a cost perspective, we've remained controlled and steady.
While the composition has changed, which I will come to when we look at Asset Management and Capital Markets in more detail, we have seen a small reduction in admin expenses and largely static direct costs. With all of the above taken into account, EBITDA for the quarter landed at $29.8 million, with margins holding steady at 75%. Our net profit came in at $23.8 million, giving us an earnings per share of approximately $0.36 per share. Now let's take a closer look at the Asset Management platform, starting with XBT Provider. For XBT Provider for Q1, we generated $22.7 million in management fees, with our net outflow slowing to $154 million, which is a marked improvement from the prior quarter's outflow of $370 million.
While the AUM for the product ended down circa 27% from year-end, we are still at levels notably higher than Q1 2024, hence the improved year-on-year performance. It's also noted that the unique holder base in XBT Provider remains solid, and we remain committed to expanding in our core Nordic Markets where we see ongoing opportunities. CoinShares Physical had another excellent quarter at $5.6 million in fees. While the platform is obviously impacted by the price action in the same way as XBT, we've seen excellent flows from the start of the year, which have ensured the health of the top line and further cementing its importance for the group. Therefore, while CoinShares Physical AUM declined 10.2% to $2.06 billion in the quarter, that decline was driven by price, not sentiment.
Just to contextualize what is meant here by excellent flows, the CoinShares Physical platform led the European crypto ETP space in Q1, bringing in $269 million in net inflows. That's three times more than our nearest competitor. Our flagship BITC product alone brought in $202 million, twice as much as the runner-up. A key point to note here is we are now in a position where the level of inflow we're seeing in CS Physical is now surpassing the outflows that we're seeing in XBT. Now, one of the core goals of CS Physical on its establishment was to ensure that it was able to evolve to a point where it was more than offsetting any outflows seen on our legacy product. We hope with our continued efforts that this trend will continue throughout the remainder of 2025.
We believe the strong BITC flows we saw were definitely aided by a strategic fee reduction in mid-January, dropping them from 0.35%- 0.25%, reinforcing its competitiveness in Europe and aligning it with our spot BTC ETF in the U.S.. Moving into the remainder of 2025, we believe that our recently announced collaboration with Bourso Bank, which will expand access to our physical ETPs to over 7 million new potential investors in France, will play a very interesting role in the ongoing dissemination of our physical products in Europe, which already comprised 27% of our Asset Management fees. That is a figure that continues to grow proportionally quarter -on -quarter. Our U.S. platform delivered $0.7 million in fees, and we saw approximately $288 million in net outflows, most of which came from the spot BTC ETF.
Outflows in the U.S. market were fairly broad-based, with the Nasdaq down 10% and the S&P 500 down over 4%. Despite that, our U.S. platform remains a strong mix of retail and intermediary investors, and we remain committed to building this franchise. The BLOCK Index generated $0.6 million in fees, and while the index declined approximately 13%, similar to Bitcoin's move, it actually outperformed many of its peer indices, which dropped by an average of 30%. AUM for the index at the quarter end was $712 million, down from $821 million. Bringing all of the above together, we generated $29.6 million in management fees this quarter, up from $24.5 million for Q1 2024. Our gross margin declined slightly to 89%, following a reallocation of certain marketing costs around key partnership agreements into direct costs, which is something we did moving into 2025.
This margin decline here is being driven by a change in allocation rather than actual additional costs. Admin expenses have also shown a notable increase, but as stated at the outset of this presentation and also clarified within the report released earlier today, this is following an amendment to our cost allocation process rather than due to additional expenditure. Hence the fact overall admin expenses for the group are actually down year on year. Just a couple of final thoughts on Asset Management prior to moving on to Capital Markets. The total group AUM entered the quarter at $5.23 billion. While this is down from $6.91 billion at the year-end, this reduction is driven by price action rather than flow. The percentage of AUM represented by XBT Provider continues to decrease. It is now at 54%, down from roughly 62% a year ago.
This speaks to the ongoing diversification of our platform. Finally, just as a reminder, the flows for our core ETP product suites and those of our competitors are published in our weekly digital funds flow reports available on our website. Also, the level of AUM held within each of XBT Provider and CoinShares Physical is disclosed and subject to daily attestation by Ledger, an independent firm solution embedded into our website designed to provide additional transparency and comfort to all of our stakeholders. Now on to Capital Markets. Just to reiterate again one of the changes to our financials highlighted earlier, gains and losses associated with the group's BTC and ETH treasury holdings have now been separated from Capital Markets results and are being reported independently moving into 2025.
This decision ensures that Capital Markets top line performance accurately reflects the underlying operational activities of the business unit without distortion from market-driven treasury revaluations. Therefore, these movements are excluded from the figures we see now, but obviously remain clearly highlighted at the group level view. The group's Capital Markets business unit delivered solid performance in Q1 2025, generating a total income and gains of $11.9 million. This result was achieved against a backdrop of declining digital asset prices, which obviously impacted market activity across the industry. The key contributors to Q1 2025 were as follows. First, we have ETH Staking. This remained the principal driver of Capital Markets income, generating $5.6 million during the quarter, matching the strong contribution seen in Q4 2024.
Staking continues to provide a reliable recurring source of top line income for the business, despite the price reduction that we saw in ETH over Q1. Liquidity provisioning income amounted to $1.9 million for the quarter. This represents a decline compared to Q1 2024, driven by reduced gross flows on the XBT Provider platform. As noted earlier, we had minimal net outflow in the quarter. Such a decrease is consistent with historical patterns during periods of digital asset price declines when trading and redemption volumes are subdued. Delta -neutral trading strategies delivered strong results, generating $3.6 million during Q1 2025. Increased volatility within digital asset markets during the quarter created attractive opportunities for the trading team, which successfully leveraged these conditions to deliver solid gains. In digital asset lending, which was formerly reported as fixed income activities, we generated $2.4 million in income.
While the lending framework remained robust and risk-focused, the total amounts lent in fiat terms declined as a result of falling digital asset prices and certain counterparties returned assets following a reduction in demand. The direct costs associated with Capital Markets decreased during Q1 2025, benefiting from a reversal in the expected credit loss provision for digital asset lending activities following the decline in overall lending volumes just mentioned. Admin expenses increased during the quarter, reflecting the increased allocation of central group costs to the business unit. As stated earlier, this reallocation is done to more accurately represent the time and resource consumed by Capital Markets and supports better transparency across business unit profitability. In conclusion for Capital Markets, the business unit continues to demonstrate resilience through a diversified range of revenue-generating activities, maintaining strong operational performance even during periods of lower digital asset prices.
The group remains focused on driving further expansion within Capital Markets as market conditions evolve. Now we can take a quick look at the quarterly performance in context at the EBITDA level versus prior periods. We can see from this graph that we've achieved a result that's largely comparable to Q1 2024, with the exception of the performance on principal investments. We saw some fairly significant principal investment gains due to the market activity in Q1 2024. We had a quarter where the prices increased, whereas in Q1 2025, as previously mentioned, the prices went down. Principal investments aside, if you look at the combined top line totals of Asset Management and Capital Markets, which is the core of our business, they're circa $40 million in both 2024 and 2025 opening quarters.
Yes, asset prices are higher, but price moves for the quarters on a standalone basis could not be more different. Significant rise in 2024 and significant decline in 2025. Now, keeping in mind the price recovery we have seen in digital assets post-quarter end, the ongoing diversification of our products within Asset Management and activities within Capital Markets, we are confident that Q1 2025 represents a very solid foundation on which to build out the remainder of the financial year. We delivered stable profits, maintained solid margins, and continue to grow our presence across key markets. We believe we are now well positioned to benefit from renewed momentum with a clear focus on product expansion, geographic growth, and operational scalability. Let us just close with a quick recap before we move on to the questions. From a financial perspective, we have posted solid revenue gains and other income across our core business units.
We've maintained stability in our cost base, and we've protected healthy margins, resulting in EBITDA of $29.8 million during the quarter that saw price declines not seen since Q2 2022. While this has impacted our unrealized losses on treasury digital assets, this doesn't cause concern for us given our belief in the industry within which we exist. This is a point that's already been proven post-quarter end with price action over the recent weeks. From an operational perspective, our CS Physical product suite is showing dominance in Europe and more than offsets negative impact on AUM from XBT outflows in Q1. We have successfully executed our transition at the group level to USD, which represents another key step forward following the amendment to our digital asset accounting approach implemented in Q3 2024.
Finally, the collaboration we have with Bourso Bank and our growing treasury position both set us up for an exciting rest of year, albeit for very different reasons. Just to end, as I always do, just remind everyone that further detail on everything we have covered above is included within the report that we released earlier today. We encourage you to go and take a look. Okay, with that, I can now hand back to Jeri.
Thanks very much, Richard. We have a number of questions in today, so we will try and move through those as quickly as we can. The first round comes from Redeye. The first question is for you, Jean-Marie. How much of the CoinShares Physical inflows are from existing market versus new geographies?
Thanks, Jeri.
I think the best way to answer that is to remind that our European market is really focused on European customers, that our European product is distributed throughout Europe, and that from a legacy perspective, our density of investors is spread between, I would say, Stockholm and Milan for a strong concentration on DACH.
Thank you very much. Another one for you from Redeye. There is obviously a lot of speculation in the U.S. market regarding crypto. What can you do to capitalize on this besides from listing there?
Yeah, it goes beyond just speculation and noise that Coinbase enters the S&P 500 as of last night, or it was at least announced. You know, crypto is getting its recognition at last. I think, you know, listing in the U.S. is a very strong commitment of ours for a very, very long time now.
That was one of the very first statements we made in March 2021 when we listed for the very first day on Nasdaq Stockholm, saying it was a milestone on our journey to the U.S.. It seems like the U.S. is more and more attainable now, with the SEC being a bit more open-minded and at least more crypto-friendly. We will keep that in mind and hope we can deliver and execute on that mission.
Thank you very much. Over to you, Richard. One from Redeye. The staking income has held up well despite falling Ethereum prices, failing staking yields, or sorry, falling staking yields and falling Ethereum anywhere within the XBT product. How has this been achieved?
Thanks, Jeri. The staking income has held up reasonably well, yes, but it has indeed declined. [crosstalk]
Sorry, Jean-Marie, would you be able to just mute quickly?
Thank you. Sorry, I think we had a little bit of feedback there. Yeah, so the staking income, it has declined, but it was also held up well. I think we had around approximately $7.3 million of staking income in Q4 2024. That's declined approximately 20% to $5.6 million in Q1. Obviously, you know, ETH has gone down a fair deal over the course of Q1, but obviously that's a gradual decline. While the end of the quarter would have lower Ethereum prices, I think, you know, if you look at the average over the course of the quarter, the ETH staking income that we received and the decline on the $7.3 million from Q4 is largely equivalent to the price movement.
Thanks, Richard. What do you think we should expect from staking going forward?
Largely more of the same on Ethereum.
It will be a function of the yield, the level of our Ethereum that we're willing to stake, and also, of course, the price of Ethereum itself. I think, you know, what we've seen since post-quarter end in the markets is very positive for that metric.
Thank you very much. Back over to you, Jean-Marie, again from Redeye. Ethereum has languished with Solana attracting new inflows. How can CoinShares mitigate continued price declines in Ethereum, particularly in terms of staking income?
We can't really mitigate price decline in Ethereum. That's something we're not really in control yet. However, since quarter ahead and the low print in Ethereum, Ethereum already bounced back 40%, if not more. You know, it was an oversold situation for Ethereum, which has been catching back a little bit right now.
So, you know, hopefully we can see Ethereum having a bit of a recovery. Solana inflow are also something we are tracking and we are emphasizing it with our sales team and our distribution team.
Thank you very much. Richard, again from Redeye. What is the typical loan book size and maturity?
If we look at the total amount of outstanding loans as at the end of Q1, it's approximately $100 million. When you take into account we have four or five counterparties, you can get a feel for the average size. In terms of maturity, they're very short-term loans or can be recalled on demand. That allows us to adhere to our risk framework when monitoring our counterparties.
Thanks very much. Jean-Marie, what do you feel may have caused the drop in demand for coin lending?
The demand for coin lending is very much a function of two things, I will say, term structure, opportunity in the market, and also activity on creation and redemption on the ETF market in general. Both of that were kind of like a little bit muted at some point in Q1, especially towards the end. At that point, if you are holding inventory and you have the option to return it, which is what we want these people to do, it's like return it if you don't use it, then you return it. It's exactly what we were expecting. Our lending boot at the end of Q1 is probably on the small side to what it should be, but that's a discretionary data point at the end of the quarter.
Thanks very much. Richard, last one from Redeye for you.
Is there anything that stands out in the CoinShares Physical products in terms of fees? There's an average of 1.5% versus 1.4-2% in the past four quarters.
I think the main thing that would stand out is how, you know, the proportional AUM across all the products has remained largely consistent, that we have very differing price structures within the CoinShares Physical products. Some have very, very low management fees, some have zero management fees, but obviously we have staking yield thereon that is split between ourselves and the noteholder. So there's a big difference in the percentages that these products are generated. But given we've grown about 1.5% versus, like you say, between 1.4% and 2% over the past four quarters, what that is showing is that the proportional mix of products within CoinShares Physical is staying largely consistent as it continues to grow.
Very much.
Now we've got questions from two separate individuals here that are fairly similar. One from Hawkeye Invest. What is the reason for the Valkyrie AUM reduction? Along the same lines from Kevin at HCW, the decline in Valkyrie assets appears to be fairly severe through March. Should we see this as comparable to industry trends? If not, why do you feel that Valkyrie has experienced a difference to the industry trends? That is over to you, Richard.
Sure, I can start and Jean-Marie, you can chime in if you see fit. I think the decline that we've seen in Valkyrie needs to be considered across the different products that it has. The products in Valkyrie that offer exposure to digital assets directly, I think the decline we've seen there and the flow that we've seen there is largely proportional to what we've seen in the wider industry.
It's not a million miles away. I think where the nuance is, is within the WGMI product, which offers exposure to crypto equities and equities that are associated with Bitcoin mining, which is a slightly different story for Q1 given the political landscape. I don't know if you want to add anything to that, JM.
No, I think there is a, I think you say it best, Richard, but the mining industry has suffered a tremendous reduction in market cap during Q1. And so, you know, once we get outflow on XBT, on BRRR, which is our Bitcoin ETF, we get effectively AUM reduction by price action, mainly on WGMI. So the combination of the two are kind of making this impact.
Great, thanks both. Richard, you from Hawkeye Invest. Two questions really on the dividend. What is the current sustainable dividend level that you want to maximize dividends?
Would you consider maximum dividends over principal investments?
I think first and foremost, just to remind ourselves of the dividend policy for the group, which we adopted at the beginning of last year, which was to distribute between 20%-40% of our net profit effectively by means of by way of a dividend. We plan on sticking to this. There is obviously a level of flexibility within that 20%-40%.
When we think about, are we choosing to do this over, you know, principal investments, or I guess you mean investing back in the business, I would just sort of remind everyone of something, you know, Jean-Marie touched upon when first talking about the dividend, you know, it's a way to reward some of our shareholders that have been with us for a long time and shouldn't be mistaken as not a willingness to continue to be growing the business. That's hence why we've set quite a wide parameters as to what we can pay, 20%-40%. We've consistently been at the bottom end of that when we've paid out. We are planning on maintaining that dividend policy for the foreseeable future.
Thank you very much. One again for you, Richard, from HCW.
Will you offer re-stated U.S. dollar past quarterly financial reports, or do investors need to wait for comparisons going forward?
Yeah, that's something that we're looking at. We've had a very busy first quarter of the year, getting our audit signed off a month ahead of last year, and then obviously following that, going straight into the Q1 results, which came out today, which is the first set of financials presented under USD. Obviously, it would be very helpful for analysts to have a slide of the historical quarterlies in U.S. dollars. That's something that we're looking at. We'll probably look to upload something and announce accordingly. Unlikely that it will be the full reports, but you know, the EBITDA tables and the comparatives that you're used to seeing, we're going to be recasting them in USD as we go.
We'll look to potentially release in a batch so everyone can see them.
Great, thank you very much. Jean-Marie, one for you from ABG. Would you say that European institutions have become increasingly perceptible lately towards crypto investment products?
Yeah, I think we see definitely a wider discussion happening with the implementation of MiCA. This discussion obviously takes longer to materialize. As mentioned in the previous earning call of Q4 2024, we have some sensible data coming out of that side. We are pretty compelled by the opportunity in front of us with regards to converting institutional investors into digital asset investment.
Thank you very much. Another for you from ABG. How would you categorize the differences between perceptibility towards your products in the U.S. as compared to Europe?
Sorry, Gerry, the line was breaking up. Can you just repeat that?
Sorry, no problem. How would you categorize differences between perceptibility towards your products in the U.S. when compared to Europe?
It's very different in the sense that, you know, I think it's a Roger Federer quote talking about Wimbledon saying, "I always played my garden." To some degree, Europe is CoinShares garden. The U.S., we're playing away. We need to be much more conservative in terms of cost management in the U.S. because everything costs a fortune. We need to be very careful how to spend money there and to invest there. Obviously, we don't have the same presence, we don't have the same branding, we don't have the same visibility. The recognition takes a bit longer to achieve.
That's something we are working actively to be able to leverage every single dollar we invest on behalf of our shareholder into the maximum ROI possible.
Thank you. Apologies now, Jean-Marie, there seems to be a stream of questions coming your way now from HCW. The first of which is, please categorize the crypto environment thus far through the June quarter as compared with the softness during March quarter. How do you look at the balance of the year vis-à-vis Bitcoin pricing, institutional adoption, consolidation, and increasing competition?
Okay, I'm going to take some notes, Jeri. It's a long question. I think Q1 was a very particular quarter in the sense that it was the first time I saw effectively retail sentiment being so negative while at the same time getting institutional sentiment being so positive.
In general, in crypto, it was retail being always positive, institution being always negative. It was the first time I saw it flipping in in Q1, probably because there was also like a lack of understanding of what was happening within the U.S. political scene from the retail audience in general. It has rebound, you know, since the end of the quarter, the crypto complex in general, but led by Bitcoin, which, you know, asserts its dominance at the moment in the market cap, has regained color. We regained the $100,000 market cap price point, and we were trending over the weekend towards the all-time high. You know, all being equal, the story of Q1 is very different from the story of Q2. I think Bitcoin and crypto are playing the game as they were supposed to.
We are now looking at how it's going to play with, you know, a context which seems to be some trade deal coming up and things are positive for the overall asset class. Jeri, is there something I'm missing in the question here? Because it was a long one.
No, you covered it. All right. Next one for you though. U.S. listings appear to be all the rage with Galaxy Digital and pseudo-competitors either listing or soon to trade in the U.S.. Where is the CoinShares listing process and how much emphasis is this initiative getting from the senior management within CoinShares? If things wouldn't work as you hope, what timeline would you foresee?
Okay, so British Fairplay obliged, there is no pseudo-competitor, there's only a friendly competitor.
You know, Galaxy is going through their own process to get the secondary listing done in the U.S. and probably start trading, I think, this week. It has been a tremendous battle for them over the years. We can only applaud their effort and grit to get that done. When it comes to, you know, when it comes to CoinShares, the process is a little bit different. CoinShares is a European company, it's a British company or headquartered in Jersey. It is under the U.K. Common Law. It is accounted under IFRS, audited under IAS. We get a lot of nitty-gritty to deal with with regards to achieving a U.S. listing. Richard and I and the wider team are working quite actively to make sure we are planning all the different steps toward that.
Now, I would love to refrain myself from giving an absolute deadline to which I can commit because obviously we are very, very early on in the process. If it was just down to me, I would love to tell you it would be done this year. If it's, you know, but I don't control PCAOB, which is a public auditor framework you have to adopt in the U.S. to be able to list in the U.S. I don't also control how the SEC is going to perceive CoinShares application when we are ready to apply. All this stuff put together makes it very complicated to give a definite deadline. You know, we recognize there is a window and we want to benefit of the window.
Thank you very much. Have you seen the level of competition change in the European markets?
Has your consideration of intensifying competition changed or do you think it may change the way that CoinShares addresses that market?
Competition is competition. They are very busy doing their own stuff. We do not spend too much time worrying about them. We worry about our own affair and focus on our own execution instead of being too worried about them. We let them do their own things and we do our own.
Does CoinShares have a view on the Asia opportunity? Is this something the company may consider addressing? If so, what sort of timeline might we expect to see?
Sorry, Gerry, I missed the second word.
Sorry. Do we have a view on the Asia opportunity? If so, what sort of timeline do we expect that to take?
Sorry, cut again on the first part of the sentence.
Sorry.
Does CoinShares have a view on the Asia opportunity? And if so, what sort of timeline would you expect to see?
Sorry, I do not know what the opportunity, but what the opportunity was before?
Just opportunities in Asia.
Oh, in Asia. Okay, sorry. Asia opportunity. Sorry, Jeri, for that. The Asian market is a fascinating market. There has been discussion with disclosing the past with Asian companies, notably in Hong Kong, notably in Australia. So far, it is a very muted market. We are keeping a very close eye on what is happening there. However, you will not see us doing a partnership with an African exchange as it has been disclosed before.
Thank you. The final question from HCW. What types of products does CoinShares see as underrepresented in the ETP Euro market versus the ETF U.S. market? And how may CoinShares exploit those gaps?
Yeah, it's a very timely question, thanks, Kevin. I think what we tend to see a lot is that the American market starting their, I would say, ETF journey, proper ETF journey through leverage product because ProShare were first to market with their CME ETF and leverage ETF framework, which is something which didn't really make its way in Europe yet, mainly because of structure, mainly because of swap counterparty requirement under the ETC framework and the way the regulation works in Europe. You know, there's probably like a bit of demand for more actively traded product in Europe versus what we can see in the U.S.
Great, thanks for that. That brings us to the end of our questions. Thank you everyone for attending today. For those of you that submitted questions, we'd like to wish you all a fantastic rest of your day.