BLOK-Chain Monthly April 2026

First Quarter 2026 Commentary

Performance Overview

In the first quarter of 2026, BLOK declined 12.68% total return (NAV, view standardized performance). This performance stands in contrast to continued progress in blockchain adoption and recent policy discussions related to digital asset market structure, including proposed legislation such as the Clarity Act. Bottom line: Near‑term performance remains dependent on market sentiment and broader developments.

Despite near-term price weakness, underlying adoption trends remain strong in our opinion. According to Artemis Research, reported stablecoin transaction volume reached approximately $7.2 trillion in February, surpassing the $6.8 trillion processed by the Automated Clearing House (ACH) network. This reflects a meaningful milestone, as ACH underpins approximately 93% of U.S. salary payments and digital wallets touch half the global population, according to Larry Fink.ⁱ It may be that Jamie Dimon is less focused on stablecoin yield and more concerned about the long-term role of banks serving middle-income America. Payments in and payments out serve as the core platform and use case for a direct connection to the customer. Gen Z is accelerating the shift from mobile to phone-based checkout with usage in the range of 39-41% of the time. Globally, the value of payment app transactions climbed to $10.6 trillion last year from $9.3 trillion in 2024, with a forecast projecting growth to approximately $15.6 trillion by 2030. ⁱⁱ

Transaction volume in stablecoin continued to increase in March, reaching $7.5 trillion, compared to an estimated $1.2 trillion for the Visa network. These figures highlight the increasing scale of blockchain-based payment systems, which operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, with significantly lower friction than traditional infrastructure in our opinion.

 The performance data quoted represents past performance and does not guarantee future results. Investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when sold or redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance quoted. For most recent month-end performance, visit BLOKETF.com. 

Adoption vs. Market Performance

While stablecoin transaction volume growth is substantial—totaling approximately $35 trillion in 2025—it still represents a small fraction of the $1.6 quadrillion global payments ecosystem. Additionally, much of this activity remains tied to crypto trading rather than everyday consumer payments. However, this level of usage provides insights into the functionality and scalability of the underlying technology.

Further evidence of adoption can be seen in the growth of wrapped assets, which now total approximately $315 billion in assets under management. Forecasts suggest this could reach $2 trillion by 2028 (Standard Chartered) and potentially $3 trillion by 2030.ⁱⁱⁱ

Stablecoin Market Insights

While transaction volume demonstrates that stablecoin technology functions and sees real-world use, a closer examination of the data reveals a more nuanced picture. A McKinsey reportⁱⁱⁱ provides additional context that shows we are still in early stages. Most of the ~$35 trillion in transaction activity does not represent true end-user payments such as paying suppliers or sending remittances — it consists primarily of trading, internal fund transfers, and automated blockchain activity.

This data suggests that while traditional financial systems are not yet losing meaningful market share, stablecoins are being explored and utilized as an emerging tool for certain payment and settlement use cases.

Implications for the Financial System

Stablecoins offer several structural advantages:

Even modest efficiency gains can have significant economic impact. For example, a 0.1% improvement on $1 trillion equates to $1 billion in value creation for the broader economy. Applied to the broader $1.6 quadrillion payments landscape, the potential efficiency gains are substantial. Bottom line, decentralized finance (DeFi) focuses on reducing frictional costs in the system. Arguably the question is who gets the 3% payments value? Banks and credit card companies? Walmart for servicing their own customers? The consumer with a trackable digital wallet that is willing to spend money on specific types of purchases in exchange for rebates/rewards?

As a result, incumbents—including banks, payment networks, and financial intermediaries—are increasingly incentivized to adopt and integrate this technology rather than compete against it.

Evidence & Regulatory “Clarity” Could Make Real World Assets (RWA) an Exciting Opportunity

Beyond payments, the tokenization of real-world assets continues to gain traction. According to the RWA.XYZ Global Market Review, the total RWA market size reached $27.65 billion as of March 31, 2026, with representing: Asset Value of $441.38B, Total Asset Holders of 710,792, Total Stablecoin Value of $229.41B, and Total Stablecoin Holders of 242.15M.

When thinking about the synergies between blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI), investors often describe AI as the brains and blockchain as the nervous system. We think this narrative speaks a lot to how “trust” is earned and validated within the blockchain structure. While in many ways stablecoins, as a leading blockchain application, may in the long term replace the current trillion dollars in payment rails, we see consumer lending, including Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOCs) and auto loans, as another substantial use case for RWA. Arguably, some industry estimates suggest this could represent the next $300 billion application, reflecting potential disruption across these two lending markets. RWA may also encompass the tokenization of securities and investments, an application that could add trillions of dollars in assets under management over time.

Portfolio Attribution

BLOK declined 12.68% NAV in the first quarter, including a 7.07% NAV decline in March. While Bitcoin is not our benchmark, the portfolio has historically shown correlation to its price movements. Bitcoin declined approximately 22% during the same period.

Short-term market dislocations may influence long-term attractive investment opportunities. Our portfolio construction emphasizes diversification across key segments of the blockchain ecosystem, including:

We view data center investments as long-duration, supply-constrained assets that benefit from both AI and blockchain demand dynamics.