benchmark

Benchmark analysts recently reaffirmed their "buy" rating on Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) and set a target price of $705, indicating an upside potential of about 430% from the current share price of approximately $130. Analysts believe that the company's strategic shift to the STRC preferred stock financing model is expected to become a core driver of Bitcoin reserve growth.At the Strategy World 2026 conference, the company's Executive Chairman Michael Saylor stated that the company will shift from its previous strategy of encouraging enterprises to incorporate Bitcoin into their balance sheets to focusing on promoting STRC perpetual preferred stock as the primary financing tool for future Bitcoin purchases. Benchmark analysts noted that STRC will become the "main engine" for Strategy to accumulate Bitcoin and is expected to accelerate the growth rate of the company's Bitcoin holdings per share.The STRC price fell to around $90 earlier this month but has since rebounded to near the $100 par value level. This preferred stock product offers an annualized yield of approximately 11%, pays dividends monthly, and has priority over common stockholders in the dividend distribution order.

According to The Block, Benchmark maintains a "buy" rating on Metaplanet but has lowered its target price by more than half, stating that the company's latest financial report highlights the "prospects and risks" of its aggressive Bitcoin accumulation strategy.Benchmark analyst Mark Palmer, in a research report on Tuesday, reduced the target price for the Tokyo-listed Bitcoin reserve company from 2,400 yen to 1,100 yen. He wrote that recent performance shows the "hope and danger" of the company's Bitcoin-centric financial strategy. The stock is traded under the OTC code MTPLF in the U.S., currently priced at about $2.20, having briefly fallen to around $1.85 earlier this month, close to its lowest level since the company began its Bitcoin purchasing strategy in April 2024.Metaplanet reported a net loss of $619 million for the fiscal year ending December 31, primarily due to non-cash valuation losses from its holdings caused by the decline in Bitcoin prices late last year. Nevertheless, its operational performance has significantly improved, with revenue and profits increasing due to Bitcoin-related financial services activities.A core pillar of Benchmark's investment logic is Metaplanet's continuously expanding Bitcoin revenue-generating business, which generates income through Bitcoin-related options and yield strategies. Analysts believe this segment allows the company to pay dividends on newly issued perpetual preferred shares without selling its core Bitcoin holdings, thereby funding subsequent BTC purchases through operating cash flow rather than asset sales.The company added that investor demand for these preferred instruments will likely determine whether Metaplanet can successfully continue to expand its financial reserves while controlling dilution risk.

According to The Block, Benchmark analyst Mark Palmer has lowered the target price for Coinbase (COIN) from $421 to $267, a decrease of 37%, while reiterating a "buy" rating. This adjustment comes after the company announced its fourth-quarter financial results, which fell short of expectations due to an overall pullback in the crypto market, impacting both revenue and earnings.Palmer has reduced the fiscal year 2026 earnings per share (EPS) forecast by 21% to $5.34, with the EPS expectation for the first quarter of 2026 at $0.96, approximately 19% lower than the market consensus. However, based on the current stock price of about $164, the new target price still implies about 60% upside potential.The financial report shows that Coinbase's net revenue for the fourth quarter of 2025 was $1.71 billion, a 5% decrease quarter-over-quarter; the GAAP net loss was $667 million, primarily due to an unrealized loss of $718 million on crypto asset holdings and a strategic investment loss of $395 million. Despite short-term pressures, Palmer noted that the company's business structure is becoming "more diversified and resilient":Institutional trading revenue increased by 37% quarter-over-quarter to $185 million, benefiting from the acquisition of the derivatives platform Deribit for $2.9 billion last August;Stablecoin revenue grew by 3% quarter-over-quarter to $364 million, with USDC average balances reaching an all-time high;Subscription and services revenue reached $727.4 million, accounting for about 43% of net revenue, with full-year subscription and services revenue increasing by 23% year-over-year to $2.8 billion.The company expects subscription and services revenue for the first quarter of 2026 to be between $550 million and $630 million, with trading revenue for the period as of February 10 estimated at about $420 million. As of the end of 2025, the company held $11.3 billion in cash and had repurchased $1.7 billion in stock in the fourth quarter and early February, with the board also approving an additional $2 billion repurchase authorization.

Erika posted on platform X that Gu Ailing will join Benchmark under Bill Gurley as a Senior Investment Manager after the Winter Olympics.Bill himself has confirmed this matter in the comments section.

According to market news, despite Galaxy Digital's stock price plummeting due to a $482 million loss in the fourth quarter, the market may be overlooking its potential in long-term catalysts such as AI data centers and U.S. cryptocurrency regulatory legislation.Galaxy's current stock price is around $21, and Benchmark maintains its "buy" rating with a target price of $57, anticipating a 170% upside. Galaxy CEO Mike Novogratz stated during the earnings call that there is a 75%-80% probability of passing U.S. cryptocurrency market structure legislation, which could attract more institutional capital into the market. Additionally, the company plans to announce more institutional partnerships and infrastructure expansion plans in the coming quarters, including the expansion of on-chain credit markets.Benchmark also mentioned that Galaxy's Helios data center in Texas is an undervalued asset, with over 1.6 gigawatts of approved power capacity, and plans to start generating revenue this year through a leasing agreement with AI cloud service provider CoreWeave. Analysts believe that the valuation of the Helios data center alone could exceed Galaxy's current market value.Despite the decline in fourth-quarter performance, Galaxy's lending business continues to grow, with total loans reaching $1.8 billion, while the company has $2.6 billion in cash and stablecoin reserves, providing ample financial support for its expansion in cryptocurrency infrastructure and AI.

According to Jinshi reports, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority has kept the benchmark interest rate unchanged at 4%, while the Federal Reserve remained steady overnight.

According to Jinshi reports, the Federal Reserve maintained the benchmark interest rate at 3.5%-3.75% in its first rate decision of 2026, pausing the consecutive three rate cuts since last September, in line with market expectations.

According to CoinDesk, Wall Street brokerage firm Benchmark stated that if the U.S. Congress fails to pass cryptocurrency market structure legislation this year, the U.S. crypto market will not revert to the heavily regulated enforcement environment of 2022-2023. However, at a critical moment when global adoption and institutional interest are accelerating, the market structure will still face ongoing constraints.Analyst Mark Palmer wrote in a report on Monday, "The absence of legislation will lead to a persistent structural risk premium across most areas of the digital asset ecosystem." He added that this will limit the valuation expansion space for platforms primarily targeting the U.S. market. Palmer pointed out that the failure of legislation will delay rather than block the maturation process of cryptocurrencies, preventing the U.S. market from fully realizing its potential. In this scenario, investors will prefer exposure to Bitcoin-centric assets, strong balance sheets, and stable cash flow infrastructure, rather than regulatory-sensitive trading platforms, decentralized finance (DeFi), and altcoins.This legislation aims to establish a regulatory framework for the U.S. cryptocurrency market by clarifying how digital assets should be classified as commodities or securities and delineating the regulatory responsibilities of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Although the bill passed by the House last year shifted the focus of discussions to details such as stablecoin yields and DeFi interfaces, negotiations in the Senate have progressed more slowly and with greater divisions, raising the risk that final approval may be delayed until next year. Palmer believes the market has begun to price in such timing risks.If the market structure bill fails to pass, trading platforms will continue to face uncertainties regarding listings, higher compliance costs, and limitations on the expansion of high-margin products, while the monetization process for stablecoins may also be delayed due to unclear yield and distribution rules. The report noted that given Bitcoin's established status as a commodity, Bitcoin and Bitcoin-focused asset management firms will be relatively unaffected, and the regulatory risk exposure for mining companies and energy-supported infrastructure is also lower. DeFi and smart contract platforms remain the most vulnerable, as regulatory ambiguity continues to constrain participation in the U.S. market; meanwhile, custodial and compliance service providers are in a relatively defensive position.Despite the delays in the legislative process, Palmer still believes that the likelihood of the cryptocurrency market structure bill being passed is high—even if it is a diluted version. He emphasized that any form of legislation would help reduce regulatory risks and promote broader institutional participation.

According to official news, Moonbirds' parent company Orange Cap Games (OCG) has officially released the "Birbillions Thesis" white paper, proposing a hybrid business model of "physical collectibles + crypto memes."The white paper points out that the core pain point of the crypto industry lies in the disconnection between "serious companies" and "absurd memes." OCG aims to capture the attention of non-crypto users through the distribution of physical toys (via channels like Asmodee, GTS, etc.) and uses the $BIRB token as a value coordination layer.Data shows that OCG's physical revenue in its second year of operation has reached $8 million. The argument claims that its goal is to become the first crypto-native consumer company that does not rely on transaction fees or token sell-offs, but instead achieves $1 billion in annual revenue through physical sales.

Investment bank The Benchmark Company reiterated its buy rating on Bitcoin asset holder Strategy (MSTR) and set a target price of $705 for 2026.

After the launch of the RootData project transparency scoring system, it quickly received responses from the market and project parties. It is reported that several popular projects, including Cysic, pieverse, Kite AI, and Huma Finance, have claimed and improved their data within the first week of release, with the transparency score rapidly rising to grade A, and the total number of claimed projects exceeding 150. This marks that actively managing the "information image" on major industry data platforms and enhancing project information transparency has gradually become a consensus and standard practice for quality projects.

According to CoinDesk, CF Benchmarks, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, stated on Thursday that institutional investors are increasingly analyzing Bitcoin from a portfolio construction perspective rather than focusing on short-term price cycles.The company predicts that by 2035, Bitcoin's base scenario price will reach $1.4 million. Bitcoin can be evaluated using the same capital market assumptions as traditional assets, including expected returns, volatility, and correlation metrics. Based on different adoption paths, CF Benchmarks has derived a range of long-term valuation outcomes for Bitcoin by 2035. In the most conservative scenario, the company simulated Bitcoin continuing to expand its market share at historical rates, meaning Bitcoin would capture about 16% to 33% of gold's market value; in this scenario, CF Benchmarks expects Bitcoin's price to reach approximately $637,000 by 2035.The base scenario assumes that Bitcoin will achieve broader institutional adoption and grow at a faster rate, with its market capitalization reaching about one-third of gold's market value; the report states that this probability-weighted scenario implies that Bitcoin's price will reach about $1.42 million by 2035. In a more optimistic bull market scenario, CF Benchmarks simulated Bitcoin becoming the dominant store of value globally, surpassing gold's market capitalization; this scenario predicts that, with accelerated adoption by institutions and sovereign nations, Bitcoin's valuation will approach $2.95 million by 2035.In addition to price predictions, CF Benchmarks stated that its simulation results show that allocating about 2% to 5% of strategic allocation to Bitcoin can significantly enhance portfolio efficiency.

According to Jinshi reports, Federal Reserve Chairman Powell stated that the benchmark outlook for next year will be robust economic growth.

According to Jinshi, the Federal Reserve has lowered the benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 3.5%-3.75%, marking the third consecutive meeting of rate cuts, in line with market expectations. A total of 75 basis points have been cut this year.

To enhance the information transparency in the cryptocurrency industry, RootData officially launched the industry's first multi-dimensional real-time exchange ranking, using "information transparency" as the core evaluation dimension, and establishing disclosure standards covering seven dimensions including token unlocking, project events, and team information.This system aims to transform transparency into quantifiable competitive indicators, promoting exchanges to improve information disclosure within a compliance framework. RootData stated that it will work with exchanges to improve the project information disclosure mechanism, helping investors make rational decisions and effectively extending the investment lifecycle of retail cryptocurrency investors.In the context of compliance becoming an industry consensus, transparency is shifting from a promotional slogan to a core arena that exchanges must participate in.

According to a press release from PR Newswire, the CME Group and CF Benchmarks announced plans to launch two new Bitcoin volatility indices on December 2: the CME-CF Bitcoin Volatility Index (BVX) and the CME-CF Bitcoin Volatility Settlement Index (BVXS). These indices are based on market-forward indicators designed to measure the market's expectations of Bitcoin price volatility over a fixed 30-day expiration period.These indices are not tradable futures products, but they serve as transparent indicators reflecting the implied volatility in CME-regulated Bitcoin futures and micro Bitcoin futures contract options.