BLOK: Bitcoin Miners Transforming For Long-Term Earnings Stability

Summary The Amplify Blockchain Technology ETF is rated Buy, leveraging the transition of crypto miners into AI data center hosting for long-term growth. BLOK's portfolio is diversified across miners, exchanges, and semiconductors, with 35% exposure to the AI investment theme and significant holdings in HUT, GLXY, CIFR, and WULF. Bitcoin miners are increasingly transitioning to AI data center hosting services, providing potential cash flow stability and reducing correlation to Bitcoin price movements.

Near-term headwinds include capital raises, interest rate policy, Bitcoin volatility, and lower retail trading volumes, but long-term AI-driven growth supports the bullish thesis. The Amplify Blockchain Technology ETF (BLOK) is an actively managed exchange-traded fund designed to provide long-term growth by actively selecting and weighting companies that participate in the cryptocurrency mining ecosystem, including miners, data centers, exchanges, semiconductor, and infrastructure companies. With the growing trend for miners transitioning into AI data center hosting, companies held in the strategy exhibit a major opportunity for earnings stability over the coming years as the data center market develops.

While this can provide long-term growth for the strategy, near-term headwinds like capital raises, interest rate policy, Bitcoin volatility, and lower expected retail trading volumes may influence a large proportion of the portfolio. In part, the price appreciation of Bitcoin should offset these risks, particularly as Bitcoin is being used to help finance large data center developments. Given the weighted risks, I assign BLOK a Buy rating for investors seeking to take on risk for a higher potential return.

You can review my educational piece covering BLOK here. In the article, I cover the mechanics of the fund in more detail. Investment Thesis for BLOK The growing trend amongst cryptocurrency mining companies is the gradual transition into AI/HPC hosting, leveraging their ability to develop and electrify large-scale data centers.

With a power shortage in the US, secured power has become a critical factor for new data center developments, creating a unique opportunity for these companies to leverage their fundamental skill sets in this market. I believe that one of the greatest assets amongst mining companies is that data center buildouts, in part, can be financed through Bitcoin mining operations during risk-on market environments. While the price of Bitcoin has maintained its volatile nature, as exposed in the October 2025 market correction, I believe that Bitcoin is in the midst of the next upcycle.

If this is the case, financing data center projects may become more accessible for these companies. TradingView One prime example of this transition is Riot Platforms, Inc. (RIOT), which secured a long-term agreement with Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.

(AMD) in early 2026 and expanded its data center hosting business through a long-term hosting agreement with Anthropic (ANTHRO) in mid-2026. While BLOK has a small 1. 35% position in RIOT shares, I believe that this theme will proliferate across traditional Bitcoin miners as electrified data center capacity becomes scarcer.

Hut 8 Corp. (HUT) is another major example of this transition, with the company commercializing its first gigawatt AI data center campus in Q2'26. BLOK has a much larger position in HUT shares with a 3.

58% allocation. Other examples of developing AI data center capacity include Galaxy Digital Inc. (GLXY) at 3.

56%, Cipher Digital Inc. (CIFR) at 3. 56%, and TeraWulf Inc.

(WULF) at 3. 23%. The transition is happening, and Bitcoin miners are positioned to realize long-term, meaningful cash generation by derisking data center assets.

A notable difference between the traditional Bitcoin miners and the neoclouds is the strategy for addressing the AI/HPC market. Whereas the neoclouds are renting compute capacity, the Bitcoin miners are leasing data center capacity, essentially providing electricity and the data center shell to customers. This almost places these companies in line with companies like Digital Realty Trust, Inc.

(DLR), while differentiating themselves with Bitcoin mining. The value these organizations bring is that they can utilize existing data center capacity and power contracts for Bitcoin mining and gradually transition into AI data center leasing. While this will not necessarily eliminate the need for raising substantial sums of capital through equity and debt issuances, it can alleviate some upfront pressure of high capital investments before earning revenue on data center leases.

Overall, I believe that this business model will drive durable growth in cash flow over the coming years. This market accounts for approximately 19% of the total portfolio weight. The second largest industry concentration is in crypto brokerages and exchanges at approximately 10.

50% of the total portfolio weight, including companies like Robinhood Markets, Inc. (HOOD) at 4. 35%, Coinbase Global, Inc.

(COIN) at 2. 97%, and Webull Corporation (BULL) at 1. 75%.

On September 30, 2026, the Wall Street Journal reported that major investment banks are expecting Q3'26 trading to grow at a substantially slower rate when compared to the prior quarter, which could impact the performance of Robinhood and Webull going into earnings. If trading volumes were to slow, crypto brokerages may be faced with a challenging quarter ahead. Semiconductors are the third largest industry concentration at approximately 10% of net assets.

Companies held in BLOK include Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. ((AMD)) at 3. 88%, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSM) at 2.

11%, NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) at 2. 04%, and Broadcom Inc. (AVGO) at 1.

91%. I’m expecting this market to continue to remain resilient as the capital investment cycle for AI data center capacity is expected to surpass $1 trillion in 2027. While Broadcom’s competitive edge is gaining on Nvidia’s dominance in the AI accelerator market, I believe that the breadth of investments in AI compute capacity will facilitate growth across the entire industry.

In addition to this, AI inference is expected to expand at a rapid pace over the next two years, which should drive significant demand for CPU chips, benefiting companies like AMD. AI Data Center Capital Investment Forecast (Goldman Sachs) Overall, I believe that the portfolio is well balanced across industries. While some components of the portfolio may face near-term headwinds, the broader strategy should perform well over the coming years driven by growing investments for data centers and compute capacity.

I assign BLOK a Buy rating. From a strategic allocation perspective, BLOK can be used as a trading vehicle and as a portfolio diversifier. Given the risky nature and volatility in the blockchain market, I recommend investors consider BLOK for a small position.

BlackRock, Inc. (BLK) recommends a 2% allocation to Bitcoin, though given that BLOK is made up of operating companies, I believe a higher allocation may be applied depending on the investor’s risk appetite. BLOK has historically exhibited significant correlation to the price movements of Bitcoin but has decoupled in recent months.

With Bitcoin miners moving more heavily into AI data center hosting, I believe that a portion of the portfolio will become less correlated with the price movements of Bitcoin, providing investors with returns more associated with cash flows from data center leases rather than Bitcoin mining operations. TradingView About Amplify Blockchain Technology ETF BLOK was launched by Amplify ETFs on January 17, 2018, on the NYSE Arca Exchange. BLOK has a modest expense ratio of 70 bps, aligned with actively managed ETFs.

BLOK exhibits significant liquidity with $1. 12 billion in net assets and an average trading volume of approximately $13 million in share value. The fund has a modest 30-day average bid/ask spread of 0.

15%, though it should be a manageable cost for long-term investors. Seeking Alpha Risks Related to BLOK BLOK is an actively managed, thematic investment strategy, exposing investors to certain risks that should be considered prior to making a final investment decision. BLOK will expose investors to manager risk and the portfolio management team’s ability to actively select and weight stocks.

BLOK has historically exhibited significant correlation with Bitcoin and may remain correlated with the cryptocurrency. Approximately 35% of the portfolio weight is associated with the AI investment theme, including technology hardware, semiconductors, IT services & software, and AI data centers, exposing the portfolio to the investment cycle in the AI data center market. If AI investments were to slow down, BLOK may face significant performance setbacks.

Final Thoughts BLOK has traditionally offered diversified exposure across companies engaging in the blockchain market. With cryptocurrency miners transitioning into AI data center hosting, the portfolio’s theme has broadened to include a high-growth market that can deliver greater stability to the portfolio. Given the long-term growth expectations across the strategy, I assign BLOK a Buy rating.