Crypto equities beat peers in H1 2026, Bitwise says

Bitwise, a U.S.-based investment manager focused on digital assets, released a midyear performance review showing crypto-linked public companies outperformed every major asset class except emerging-market equities in the first half of 2026.

The review covers returns for the first six months of 2026 and compares crypto-equity performance with developed-market equities, U.S. large-cap stocks, investment-grade fixed income, commodities and real estate allocations. Emerging-market stocks were the only group that returned more over the same period.

The report defines “crypto equities” as publicly traded firms with meaningful revenue, asset or market-value exposure to cryptocurrency activity. Included in the universe are miners, digital-asset exchanges, custody and wallet providers, and companies that build blockchain infrastructure or crypto-focused software.

Performance in the review was measured on the basis of business exposure rather than the prices of native digital tokens. Bitwise built its crypto-equity sample by identifying companies with measurable revenue from crypto, holdings of digital assets, or core operations centered on cryptocurrencies, and it excluded firms with only incidental links.

The review notes that crypto exposure is concentrated in a subset of listed companies rather than spread evenly across the broader market. The document presents the comparative ranking of asset classes for the six-month window and explains the methodology used to calculate returns.

Publicly traded crypto-related companies provide an equity route for investors to gain exposure to the digital-asset sector without holding tokens directly. Their share performance can diverge from cryptocurrency prices because operating results, regulation, capital expenditures and broader equity-market dynamics also affect returns.

Bitwise did not identify a single cause for the observed outperformance in the review. The report provides return figures and the construction of its crypto-equity benchmark for investor review.