Galaxy Digital’s share-price weakness after its quarterly loss has drawn a corrective note from Benchmark, which says investors are overlooking structural catalysts that could materially change the firm’s earnings trajectory. The quarter registered a multi-hundred-million-dollar loss—driven primarily by falling crypto prices and reduced trading flows—rather than fundamental operational failure. Benchmark emphasizes two potential re-rating events: passage of U.S. crypto market-structure legislation that could broaden institutional participation, and commercial activation of Galaxy’s Helios campus, an AI-focused data center in Texas. Helios already has substantial approved power capacity and a lease arrangement with an AI cloud provider that is slated to begin producing revenue this year, which analysts view as a non-linear uplift relative to current valuation. The firm’s balance-sheet strength—including cash and stablecoin holdings and a near-$2 billion loan portfolio—is cited as enabling continued investment across both crypto infrastructure and AI capacity even while markets remain volatile. Benchmark’s $57 price objective implies significant upside from recent trading levels, a proposition grounded in comparables applied to data-center operators as much as in potential crypto-market recovery. That view treats the Q4 loss as cyclical, not structural, and places heavier weight on regulatory clarity and institutional inflows as demand multipliers. Execution risk remains: ramping a hyperscale data center, converting approved power into revenue, and winning institutional counterparties are complex, capital- and time-intensive processes. Equally, legislative timelines are uncertain; favorable bills would lower friction for institutional capital, but delays or watered-down measures would keep adoption gradual. Separately, Galaxy publicly pushed back on social-media narratives that a roughly $9 billion single-client Bitcoin liquidation was driven by panic over quantum-computing vulnerabilities, saying the trade reflected client-specific decisions. That episode highlights how technical hypotheticals and concentrated-holder flows can amplify short-term volatility independent of company fundamentals. Industry work on post-quantum migration and custody safeguards is under way but is generally judged to be a multi-year and conditional transition rather than an immediate systemic threat; practical mitigations include address-management practices, PQ-ready custody frameworks, sandbox migrations and cryptographic prototyping. For investors, the trade becomes one of patience for macro and policy shifts versus the certainty of headline volatility. If Helios achieves projected tenancy and the U.S. legislative environment clarifies in favor of exchanges and custody solutions, Galaxy’s multiple could reprice markedly higher. Conversely, prolonged crypto downside, setbacks in AI lease scaling, or pronounced narrative-driven selling would keep pressure on earnings. In sum, Benchmark frames the recent selloff as an entry point tied to optionality: the company’s current market value, they argue, understates the combined upside from regulatory normalization and a nascent AI infrastructure business, but investor timing and risk-management should account for both execution and narrative risks.
PREMIUM ANALYSIS
Read Our Expert Analysis
Create an account or login for free to unlock our expert analysis and key takeaways for this development.
By continuing, you agree to receive marketing communications and our weekly newsletter. You can opt-out at any time.
Galaxy’s Novogratz Says Crypto’s Wild-Speculation Era Is Ending as Institutions Move In
Galaxy CEO Mike Novogratz told a New York finance forum that crypto markets are shifting from retail-led, high‑leverage speculation to steadier institutional participation and practical blockchain use cases. Observers point to shocks like the FTX collapse and an early-October leverage unwind as accelerants, while evolving on‑chain supply dynamics, spot‑ETF flows, and regulatory initiatives will shape how quickly institutionalization deepens.