THE CRYPTO STACK
THE CRYPTO STACK
Same assets, six ways in. Each layer is a different bet on the same thing, and 2026 stress-tested all of them. Know which one you’re playing.
FOUNDATION:
$BTC
$ETH
$SOL
Own the asset. No management, no dilution, no counterparty. The only layer that can’t be structured against you.
ETFS:
$IBIT
$ETHA
$BSOL, and the 2x versions $BITX
$ETHT
$SOLT
Spot ETFs are the clean wrapper. The 2x funds are rented, never owned: daily reset means chop eats you even when you’re right. One of them took in $1.5B this year and its AUM still fell.
RAILS:
$COIN
$HOOD
$CRCL
$GLXY
The exchanges, the stablecoins, the brokers. They win whichever coin wins. Volume is their product, not price.
TREASURIES:
$ASST
$MSTR
$XXI $MTPLF
Leveraged stacks of coins in a public wrapper. Public companies now hold over a million BTC. The scoreboard is bitcoin per share, and the fastest horse in the race is ASST: zero to 21,356 BTC in about a year, zero debt, bought straight through the crash. ETH and SOL versions: $BMNR $FWDI.
YIELD:
$SATA
$STRC
$STRF
The senior tranche of the treasuries. $100 par, 12-13%, paid daily or twice a month, funded by the stack underneath. Both broke par in June and came back. Defended, not guaranteed.
MINERS TO POWER:
$MARA
$CLSK
$RIOT
Yesterday’s bitcoin miners are today’s power and AI infrastructure. This is where the crypto stack plugs into the AI stack. IREN, Cipher and TeraWulf all started here.
Which layer are you playing?
