Charles-Edouard Bilbault
Global Equities Portfolio Manager

In October, global equity markets reached new record highs, with corporate earnings overall kept on delivering positive surprises. US Federal Reserve implemented a second consecutive 25 bps rate cut2 and signaled quantitative tightening to end in December but kept a cautious stance regarding future policy decision. Blockchain and digital assets adoption remained buoyant, with notable accelerated moves, supported by positive regulatory and institutional tailwinds, as reiterated by Fed governor Christopher Waller during the Fed’s Payments Innovation Conference on October 21. For instance, Visa added support to four stablecoins and shared that stablecoin linked Visa cards spends were up 4x yoy ; Apollo, which manages more than US$900bn assets as of end of Q3 20252, sealed partnership with Coinbase AM to develop tokenized credit strategies ; Samsung integrated exclusive access to Coinbase One for US Galaxy smartphone owners via Samsung wallet. Around a third of portfolio companies released earnings in October, of which more than 75% showed positive surprises vs. consensus expectations2.
In this context, portfolio kept outperforming in October, with all 5 sub-thematics contributing positively this month. Largest contributions were led by blockchain infrastructure, audit trail/industrial applications and digital assets/fintech segments. Blockchain infrastructure companies kept benefitting from ongoing diversification of their asset base return, with incremental revenue streams thanks to long-term commitments from various hyperscalers and neocloud providers. Audit trail/industrial applications allocation was led by Abaxx and SES AI, both reaching important operational milestones in product development and go-to-market strategy. Digital assets/fintech companies continue to benefit from positive regulatory tailwinds namely translating into accelerated institutional adoption and renewed capital market activity.
We remained disciplined in October and trimmed Bakkt, SES AI, Cleanspark and closed our positions on PayPal and EPAM. We introduced Figure Technology post-IPO, a pioneering fintech firm specializing in blockchain-based lending solutions. The company is experiencing rapid growth, fueled by the rollout of white label partnerships and delivering substantial cost efficiencies – such as reducing mortgage processing costs to a level 12 times lower than the industry average 3. At the end of the month, our equity exposure was 95.2%3.
Coinbase and Apollo partner to develop stablecoin credit strategies.
Oddo launches EUROD stablecoin.
Western Union plans to launch US stablecoin.