7 Blockchain Stocks That Could Make Bitcoin’s Gains Look Like Chump Change

Even as Bitcoin (BTC-USD) ETFs reach record inflow rates and continually edge against all-time highs, some investors—institutional and otherwise—don’t see the “asset class” worth buying for a long-term investment. Vanguard Group execs, for example, see Bitcoin as too speculative and not worthy of consideration for a buy-and-hold style portfolio; that’s why we haven’t yet seen Vanguard offer their own Bitcoin ETF and likely never will. But that isn’t to say there’s no solid investment opportunity to capitalize on Bitcoin and generate exposure to that side of the market while diversifying holdings with a bias toward multiple use cases. Blockchain stocks, broadly speaking, correlate to Bitcoin’s price to a large degree while generating exposure to the many unique uses blockchain offers today and in the future including identity validation, contract settlement, and more.

As artificial intelligence trends surge, blockchain stocks and tech have largely fallen out of public favor – but these blockchain stocks offer a wide array of investment opportunities and long-term potential. At the same time, they help crypto-shy investors capitalize on Bitcoin’s current success – and may even outperform the top crypto in the long run.

Block (SQ)

Block (NYSE:SQ) is leaning into its status as a blockchain stock. After a few months of beta testing, the fintech company began a go-to-market strategy for its Bitcoin wallet product line last week. As the saying goes, “Not your keys, not your crypto,” and Block’s foray into wallet hardware is likely to capture a large segment of customers who aren’t comfortable with third-party custodianship provided by, for example, Block’s subsidiary CashApp.

Beyond its status as a blockchain stock, Block represents a unique investment into the wider fintech space. The company is large enough to remain sustainable while retaining sufficient “startup energy” to stay nimble and reactive to shifting conditions (the hardware wallets being a representative example). Last month, Block shares spiked after the company blew past Wall Street expectations in its fourth-quarter and end-of-year earnings report. Highlights included a 22% year-over-year (YoY) gross profit hike for Q4 as sales surged for both Square and CashApp. The company’s 2023 gross profit was likewise surprisingly strong, hitting $7.5 billion for a 25% YoY increase.

Blockchain Stock: PayPal (PYPL)

While PayPal’s (NASDAQ:PYPL) direct foray into crypto – the PayPal Stablecoin – may seem a cash grab designed to capitalize on crypto’s popularity and little else, the move conceals the innovative way PayPal is reimagining a part of its core business as a blockchain stock. Specifically, by creating a stablecoin backed by PayPal’s legitimacy and trust, PayPal reassures users that it won’t fall prey to the same pitfalls that collapsed similar stablecoins in the past.

More importantly, PayPal USD isn’t just an alternative to cash, credit, or check on PayPal’s native platform. Developers can integrate the stablecoin across their payment processing ecosystem if they meet specific blockchain tech parameters. This aspect of PayPal’s status as a blockchain stock is largely overlooked. Older investors may remember that PayPal’s success came, in large part, from the degree of security and trust it offered buyers and sellers in the early days of the Internet (when mailing a check to an online marketplace seller wasn’t unheard of!). Today, PayPal is taking a page from its own book by doing the same with crypto. In a world where crypto bots, shills, and scams abound, PayPal’s stablecoin gives buyers and sellers a greater sense of security that, in turn, will likely accelerate the stablecoin utilization rate – and give PayPal stock a solid boost to boot.

Accenture (ACN)

Consulting firm Accenture (NYSE:ACN) may seem an odd choice among blockchain stocks, considering its service-based business. However, Accenture is differentiating itself from its consulting competitors by being one of the few multinational mega-cap consulting firms offering a suite of blockchain-based consultancies, including business integration, metaverse management, supply chain streamlining, and digital identity management. As the tech advances and more businesses – of all sizes and types – look to blockchain opportunities to solve an array of business problems, niche consulting efforts to tailor blockchain to specific needs will become more important. Accenture, as one of the few doing just that at scale, is…