December 31, 2025
Commentary
Year-to-date to December 31, the Ninepoint Crypto and AI Leaders ETF generated a total return of 11.88%. For the month, the Fund generated a total return of -4.42%.
NINEPOINT CRYPTO AND AI LEADERS ETF - COMPOUNDED RETURNS¹ AS OF DECEMBER 31, 2025 (SERIES ETF USD- TKN.U) | INCEPTION DATE: JANUARY 27, 2021
1M |
YTD |
3M |
6M |
1YR |
3YR |
Inception |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Fund |
-4.42% |
11.88% |
-14.06% |
4.43% |
11.88% |
56.42% |
13.70% |
Coming off the heels of November’s intense, broad-based technology selloff, crypto and AI markets delivered mixed performance in December, with just a handful of sector leaders posting modest gains while the broader universe of investable names skewed decisively negative. We believe these drawdowns were partly an extension of November’s cooling, but were also amplified by year-end dynamics, including tax-loss harvesting, profit-taking, and a broader risk-off posture heading into the holiday season. From a sector attribution perspective, there were no material positive contributors during the month. The three largest detractors to Fund performance were Financials (-181 basis points), Crypto ETFs (-137 basis points), and Information Technology (-120 basis points).
With 2025 now in the rearview mirror, we think it is worth highlighting a core value proposition of the Fund. For the year, the Ninepoint Crypto and AI Leaders ETF delivered a positive return of 11.9%, materially outperforming Bitcoin (-6.5%), Ethereum (-11.1%), and Solana (-36.1%), as per Bloomberg. One of the Fund’s primary objectives is to provide investors with exposure to the full breadth of growth across the crypto ecosystem. While cryptoassets such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana remain foundational holdings, they did not fully capture where value creation occurred this year. Notably, many of the industry’s strongest gains in 2025 were realized via crypto-related equities in traditional markets rather than the underlying tokens themselves. In our view, this reflects a maturing asset class, with an increasing number of fundamentally sound crypto-native businesses in public markets that are starting to show signs of decoupling from crypto prices. By combining exposure to cryptoassets, crypto-related equities, and AI leaders, we believe the Fund offers a unique and differentiated one-ticket solution that allows investors to gain exposure across the crypto and AI ecosystems.
Throughout December, we executed several portfolio trades to capitalize on what we viewed as attractive entry points while also trimming select positions to remain aligned with our preferred portfolio weightings. The majority of buying activity occurred within our crypto bucket, encompassing both cryptoassets and crypto-related equities. In our view, the multi-month crypto correction and turbulence that began with the historic October 10 liquidation event was approaching a local bottom, presenting compelling opportunity valuation-wise to add exposure to many of our existing high-conviction positions. At the same time, we increased allocation to traditional exchange operators that are actively adopting crypto innovations and to a leading social platform benefiting from an expanding number of data-licensing agreements with large language model providers. Reflecting this increased deployment of capital, the Fund’s cash position declined materially month over month.
In our November monthly commentary, we highlighted a confluence of factors driving the sharp selloffs across both crypto and AI markets. While we believe markets ultimately climbed this “wall of worry,” price action throughout December reinforced just how sentiment-driven returns have become. The dominant overhang remains investor anxiety around an impending AI bubble and persistent comparisons to the dot-com era. To be sure, the scale of AI-related capital expenditures is extraordinary and justifies a healthy degree of skepticism. However, as with any major technological boom, there will be winners and losers. Notably, despite heavy investment, several AI-exposed companies have continued to become cheaper on a valuation basis as fundamentals and earnings have improved significantly. One of the more interesting developments has been the growing divergence between the OpenAI and Alphabet complexes. After trading largely in lockstep for much of the year, the Alphabet complex has meaningfully outperformed, while OpenAI-adjacent names have corrected sharply. This divergence appears driven by mounting investor concerns around OpenAI’s ability to monetize its user base and deliver on its ambitious investment and spending plans. This broader risk-off sentiment also spilled into crypto markets, with several negative AI-related headlines throughout the month contributing to near-term pressure on cryptoasset prices. That said, we continue to view the primary driver of recent crypto price action as the unprecedented liquidation and deleveraging event on October 10. Since bottoming in mid-November, Bitcoin and other cryptoassets have largely traded sideways, entering a consolidation phase. As we have long emphasized, sharp corrections during crypto bull markets are not uncommon. While the forced unwinding of excess leverage is near-term bearish, it is ultimately constructive over the medium to long term, as it resets positioning and builds a healthier market foundation. We believe this consolidation phase is nearing its end, with a number of structural tailwinds poised to support crypto markets into early 2026, including a potential tokenization supercycle and approval of the crypto market structure bill.
To conclude, we believe the Ninepoint Crypto and AI Leaders ETF provides investors with a single, efficient vehicle to access the full breadth of growth across the crypto and AI ecosystems. The Fund is actively managed, diversified, and purpose-built around a dual-theme strategy that captures the convergence of these technologies, while maintaining the flexibility to tilt toward areas of relative strength as market conditions evolve. We have high conviction in this approach and believe the Fund’s ability to generate positive returns and meaningfully outperform cryptoassets in 2025, when most were negative, underscores the value of this strategy.
Until next month,
Ninepoint Digital Asset Group
A division of Ninepoint Partners LP