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Let's get to some other sort of crypto adjacent numbers, shall we? Uh specifically in FinTech, Block and macro Microstrategy, excuse me, both reporting their second quarter results. We've got a mixed reaction those shares. Microstrategy not moving much. You could argue it probably moves more on crypto than on the results themselves, perhaps in block shares up about 4.4%. So for more, we're bringing in Mark Palmer, managing director and senior research analyst for FinTech and Digital Assets at Benchmark. It's good to see you, Mark. So as we look at these numbers here, let's start with Block and kind of what stands out to you.

Uh, yes, um, good to talk to you, Julie. Uh, this was a better than expected quarter for Block pretty much across the board. And while the company did have a headline revenue miss, um, most of that can be attributed to uh, Bitcoin revenue. And frankly, uh, I think that the street um, failed to make an adjustment uh, for the fact that, uh, as you mentioned a few moments ago, uh, crypto and Bitcoin were down during the quarter. Uh, beyond that, um, the the company uh, really had a a solid quarter, uh, both in terms of top line and especially in bottom line. Uh, adjusted Eda, um, adjusted operating income, uh, adjusted EPS, all solid beats and the company uh, raised its estimates for the year uh, across the bottom line. Uh, in the past, uh, Block had been much more of a top line story. Uh, it's really become a bottom line story and we're seeing uh, the impact of the company's ability to create operating leverage and drive that through its whole system. Uh, with that said, you know, this stock has been lagging. Um, you know, it's down something like 23% year to date. Uh, but the operating performance uh, continues to be solid. The outlook is strong. Uh, and so, uh, we think that Block is a good buy at these levels.

Mark, uh, you know, we were talking about Coinbase earlier. I know you don't cover that name, but just get your thoughts on Bitcoin generally. Um, you know, the obviously up so very strongly this year, Mark, you know, those new ETFs sparked so much enthusiasm, but then kind of cooling since obviously since seeing that record in March. And I'm just curious, Mark, where you see it headed in in the near to just kind of intermediate term.

Yes, I think, um, you know, we're bullish on the outlook for Bitcoin. Uh, and of course, you know, we have a buy on Microstrategy, which reported today after the close. Um, the uh, underlying, uh, dynamic here is really one in which, um, the Bitcoin having, which occurred in April, um, still in our view has created a nice setup, uh, for Bitcoin's price going forward. Uh, typically speaking, uh, after a having, and there have been four of them. Uh, the one in April was the fourth in the history of Bitcoin. Uh, there's a a significant rally over the next year and a half or so, uh, in the cryptocurrency. Um, we've begun to see a little bit of that, uh, but it's been a muddled path and I think part of that is technical. Uh, we had some large amounts of Bitcoin, uh, that were set to be sold into the market. Uh, a large chunk of that coming from, uh, the, um, disbursements coming out of the the Mount Gox case from long ago. Uh, so it has, uh, created, uh, more near-term supply, uh, of Bitcoin in the market. Uh, but bigger picture, uh, we think it's just a question of time before more institutions, uh, begin to adopt Bitcoin. I mean, on the, uh, pension fund side, uh, we've seen three large entities that have gotten involved. Uh, the state of Michigan, the state of Wisconsin, and Jersey City, New Jersey have all, uh, invested in Bitcoin spot Bitcoin ETFs. Um, you're seeing a lot of tire kicking going on out there among institutions. It takes some time, uh, for a pension fund, uh, to, uh, arrive at the, um, choice to, uh, add Bitcoin to its holdings. Uh, but, um, again, uh, these spot Bitcoin ETFs were only introduced to the market, uh, in January. Uh, we think that this is a trend that is going to be long lasting.

Um, just quickly, I wanted to ask you about something else that Coinbase mentioned in its statement, which is what it says that Coinbase and the crypto industry made great strides towards achieving regulatory clarity in the US. I I I don't know where they're looking at that regulatory clarity because I I don't see that regulatory clarity. Do you?

I think it's been showing up, uh, at least on the margins. And I think it's also a relative thing because the past few years we've seen, uh, the US government and the SEC in particular, you know, really cracking down on the space, uh, including, you know, what was known as operation chokepoint 2.0 where, uh, it was very difficult for, uh, any company involved in crypto, uh, to get access to the traditional banking system. But we've seen a couple of big developments. You know, one is, uh, as I mentioned, the approval of the spot Bitcoin ETF in January. More recently, the approval of, uh, the spot Ethereum or Ether ETF. Uh, and also even, uh, in the, um, SEC's proceeding against, uh, Coinbase and some of its other proceedings, it has taken a step back and has refiled, uh, its motions so that it is, um, stating to the court that a wide range of different cryptocurrencies, which it had previously said were securities, should not be characterized as such. So, uh, these are, um, modest steps. Um, they may frankly be driven to some extent, uh, by what's going on in the political realm, uh, where, um, you do have, uh, a large portion, um, or it's actually a large number, uh, the portion's much smaller, something like 14% of Americans who hold crypto. Uh, but still, that's an important constituency and, uh, I don't know that either one of the major parties wants to alienate those folks right now.

Right. Mark, great to have you on the show today. Thanks for taking the time to join us.

Thank you.