Introduction: Who is Really Making Money? Who is Plugging their Ears to the Bell?

On November 5, 2026, as we peel away the complicated data fog of Q3 earnings season, the underlying revenue-generating ability of crypto-listed entities becomes clear. Circle does not need to buy any highly volatile Bitcoin; by simply issuing USDC and collecting interest, it easily earned hundreds of millions in profits. Meanwhile, mining companies that once thrived in a bull market are now facing the double strangulation of halved output and competitive pressure in computing power. Hut 8 masked the decline in its core business with “paper profits” from rising coin prices, while Riot preserved its revenue base by transforming into a “contractor (data center infrastructure)”. At this stage, the winners of compliant infrastructure devour the market, while industrial miners struggle to survive, creating a stark capital metaphor.

1. Circle's 85% Surge: A Dimension-Reducing Blow to the Fiat Business

Among all disclosed Q3 reports, Circle ($CRCL)’s data is the most reassuring. The season's revenue of $865 million and adjusted EBITDA of $317 million (an increase of 85%) reveal the dimensionality-reducing power of the stablecoin business model. Within the current macro-financial framework, Circle's business is essentially “zero-cost deposits + high-interest loans”: Global users exchange real money for USDC, and Circle does not need to pay any interest to users; in turn, Circle invests these tens of billions of real dollars into risk-free assets such as short-term U.S. Treasury bonds. As long as the adoption rate of USDC as the core settlement currency of decentralized networks continues to rise, Circle's reserves will expand like a snowball. This asset, immune to the plummeting price of Bitcoin yet able to benefit from the expansion of global payments, is what traditional cash-flow-preference fund managers on Wall Street are most eager to allocate in crypto assets.

2. Hut 8's Financial Statement "Makeover": The Dividend and Hazards of Fair Value

Compared to Circle’s solid cash flow, Hut 8 ($HUT)’s financial statement can be described as a perfect “accounting makeover”. A careful breakdown of its financial report reveals that the core business has indeed suffered a severe blow, with total revenue declining by 14.9% year-on-year due to the sale of power generation assets and a shrinkage in custody business. However, at the bottom of the income statement, its net profit attributable to shareholders skyrocketed from $50.11 million last year to $131 million this year. The sole driver behind this miracle is a “non-cash gain” of $414 million generated by the Bitcoin price rising from nearly $60,000 to $83,000 during the quarter. The new accounting standard allows companies to directly include the market price fluctuations of crypto assets in the income statement. In a bull market, this “Viagra” makes mining companies’ financial reports look incredibly glamorous; however, investors must be aware that this $400 million is merely paper wealth, and as long as they do not sell Bitcoin, it cannot be used to pay electricity bills or buy mining machines. Such a profit model that severely relies on external price fluctuations masks the extreme depletion of the mining companies' inherent revenue-generating capabilities.

3. Riot's $180 Million Revenue: Battling Algorithmic Decline with Reinforced Concrete

In contrast to being addicted to paper profits, Riot Platforms ($RIOT) demonstrates the necessary sense of crisis for a heavy-asset company. On the eve of a cruel fourth quarter marked by sharply rising network difficulty and halved output, Riot delivered a revenue report of $181 million (a slight increase of 1%). What allows Riot to maintain a stable performance is its early recognition of the value of owning vast land, electrical grid permits, and transformer infrastructure in Texas, which far exceeds the value of the ASIC mining rigs on racks. By vigorously developing data center and engineering business, Riot has partially transformed from a Bitcoin miner reliant on market conditions into a “contractor” providing high-performance computing (HPC) physical space and energy solutions for traditional tech companies or AI enterprises. This strategy of demanding profits from reinforced concrete and energy scheduling, though strenuous, resulted in a significant reduction of net profit to $4.03 million, yet brought the company an extremely stable fiat cash flow, becoming the strongest shield against the decline of Bitcoin's algorithms.

Yesterday's earnings season marks a watershed moment in the maturation of crypto concept stocks. The market began to scrutinize Web3 entities using the strictest cash flow standards of traditional finance: True infrastructure oligarchs like Circle, who possess pricing power and liquidity, are now experiencing a double valuation bump; while traditional mining companies that cannot establish new physical infrastructure business cycles, relying merely on paper profits akin to those of Hut 8, will ultimately expose themselves in the next bear market's cold winter.

Data Source: https://bbx.com/ Crypto concept stock information library, based on yesterday’s announcements by global listed companies and SEC/TSE disclosures.

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