Bullish shares surge 14% as subscription revenue offsets digital asset slowdown

Bullish BLSH$27.25, the cryptocurrency platform and parent company of CoinDesk, surged 14% after saying subscription, services and other revenue reached a record $62.7 million in the second quarter.

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (ebitda) more than tripled to $29.5 million, while adjusted net income rose to $14.3 million from a year-earlier loss of $6 million, the company said.

The company went public exactly one year ago, with shares reaching a peak of $118 before losing as much as 83% of their value. At the time, bitcoin was on its way to a record high of nearly $125,000, which it reached in early October.

The world’s largest cryptocurrency has lost around half of its value since then, and fell 14% in the second quarter. The resulting markdown in Bullish’s bitcoin holdings led to a $244.6 million charge and was the main contributor to a net loss of $280 million for the quarter. It reported a $108.3 million profit in the year-earlier period.

The shares climbed as high as $28.20 on Thursday, nearly 14.5% higher on the day and the biggest single-day gain since Feb. 9, when they rose 17%.

Adjusted revenue also saw a 62% increase to $92.6 million as growth in subscriptions and services offset softer trading conditions. Adjusted transaction revenue rose to $29.9 million from $24.1 million, and digital asset sales slid 44% to $32.6 billion.

The second quarter also saw Bullish announce the $4.2 billion acquisition of share registration and transfer agency Equiniti, which will help it expand into tokenized securities. The acquisition is on course to be completed in early 2027, according to Thursday’s earnings announcement.

UPDATE (Aug. 13, 14:40 UTC): Restructures throughout with additional context; updates share price performance.