Summary Bullish (BLSH) is a digital asset platform targeting institutional investors, recently approved for US trading and expanding into derivatives. BLSH's revenue diversification through CoinDesk subscriptions and services provides stability amid volatile trading volumes, with strong recurring revenue growth. Key catalysts include US market entry, derivatives launch, and experienced management led by ex-NYSE President Tom Farley, plus regulatory approvals in major markets. Despite a high valuation, I rate BLSH a buy, expecting significant growth as US adoption accelerates and institutional focus differentiates it from competitors. I am a believer in crypto and think it has a growing future in the markets. I think it is still in the early stages and has a lot of room for growth. Based upon that belief I think there is money to be made, not just on crypto itself, but with companies operating in that space. That brings me to a company that I have been interested in, Bullish ( BLSH ). Bullish is a digital asset platform that facilitates crypto trading. This is similar to Coinbase Global, Inc. ( COIN ). I purchased Coinbase years ago based upon thinking that crypto would continue to grow. I was right on that assumption and the stock has been one of my better performing stocks. I know there are still some who do not think that crypto is a legitimate investment. At this point it is hard to deny the amount of money being traded in the crypto market. I think the crypto market is positioned to continue its growth. I think Bullish is entering a competitive market but a growing one. There will be room for Bullish to grow within the crypto space.The company made its IPO and is in the early stages of its growth. The company was recently approved to operate in the US. It is also opening up derivatives trading within the market. The overall market as well as these catalysts make me bullish on the potential of the company. Company Overview Bullish Bullish operates through two different operations, Market Infrastructure and Information Services. Market Infrastructure is the trading Platform and Information Services houses CoinDesk. Bullish has a focus on institutional investors, which make up a growing and larger part of the market. It caters to them through the design and functionality of its platform, as well the low fees it charges for trades. This is what partly sets it apart from some of the competition. It entered the market with this as the emphasis. Coinbase actually has higher trade volumes amongst institutional investors than it does individuals, but Coinbase was initially catering to the retail customer, and that is how the platform was initially designed and built. Bullish makes money through its trading platform based upon a fee per trade. Higher trading volume means more revenue. The company also operates CoinDesk. Coindesk provides indices, data, and insights. I think the biggest strength here is the Data side of the business. Users can subscribe to this to get market data for trading. Their subscription revenue has been a strong point for the business. The company also makes money from ads that appear on the website. Company Earnings Presentation Coindesk has allowed the company to diversify its revenue. There is a lot of volatility in trading volumes each month and quarter. The subscription revenue is consistent. I think CoinDesk also provides a point of legitimacy for the company and platform. Traders and institutions use the website for news and information. CoinDesk also holds events where traders come and learn and network. CoinDesk and by extension Bullish is at the forefront with all of that. It provides a point of legitimacy and builds trust amongst users and institutions. The last important item to note is that the company holds a large amount of digital assets on its balance sheet. At the end of Q2 the company had just over $3 billion in digital assets, $2.6 billion of this being bitcoin. Financial Performance The company is in the early stages of its business. Along with that early stage you are going to get some lumpy performance in the stock price and on earnings. We saw that with the Q2 earnings that were released in September. It was also the company’s first earnings report as a public company. The results are included in the table below: Company Earnings Presentation Transaction revenue actually declined in Q1 and Q2 of 2025 vs the prior year. The company already is small and you want to see growth, definitely a declining figure. The number here is slightly misleading though as the company did see higher trading volume by dollar amount in both quarters as compared to the prior year. This means the company is getting a smaller markup on each trade. CoinDesk Media, or the website, also saw declining pageviews and unique monthly visitors. CoinDesk's website is well established, and is not in a growth stage per se. That being said, the adoption of crypto is growing, which means more users would potentially be searching CoinDesk for information and news. So it is disappointing to see the numbers decline on that side of the business. The real revenue driver and value is within the Data segment on CoinDesk. We can see the growth on that side of the business in the Subscription & Services revenue. The 1H25 revenues nearly reached the FY24 total. This does include revenue from the other CoinDesk applications but the Media side saw a decline, so it can be assumed the growth is being driven by subscriptions. Looking into Q3 the company gave strong guidance on the profit front. Company Earnings Presentation The guidance is particularly strong on the adjusted net income and adjusted EBITDA. Trading volume is still lower but the US market is not included in Q3. So expect an increase starting in Q4 and throughout 2026. Subscription, Services & Other is the real strong point here. The company is seeing strong recurring revenue from this line of business. This diversification provides a lot of value for a Bullish as it grows and builds its platform. Why I’m Bullish While revenues, particularly on the trading side, have not been as strong as I would like to see, I think there are a lot of catalysts to drive the stock. The company is just coming off its IPO. A lot of time and energy gets spent in that process. Now the company can focus its attention on growing the platform. I think the following are strong catalysts to do just that. US Trading Approval The first and by far the largest catalyst is that Bullish received approval in September for a BitLicense and Money Transmission License by NYDFS. It began spot trading in the US on October 1, 2025. This is a huge step for the company. The US is the largest trading country by volume in the world for crypto. This obviously opens up a large revenue source for the company. This revenue will not be seen until Q4 and even then it will be the first quarter that the market is open. It should also be noted that it is only available in 20 states to begin. More will be opened up as time goes on. I expect the adoption in Q4 to still be smaller, but through 2026 there will be strong adoption and revenue growth within the US market. I think this will not only push transaction volume up but also the subscription revenue for CoinDesk. The company has a lot of opportunities to cross sell their services. As adoption of their exchange platform is adopted there will be more subscribers onboarded as well. Derivatives Trading Bullish announced, along with its US launch, the launch of crypto options trading to begin on October 8. This expands the offering and options for traders. The company now includes a “product suite encompassing spot, margin, perpetual futures, dated futures, and now, options”. The derivatives market is larger than the spot trading market. During Q3 there was an estimated $4.7 trillion across the top 10 exchanges for spot trading volume, while there was $26 trillion in derivatives volume. That is 5x the volume in the derivatives market as compared to the spot market. If you want to be an institutional exchange platform then you have to offer derivatives or traders will go elsewhere. This will bring more users to the platform and also increase revenue with additional trading volumes. Management and Regulatory Approval One key item with the company is the management. This is a key item that I often feel is overlooked when investing in a company. A company with good management will consistently outperform. Bullish found a CEO who happens to know a thing or two about financial exchanges. Tom Farley, CEO of Bullish, has overseen 10 regulated exchanges or businesses. He was recently the President of the New York Stock Exchange. He understands the business and the legal framework. The company has applied and received licenses from many markets. The company noted during the conference call, “We hold what I believe to be the 4 most respected and difficult to obtain crypto licenses in the world from the European Union by way of Germany BaFin, from Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and as of yesterday, New York State, a BitLicense.” This is one of the ways that the company has been able to establish itself. It takes away the regulatory uncertainty which is important for institutional adoption. Management is playing a key role in making sure the company is able to achieve regulatory acceptance as well as build itself in a way to scale. Peter Thiel Effect There is some Peter Thiel effect in the current stock price. It has a high valuation in part because Peter Thiel is backing the company. The man obviously has a good track record, Palantir being the most recent big success. Especially for a newer company this can push the stock price to higher valuations than it would have based upon the fundamentals. That being said, there is also a reason for this happening. That being he has had massive success as an investor. So it makes sense to invest alongside him and his companies. I don’t think this should just be discounted as a company with a high multiple due to Peter Thiel, there is a reason for that high multiple. I see it as a positive. Maybe I could have purchased the stock at a lower price if he was not backing the company, but I also might not have even heard about it. I also would have less confidence in its success. Risks The company is still a small company competing in a market that is highly regulated. There are large risks facing the company. There is a lot of market competition from established players in the space. These platforms already have users and it is much harder to bring them over to a new platform. I think Bullish has attempted to differentiate itself and target a specific demographic, which will allow it to compete. Regardless the company will have to compete. Regulation has been slow for the crypto markets. This has caused a lot of uncertainty amongst users. While it seems that more and more regulatory bodies are adopting pro crypto regulation, there is the risk that governments may turn sour on crypto. Regulation can also be slow causing the industry to be limited on its growth. Conclusion Bullish has entered a competitive market that is also growing. I think the company has done so in a way that distinguishes it from many of the competitors. It is putting an emphasis on institutional investors. There is a lot more money on the institutional side than the retail market. It has achieved the necessary legal approvals from the largest trading markets. This reduces risk for institutions. It has tailored and built its platform to better accommodate larger investors as well. While the company is in the early stages I think these early investments will pay off as the company expands. Bullish reported some lumpy results on the revenue and growth side. It has some strong catalysts that will drive revenues going forward, particularly the approval in the US. The company is led by a strong management team that knows how to navigate the regulatory world as well as scale. The valuation on the stock is not cheap by any means. It currently trades at an expected 2025 PE of 217. That is expected to drop to 70 next year. Revenue is expected to grow at 32% in 2026 as well. I think with a full year of being in the US market with derivatives available the company will beat those estimates. The company is just getting started. It is receiving its approvals and now it is time for the company to grow. While the stock is not cheap I think the premium is warranted due to the potential growth going forward. I am bullish on Bullish and rate it a buy. I would look for good entry points as there is volatility on the stock.