Ethereum
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Strategy and Bitmine Add More Bitcoin and Ethereum
Strategy and Bitmine expanded their crypto reserves with fresh purchases. Strategy bought $21.5 million worth of Bitcoin, bringing its total holdings to 848,250 BTC, while Bitmine acquired 12,532 ETH over the past week. According to the companies’ October 12 announcements, Bitmine’s Ethereum reserves have also surpassed 6 million ETH.The purchases reflect the companies’ continued efforts to expand their crypto treasuries. Strategy funded its Bitcoin acquisition through share sales and cash holdings, while Bitmine is focusing on increasing staking revenue alongside its Ethereum accumulation.Strategy’s Bitcoin Holdings Reach 848,250 BTCStrategy purchased 250 BTC between October 5 and 11 at an average price of $86,194 per Bitcoin. The acquisition, worth approximately $21.5 million, brought the company’s total Bitcoin holdings to 848,250 BTC.According to figures shared by co-founder and Executive Chairman Michael Saylor, the company’s average acquisition cost across its entire Bitcoin reserve stands at $75,444 per coin. Its total investment, including fees and expenses, amounts to approximately $64 billion.At current prices, Strategy’s Bitcoin holdings are worth approximately $70.6 billion. This implies roughly $6.6 billion in unrealized gains, a figure that fluctuates with Bitcoin’s price.Strategy’s holdings exceed 4% of Bitcoin’s maximum supply of 21 million BTC. The latest purchase further expanded this substantial reserve.Approximately $21 million of the purchase was funded by the sale of 125,183 MSTR shares through the company’s at-the-market offering program. Strategy covered the remaining approximately $500,000 using its dollar cash holdings.As of October 11, approximately $18.8 billion worth of MSTR shares remained available for issuance and sale under the program. This capacity represents a potential funding source for the company in future periods.During the same period, Strategy repurchased 1,932,145 STRC preferred shares for approximately $192.4 million under its digital credit securities repurchase program. The company reported its separately classified USD Reserve and USD Cash balances at $4.88 billion and $640.5 million, respectively.Bitmine’s Holdings Reach 4.9% of Ethereum’s SupplyBitmine Immersion Technologies increased its total Ethereum holdings to 6,028,946 ETH after purchasing 12,532 ETH over the past week. According to the company, this represents approximately 4.9% of Ethereum’s circulating supply of 122.1 million ETH.At a reference price of $2,544 per ETH, the reserve is worth approximately $15.3 billion. This valuation reflects the price used in the company’s announcement. Bitmine has staked 5,067,309 ETH, representing 84% of its Ethereum holdings. These assets, valued at approximately $12.9 billion, generate returns through the company’s MAVAN platform and staking partners.Based on a seven-day annualized yield of 2.61%, the company projects annual staking revenue of approximately $336 million. It expects that figure to reach $400 million once all its Ethereum holdings are staked.These figures do not represent realized annual revenue. They reflect Bitmine’s projections based on current yields and the assets allocated to staking.Beyond Ethereum, the company reported holdings of 214 BTC, a $180 million stake in Beast Industries, and an $85 million investment in Eightco Holdings. With $612 million in cash and marketable securities, Bitmine’s total holdings, including crypto assets and other investments, reached approximately $16.2 billion as of October 11.Tom Lee Anticipates a Strong Crypto Bull MarketBitmine Chairman Tom Lee maintained his optimistic outlook for the crypto market in the latest treasury announcement. Lee argued that the next cycle could potentially become the largest bull market in crypto history.He pointed to tokenization, wealth transfers, corporate crypto accumulation, and use cases linked to artificial intelligence as factors supporting his outlook. According to Lee, digital asset treasuries could support the next cycle by moving part of the market’s supply onto corporate balance sheets for the long term.The latest announcements from Strategy and Bitmine show how treasury expansion is progressing through different funding and revenue models. Strategy channels proceeds from share sales into Bitcoin accumulation, while Bitmine aims to generate staking income from most of its Ethereum reserves.
Vitalik Buterin Warns of AI Risks: Don’t Rush
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said advances in AI-driven mathematics could affect the security of crypto assets. While urging the industry to take this possibility seriously, Buterin stressed that moving assets to new wallets in a panic could also lead to losses.Buterin’s comments on X on October 7 followed Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake’s call to prepare for “bunker mode.” The discussion centers on the possibility that the mathematical methods securing crypto transactions could weaken sooner than expected.Buterin cautions against rushed wallet migrationsIn his post, Buterin said he did not recommend rushing to move to new wallets. He described keeping assets in addresses that have never signed a transaction as a reasonable precaution when it is easy to implement. However, the Ethereum co-founder said that, in his own experience, botched migrations had caused greater losses than hacks. He highlighted how a change intended to improve security could introduce new problems during implementation.Buterin reiterated the point in a follow-up post. He urged users to avoid hasty decisions, warning that a rushed and misconfigured migration could easily result in lost funds.What does Justin Drake’s “bunker mode” call mean?In his post, Justin Drake urged the industry to prepare for unexpected developments in cryptographic security. The researcher raised the possibility that the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm, known as ECDSA, could be broken even before powerful quantum computers pose that threat.In cryptography discussions, “Q-day” refers to the point at which quantum computers become capable of breaking widely used public-key cryptography. Drake’s warning rests on the idea that AI-assisted mathematical discoveries could change that timeline.The researcher argued that, in a worst-case scenario, such a breakthrough could emerge within months rather than years. This timeframe does not describe an attack that has already happened or an established technical schedule; it reflects the adverse scenario behind Drake’s call for preparedness.Drake recommended moving assets in a controlled manner to fresh addresses whose public keys have not yet been exposed. He also stressed that users should avoid panic and should not rush the transition.AI could also challenge post-quantum security assumptionsButerin’s assessment extends beyond the signature methods used by existing wallets. The Ethereum co-founder said security planning often assumes a scenario in which elliptic-curve systems are broken while hash functions and lattice-based methods remain secure.In his view, AI-assisted mathematical research could also significantly affect the practical security of lattice-based systems over the next two years. Buterin specifically highlighted ML-DSA, fully homomorphic encryption, and other lattice-based constructions.ML-DSA is among the post-quantum digital signature standards published by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in 2024. NIST states that the method is believed to remain secure even against attackers with large-scale quantum computers.Buterin’s remarks therefore represent an assessment of risks from future mathematical advances rather than an announcement that the standard has been broken.Buterin recommended that developers choose more conservative security parameters for lattice-based systems and favor hash-based constructions wherever possible. For privacy protocols, he advocated sending encrypted records through off-chain mechanisms instead of storing them directly on the blockchain.OpenAI’s mathematics research adds to the debateThe warnings came as AI’s role in mathematical research continues to expand. In an official announcement on October 6, OpenAI said it had released new mathematical results produced by an advanced internal model.The company said it published the results on GitHub alongside Lean formalizations that allow many of the proofs to be checked by computers. The announcement describes progress in mathematical research; it does not present a result showing that ECDSA has been broken.Drake viewed these developments as a reason for the industry to accelerate its preparations. Buterin, meanwhile, stressed that precautions against potential threats must also account for user error, reiterating his call for a controlled approach to asset migrations and security upgrades.
4 Crypto Treasury Companies Announce New Purchases as Bitcoin and Ethereum Reserves Grow
Publicly traded companies accumulating cryptocurrencies shared new reserve updates on October 5. Strategy announced the purchase of 334 Bitcoin, Strive added 2,000 Bitcoin, and Bitmine acquired 15,112 Ethereum. Metaplanet also increased its reserves by a net 1,000 BTC during the third quarter after selling 10,000 BTC and purchasing 11,000 BTC.The announcements cover different trading periods. Strategy’s and Strive’s latest purchases span late September and early October, while Metaplanet’s sales and repurchases cover the third quarter.Strategy’s Bitcoin reserves reach 848,000 BTCStrategy disclosed in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it purchased 334 BTC between October 1 and 4. The company spent approximately $28.7 million, paying an average of $85,838.80 per Bitcoin.The filing divided the weekly activity into two periods to account for the quarter-end. Strategy made no Bitcoin purchases between September 28 and 30, acquiring all 334 BTC during the first four days of October.The latest purchases increased the company’s total Bitcoin holdings to 848,000 BTC. The aggregate acquisition cost reached approximately $63.97 billion, with an average cost of $75,440.70 per Bitcoin.Strategy funded $15.7 million of the purchase using net proceeds from MSTR share sales. It covered the remaining $13 million with cash; the reported acquisition costs include fees and expenses.Metaplanet sells 10,000 Bitcoin and buys 11,000 BTCMetaplanet’s third-quarter transactions revealed a different approach to reserve management. The Japanese company sold 10,000 BTC and subsequently purchased 11,000 BTC, bringing its total holdings to 44,000 BTC as of September 30.According to the company’s official announcement, the transactions aimed to demonstrate its ability to convert Bitcoin reserves into cash when needed. Metaplanet intends to strengthen confidence in its creditworthiness and broaden access to financing options such as bonds and preferred shares.The company received approximately ¥124.7 billion from the sales and allocated roughly ¥149.9 billion to purchases. The average sale price was ¥12.47 million per Bitcoin, compared with an average purchase price of ¥13.63 million.Metaplanet also stated that it did not repay its existing debt as part of these transactions. After repurchasing Bitcoin, the company ended the quarter with a net increase of 1,000 BTC; the gross purchase of 11,000 BTC therefore does not represent an equivalent increase in reserves.Strive purchases approximately $169 million in BitcoinAccording to Strive CEO Matt Cole’s October 5 announcement, the company purchased 2,000 BTC for approximately $169 million. The average purchase price was $84,422 per Bitcoin, bringing total reserves to 29,462 BTC.Cole said 61.5% of the capital raised came through SATA, while warrants generated $56.7 million. He also noted that the company’s 8-K filing submitted that day included key financial metrics for the third quarter.Strive’s latest Bitcoin purchase was approximately six times the size of Strategy’s in BTC terms. Combined, the two companies announced purchases totaling 2,334 BTC, with spending of approximately $197.7 million.At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at $86,060.24. Bitmine adds 15,112 ETH to its Ethereum reservesOn the Ethereum side, Bitmine announced that it purchased 15,112 ETH over the past week. According to the company’s October 5 release, its total Ethereum holdings reached 6,016,414 ETH as of October 4.Bitmine said these holdings represent 4.9% of the total supply of approximately 122.1 million ETH. The company continues to pursue its goal of accumulating 5% of Ethereum’s supply.Chairman Tom Lee said the company has purchased ETH every week since launching its Ethereum treasury strategy on June 30, 2025. Bitmine has 5,067,309 ETH staked, representing approximately 84% of its total ETH reserves.The company reported a combined value of $17.4 billion for its crypto assets, cash, marketable securities, and other specified investments. It used a reference price of $2,726 per Ethereum for this calculation.At the time of writing, Ethereum is trading at around $2,716.62.
Citi Raises Bitcoin and Ethereum Targets to $113,000 and $3,028
Citigroup has raised its 12-month price forecasts for Bitcoin and Ethereum. The bank increased its Bitcoin target from $82,000 to $113,000 and its Ethereum target from $2,240 to $3,028.According to Reuters’ October 1 report, the revision stems from the bank’s September 30 research note. Citi cited stronger cryptocurrency market activity, macroeconomic conditions and renewed inflows into exchange-traded funds.Bitcoin target rises nearly 38%The new forecast represents a $31,000 increase from Citi’s previous Bitcoin target. The difference between the two targets amounts to an upward revision of approximately 37.8%.For Ethereum, the revision amounts to $788. This brings the increase in its 12-month price target to approximately 35.2%.These percentages reflect the changes between the bank’s previous and updated forecasts. Calculating potential returns from current market prices requires comparing the targets with prices at the time of trading.Based on the price levels cited in CoinDesk’s report, Citi’s targets implied approximately 35% upside for Bitcoin and 12% for Ethereum. However, the forecasts cover the next 12 months; they are not presented as year-end 2026 targets.Gradual growth expected in ETF demandInvestment advisers’ and brokerages’ allocations to Bitcoin play an important role in Citi’s assessment. The bank expects inflows into cryptocurrency investment products to grow at a slower but steady pace as these firms gradually increase Bitcoin’s share of their portfolios.Projected inflows over the next 12 months stand at $5 billion. This expectation represents one of the demand assumptions supporting the bank’s price targets.The recent performance of U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs also points to a recovery in demand. According to September 25 data, the funds had attracted approximately $800 million in net inflows since the start of the year.On July 13, those same funds had recorded year-to-date net outflows of $5.8 billion. Capital returning between the summer and late September therefore fully offset the year’s earlier outflows.The six-day inflow streak covered in the September 25 report totaled $2.84 billion. These figures show a substantial recovery in ETF demand ahead of Citi’s forecast revision.Still, cumulative annual inflows remained below the totals for the previous two years. According to the same source, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs attracted $35.2 billion in net inflows in 2024 and $21.4 billion in 2025.Treasury yields continue to weigh on prices in the short termAs Citi announced its higher price targets, Bitcoin remained sensitive to macroeconomic data. A rally following softer-than-expected U.S. inflation figures failed to produce sustained gains.Bitcoin briefly climbed above $85,500 the previous day. It subsequently pulled back to trade just above $83,700.The report identified elevated U.S. Treasury yields as one of the factors limiting gains in the cryptocurrency market. The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield hovered around 5.3%, while the 30-year yield remained near its highest levels since 2002. These conditions illustrate how long-term price expectations and daily market movements can move in different directions. While sustained ETF inflows feature prominently in Citi’s forecast, inflation data, interest rate expectations and bond market movements continue to influence short-term prices.
Bitmine’s Ethereum Holdings Surpass 6 Million ETH
Bitmine Immersion Technologies announced that it purchased 17,362 Ethereum over the past week. According to the company’s September 28 announcement, its total holdings reached 6,001,302 ETH.The latest purchase brings Bitmine closer to its goal of accumulating 5% of Ethereum’s supply. The company estimates that its current holdings represent approximately 4.9% of the total ETH supply.Bitmine purchased over 17,000 Ethereum last weekChairman Tom Lee said the company acquired 17,362 ETH over the past week. Lee also stated that Bitmine has purchased ETH every week since launching its Ethereum treasury strategy on June 30, 2025.The latest addition pushed the company’s Ethereum holdings above 6 million within approximately 15 months. Through its strategy, called “Alchemy of 5%,” Bitmine aims to acquire 5% of Ethereum’s total supply.According to The Block, the company did not disclose the average price of its latest purchases. At the prices cited in the report, 17,362 ETH was worth approximately $46.7 million; however, this figure does not represent a purchase cost disclosed by the company.This distinction matters when assessing treasury updates. The market value of a company’s crypto holdings changes with prices, while its acquisition cost depends on the prices at which it completed the purchases.Total asset value reaches $17.2 billionBitmine reported a combined value of $17.2 billion for its crypto assets, cash, marketable securities and other investments. The company’s September 27 valuation uses a reference price of $2,698 per Ethereum.Alongside Ethereum, the portfolio includes 213 Bitcoin. Bitmine also reported $672 million in cash and marketable securities, a $180 million investment in Beast Industries and a $115 million stake in Eightco Holdings.The $17.2 billion figure therefore represents the combined value of several asset categories. It does not indicate the total amount the company has spent on Ethereum purchases.Approximately 84% of holdings are stakedStaking also plays a significant role in Bitmine’s strategy. The company reported that it had staked 5,067,309 ETH as of September 27.This amount represents approximately 84% of its total Ethereum holdings. Bitmine projected annualized staking revenue of $358 million from its current operations.Staking allows asset holders participating in Ethereum’s validation process to earn rewards. Alongside exposure to price changes, generating income from its holdings is therefore another component of the company’s Ethereum strategy.Bitmine projects that annualized rewards could reach $424 million if it stakes its entire Ethereum treasury through the MAVAN platform and its staking partners. This calculation assumes an annualized yield of 2.62%; it does not represent realized annual revenue.Tom Lee expects institutional demand to increaseTom Lee said he believes institutions’ allocations to crypto assets remain low. He also expects institutional investors to increase their exposure during the final months of the year.Lee’s comments reflect management’s market outlook. Bitmine’s latest announcement highlights two concrete developments accompanying that outlook: its Ethereum holdings have surpassed 6 million ETH, while the amount allocated to staking remains above 5 million ETH.
Strive, Strategy and Bitmine Make New Purchases: Bitcoin and Ethereum Reserves Grow
Strive purchased 1,355 Bitcoin for approximately $107.7 million last week. The company’s total holdings reached 26,355 BTC, while TD Cowen raised its price target for ASST shares from $32 to $44.The company paid an average of $79,475 per Bitcoin for purchases made between September 14 and 18. As Bitcoin climbed to approximately $85,600 on Monday, the market value of Strive’s holdings exceeded $2.25 billion.The latest purchase increased the company’s previous holdings of 25,000 BTC by approximately 5.4%. However, growth in total holdings does not necessarily translate into an equivalent increase in Bitcoin per share.SATA and warrants stand out in fundingOne development accompanying Strive’s Bitcoin accumulation was the start of exercises of warrants tied to its common stock. Investors exercised approximately 786,000 warrants last week, generating $21.2 million in gross proceeds for the company.Warrants give holders the right to purchase company shares under specified conditions. Exercising these rights provides cash to the company and can increase its share count.Meanwhile, preferred shares trading under the SATA ticker accounted for 57.7% of the capital the company raised during the week. SATA traded near its $100 par value on Monday.This funding structure shows that Strive uses multiple capital instruments to support its Bitcoin purchases. Assessing the company’s reserve growth therefore requires tracking changes in its share count alongside new funding.The amount of capital raised during the week and the money spent on Bitcoin purchases are also separate figures. The $21.2 million generated through warrant exercises represents only part of the company’s disclosed funding.TD Cowen raises its Bitcoin accumulation forecastTD Cowen analysts Lance Vitanza and Jonnathan Navarrete said Strive was accumulating Bitcoin faster than expected. They also cited growth in Bitcoin held per fully diluted share as a reason for raising their price target.The firm’s new $44 target for ASST represents a 37.5% increase from its previous $32 estimate. However, a price target does not guarantee that the stock will reach that level.TD Cowen also raised its forecast for Strive’s Bitcoin holdings at the end of 2026. Its previous estimate of 27,156 BTC increased to 32,105 BTC.That scenario implies Strive would add another 5,750 BTC to its current holdings by year-end. The forecast assumes the company will continue making purchases during the remainder of the year.The analysts also raised their full-year “BTC Yield” forecast from 54.1% to 70.1%. This metric measures changes in Bitcoin per share; it does not directly represent stock returns or interest income.ASST shares fall in early tradingDespite the higher price target, ASST shares fell approximately 1.5% during Monday’s early trading hours. The stock traded around $29.65 after reaching $31.50 in premarket trading.Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s rise above $85,000 supported the market value of Strive’s holdings. However, the company’s shares did not mirror Bitcoin’s gains.Strive’s announcement came on the same day as Strategy’s latest Bitcoin purchase disclosure. Strategy said it had acquired 950 BTC for approximately $75.7 million.Strive therefore purchased 405 BTC more than Strategy in the reported weekly acquisitions. However, Strategy’s total holdings remained substantially larger at 846,000 BTC.
Strategy Bought No Bitcoin as Two Rivals Added $105 Million in Crypto
Corporate crypto treasury strategies continued to diverge last week. Strategy, the world’s largest corporate Bitcoin holder, made no new purchases. Meanwhile, Strive and BitMine acquired approximately $105 million worth of cryptocurrencies.Strategy said it neither purchased nor sold Bitcoin between September 7 and September 13.As a result, Strategy’s holdings remained unchanged at 845,050 BTC. The company acquired these assets for a total of $63.73 billion. Its average purchase price stands at $75,412 per Bitcoin, including fees and expenses.Strategy’s dollar-denominated assets declined by approximately $140 million last week. Its US dollar reserve and available cash fell to a combined $6.4 billion.Strategy repurchased its own shares instead of BitcoinAlthough Strategy made no new Bitcoin purchases, it allocated funds to capital management. The company repurchased more than 1.4 million of its own shares for approximately $139.3 million.This expenditure accounts for most of the weekly decline in Strategy’s dollar assets. The company currently holds a $5.1 billion US dollar reserve. It also has approximately $1.3 billion in cash available for broader purposes.The reserve aims to cover preferred stock dividends and interest payments on outstanding debt. The company can use its other cash resources for broader purposes, including Bitcoin purchases and share buybacks.Strategy completed its latest Bitcoin purchase at the end of August. The company paid $369.7 million for 4,603 BTC. The transaction carried an average price of $80,318 per Bitcoin.Strive added 469 BTC to its reserveWhile Strategy paused its purchases, Strive expanded its Bitcoin reserve. The company acquired 469 BTC for $36.6 million.Strive paid an average price of $77,954 per Bitcoin, including fees and expenses. This figure was close to Bitcoin’s recent market price.The company therefore continued its strategy of building a corporate Bitcoin treasury. Strive previously used several financing transactions to expand its holdings.The latest purchase came during a week when Strategy remained on the sidelines. The development highlights the two Bitcoin treasury companies’ different short-term capital allocation decisions.BitMine purchased 27,180 ETHBitMine completed one of the week’s largest corporate cryptocurrency purchases. The company announced that it had added another 27,180 ETH to its reserve. Based on the disclosed price of $2,513, the acquired Ether was worth approximately $68.3 million. The purchase increased BitMine’s total Ethereum holdings to 5,956,378 ETH.The company’s Ethereum reserve is currently worth approximately $15 billion. Its combined cryptocurrency, cash, marketable securities and other investments have reached $15.8 billion.BitMine continues to pursue its goal of controlling approximately 5% of Ethereum’s supply. The latest purchase brought the company another step closer to that target.Strive and BitMine purchased approximately $105 million worth of cryptocurrencies during the week. Strategy instead allocated capital to repurchasing its own shares. The companies therefore followed different treasury management strategies amid the prevailing market conditions.
Strive Bought Bitcoin, Bitmine Accumulated ETH: Strategy Made No Purchases
Activity in corporate crypto treasuries picked up again. Strive bought $109 million worth of Bitcoin last week, while Bitmine added more than 28,000 ETH. Strategy, meanwhile, paused Bitcoin purchases during the same period.Strive’s latest purchase lifted its Bitcoin holdings to 24,531 BTC. Bitmine increased its Ethereum treasury to 5.93 million ETH, equivalent to roughly 4.9% of the circulating supply.Strategy, the largest corporate Bitcoin holder, took a different path. The company made no Bitcoin purchases last week and instead repurchased STRC preferred shares.Strive buys $109 million worth of BitcoinStrive purchased a total of 1,375 Bitcoin between Aug. 31 and Sept. 4. The company spent approximately $109 million on the new BTC.According to an 8-K filing submitted to the SEC, the purchases were made at an average price of $79,281 per Bitcoin. Strive’s total holdings therefore increased from 23,156 BTC to 24,531 BTC. The company also strengthened its cash position during the week. Cash and cash equivalents rose from $183.5 million to $202.6 million.Strive’s position in STRC shares issued by Strategy remained unchanged. The company continues to hold 505,000 STRC shares.CEO Matt Cole previously said Strive could become the world’s second-largest publicly traded Bitcoin treasury by the end of 2026. The latest purchases show that the company continues to accumulate Bitcoin toward that goal.Bitmine buys another 28,000 ETHOne of the largest Ethereum purchases of the week came from Bitmine Immersion Technologies. The company acquired another 28,086 ETH.Bitmine’s total Ethereum holdings reached 5,929,198 ETH as of Sept. 7. Based on an ETH price of $2,495, the company valued the position at around $14.8 billion. That amount represents around 4.9% of Ethereum’s roughly 122 million token supply. Bitmine is therefore approaching its previously announced target of accumulating 5% of the Ethereum supply.The company is also putting most of its ETH to work through staking. A total of 5,067,309 ETH is currently deployed through staking systems.The staked amount represents roughly 85% of Bitmine’s total ETH holdings. The company estimates that its current staking position could generate around $330 million in annual revenue.Bitmine said annual staking revenue could rise to approximately $386 million if all of its ETH holdings were staked. The estimate is based on a seven-day annualized yield of 2.61%. The company’s balance sheet also includes 211 BTC. Bitmine reported $593 million in cash and marketable securities.Strategy made no Bitcoin purchases last weekStrategy, the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, ended the week without adding to its position. The company said it neither bought nor sold Bitcoin between Aug. 31 and Sept. 7. Strategy’s total Bitcoin holdings therefore remained unchanged at 845,050 BTC. The company acquired those coins for a total cost of $63.73 billion.Strategy’s average Bitcoin purchase price stands at around $75,412. Its holdings represent more than 4% of Bitcoin’s maximum supply of 21 million coins. Instead of buying Bitcoin, Strategy directed capital toward its own financial products last week. The company repurchased 1.81 million STRC preferred shares for approximately $176.3 million.It also doubled the size of its Digital Credit Securities Repurchase Program from $1 billion to $2 billion. Strategy funded the repurchases through its U.S. dollar reserves. Corporate crypto treasuries pursue different strategiesThe latest disclosures highlight the growing differences between corporate crypto treasury strategies. Strive continues to expand its Bitcoin holdings, while Bitmine is aggressively accumulating Ethereum.Strategy is taking a more cautious approach for now. The company is maintaining its massive Bitcoin position while placing greater emphasis on balance sheet management.Bitmine’s model also puts staking income at the center of its strategy. The company aims to generate additional cash flow from the Ethereum held on its balance sheet.Strive, meanwhile, is focused on climbing the rankings of public Bitcoin treasury companies. The latest moves from all three firms show that the corporate crypto treasury race is increasingly shaped by more than just the amount of BTC or ETH held.
Standard Chartered Launches Bitcoin and Ethereum Spot Trading in the UAE
Standard Chartered has started offering Bitcoin and Ethereum spot trading to institutional clients in the United Arab Emirates. The bank has become the first global systemically important bank to provide this service in the country.The new service is offered through Standard Chartered’s unit in the Dubai International Financial Centre. Eligible institutional clients can directly trade Bitcoin and Ether.The bank also said it is the only global bank in the region offering digital asset spot trading to institutional clients. The service is built on Standard Chartered’s existing crypto custody infrastructure.Standard Chartered integrates Bitcoin and Ethereum into its FX systemStandard Chartered’s new service supports BTC/USD and ETH/USD trading pairs. Transactions are carried out through the bank’s existing electronic trading channels.As a result, institutional clients do not need to use a separate platform for crypto trading. Bitcoin and Ether have been integrated into the same FX interfaces clients already use for foreign exchange transactions.The product is also structured as deliverable spot trading rather than a derivative. Once a transaction is completed, clients directly receive the relevant digital asset.On the custody side, clients are given flexibility. Institutions can continue using their preferred custody provider.Alternatively, they can use Standard Chartered’s own digital asset custody service. The bank launched this custody offering in the UAE in September 2024.Institutional crypto infrastructure expands in the UAEThe new service is provided through Standard Chartered DIFC, which is regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority. According to the bank, the UAE’s regulatory framework for digital assets is helping support broader institutional participation.Rola Abu Manneh, CEO of Standard Chartered UAE, Middle East and Pakistan, said the Bitcoin and Ether trading service expands the bank’s regulated digital asset offering.Abu Manneh also highlighted the integration of trading, custody and governance services within the same banking infrastructure. Through this structure, Standard Chartered aims to make access to crypto markets easier for institutional clients.The UAE has become an important hub for crypto companies and traditional financial institutions in recent years. Standard Chartered’s decision to expand spot trading services into the region further supports the development of this institutional infrastructure.Standard Chartered continues to expand its crypto servicesThe UAE is not Standard Chartered’s first market for Bitcoin and Ethereum spot trading. The bank began offering institutional clients spot BTC and ETH trading through its UK branch in July 2025.With that launch, Standard Chartered became the first global systemically important bank to offer deliverable Bitcoin and Ether spot trading. The UAE rollout now extends the existing service into the Middle East.The bank’s digital asset strategy is not limited to Bitcoin and Ethereum trading. Standard Chartered is also developing services in crypto custody, trading and tokenization.The company also remains active in digital asset infrastructure through ventures including Zodia Markets and Libeara. In July, Standard Chartered also launched a service with Circle that allows institutional clients to mint and redeem USDC.
Strategy, Strive and BitMine Buy 6,403 BTC and 53,501 ETH
Strategy, Strive and BitMine expanded their cryptocurrency reserves in the final week of August. Strategy and Strive purchased a combined 6,403 BTC, while BitMine added 53,501 ETH to its Ethereum portfolio.Strategy and Strive spent a total of $512.7 million on their Bitcoin purchases. BitMine’s latest ETH acquisition was worth approximately $134 million based on the price cited in its announcement.The latest disclosures show that publicly traded crypto treasury companies have returned to buying. Strategy also combined its purchase with common stock sales, cash management and STRC share repurchases.Strategy bought Bitcoin after a 10-week pauseAccording to figures disclosed by Strategy, the company purchased 4,603 BTC for $369.7 million between August 24 and August 30. The average purchase price was $80,318 per Bitcoin, including fees and expenses.The transaction marked Strategy’s first Bitcoin purchase in approximately 10 weeks. Its total holdings consequently increased to 845,050 BTC.The company’s Bitcoin portfolio has an aggregate purchase cost of $63.73 billion. Its average purchase price across the entire portfolio stands at $75,412 per Bitcoin.Strategy funded the purchase through sales of its Class A MSTR common stock. The company sold 4.53 million MSTR shares during the week, generating net proceeds of $602.8 million.It allocated $369.7 million of the proceeds to the Bitcoin purchase. Strategy also repurchased 1.56 million STRC preferred shares for $151.8 million.Another $50.7 million funded STRC dividend payments. The company transferred the remaining $30 million to its more flexible USD Cash account.Strategy’s USD Cash balance increased to $1.61 billion. Its USD Reserve, which supports preferred stock dividends and debt interest payments, remained at $5.1 billion.Strive purchased 1,800 BTCStrive announced that it purchased 1,800 BTC for $143 million during the same week. The average purchase price was $79,431 per Bitcoin, including fees and expenses.According to figures shared by Strive CEO Matt Cole, the company’s total Bitcoin holdings increased from 21,356 BTC to 23,156 BTC. Strive therefore expanded its reserves by approximately 8.4 percent in one week.The latest acquisition strengthened Strive’s position among the largest publicly traded corporate Bitcoin holders. The company ranks sixth in the Bitcoin Treasuries list with 23,156 BTC. Strategy and Strive added a combined 6,403 BTC to their reserves through their latest purchases. The two companies spent a total of $512.7 million on the transactions.BitMine added 53,501 ETHBitMine also expanded its Ethereum reserves during the same period. The company announced that it purchased 53,501 ETH last week.According to BitMine’s weekly update, its total holdings reached 5,901,112 ETH. This amount represents approximately 4.9 percent of Ethereum’s circulating supply.BitMine has now completed 98 percent of its goal to acquire 5 percent of the Ethereum supply. The company has also purchased ETH for 65 consecutive weeks since launching its treasury strategy in June 2025.BitMine currently uses 5.07 million ETH in staking systems. This amount represents approximately 86 percent of its total Ethereum reserves.The combined value of the company’s crypto assets, cash, marketable securities and other investments reached $15.6 billion. Its portfolio also includes 211 BTC and $541 million in cash and marketable securities.Share sales will also remain in focusThe three announcements show that corporate cryptocurrency purchases accelerated at the end of August. Strategy and Strive remain focused on Bitcoin, while BitMine continues accumulating Ethereum and generating staking income.However, the funding sources behind these purchases remain important. Common stock sales can create dilution for existing shareholders even when a company’s total crypto reserves grow.Investors may therefore need to look beyond the total amount of BTC or ETH held. Crypto assets per share, cash reserves and financing costs will also influence the performance of these companies.
Bitcoin and Ethereum Outline Two Separate Quantum Protection Plans
Bitcoin and Ethereum researchers have introduced separate proposals addressing the risks posed by quantum computers. Bitcoin’s SHRINCS system offers quantum-resistant signatures while limiting the loss of network capacity.The Ethereum draft would allow validators to deposit funds using quantum-resistant keys. The network could eventually stop accepting new validators using the existing BLS format.Both projects remain at an early stage. They require technical reviews and community support before either network can adopt them.SHRINCS proposed for Bitcoin transactionsBlockstream researchers Jonas Nick and Mikhail Kudinov published the SHRINCS proposal on August 27. The system aims to protect Bitcoin transactions against quantum attacks.Bitcoin uses digital signatures based on elliptic-curve cryptography to prove ownership. Users can spend their bitcoin without revealing their private keys.A sufficiently powerful quantum computer could break this protection using Shor’s algorithm. An attacker could calculate a private key from a public key visible onchain.The attacker could then forge a signature and transfer the bitcoin to another address. The risk primarily concerns addresses whose public keys have already appeared on the blockchain.Older address formats and wallets that have previously made transactions fall into this category. The estimated 1.1 million BTC associated with Satoshi Nakamoto may also face this risk.SHRINCS limits the loss of network capacityLarge data requirements create one of the main problems for quantum-resistant signatures. Some systems standardized by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology are dozens of times larger than current Bitcoin signatures.Larger signatures leave less room for transactions inside Bitcoin blocks. This reduces the number of transfers the network can process each second.Blockstream estimates Bitcoin could process about 6.5 transactions per second using only Schnorr signatures. That figure could fall to 0.36 transactions with the NIST-standardized SLH-DSA system.SHRINCS aims to keep capacity at approximately three transactions per second. Its signatures start at 324 bytes and grow by around 16 bytes with each key use.The proposal’s 580-byte configuration can support roughly three transactions per second. Bitcoin’s existing Schnorr signatures are 64 bytes.Although SHRINCS signatures start at about five times the size, they do not consume five times more block capacity. SegWit applies a weight discount to the transaction section containing signature data.The system also relies on SHA-256, which Bitcoin already uses in mining. Its security therefore does not depend on an entirely new mathematical assumption.SHRINCS is not ready for productionSHRINCS creates a fresh, one-time key for every transaction signature. Wallets must accurately track which keys they have already used.Records must remain synchronized across phones, hardware wallets and backups. Restoring an older wallet backup could complicate key management.The researchers have not completed a formal security proof for the system. The reference software has also not undergone a comprehensive security audit.Blockstream tested SHRINCS-signed transactions on the Liquid network in March. Adding the system to Bitcoin would require a backward-compatible soft fork.Ethereum prepares to change validator keysEthereum researchers published a separate draft one day before the Bitcoin proposal. It would rebuild the deposit contract through which validators join the network.Validators lock ETH to help secure Ethereum and confirm transactions. The current contract accepts only a cryptographic key format known as BLS.BLS can combine hundreds of thousands of signatures into a single signature. This feature helps keep Ethereum’s consensus costs manageable.BLS also relies on elliptic-curve mathematics. A sufficiently powerful quantum computer could potentially forge a validator’s signature.Ethereum’s existing contract hard-codes the size of BLS keys. The network therefore cannot currently accept quantum-resistant keys of different sizes.The draft would allow the deposit contract to register different key types. Each deposit would carry a tag identifying its cryptographic system.BLS keys would use tag zero. Ethereum developers could later introduce additional tags for quantum-resistant systems.New BLS deposits could be permanently disabledIf Ethereum adopts the proposal, BLS keys would remain operational initially. Alternative signature systems could register through the same contract.A later upgrade could permanently disable new deposits using BLS keys. Existing BLS validators would remain active, while new participants would need different keys.Approximately 42.4 million ETH is currently staked on Ethereum. These assets are worth about $104 billion at current prices.The draft would make the deposit contract more flexible, but it would not complete the migration. Ethereum would also need a separate upgrade explaining how to verify the new signatures.EIP-8141, currently under consideration for the Hegotá upgrade, proposes a similar transition for user accounts. It would allow accounts to change their transaction authorization system without moving to a new address.The Ethereum Foundation aims to complete the core protocol changes around 2029. Bitcoin currently has no confirmed implementation timeline for SHRINCS.
Crypto Treasury Companies Hit the Brakes: BitMine Cuts ETH Purchases, Strategy Sells Bitcoin
Public companies accumulating cryptocurrencies have started to ease off their aggressive buying strategies. BitMine Immersion Technologies recorded its smallest weekly Ethereum purchase of 2026, while Strategy sold part of its Bitcoin holdings and used the proceeds to repurchase shares.Both transactions suggest that crypto treasury companies are placing greater emphasis on capital management alongside digital asset accumulation. BitMine has been buying back its own shares, while Strategy strengthened its cash reserves and retired part of its preferred stock.BitMine’s Ethereum purchases slow downBitMine, the world’s largest Ethereum treasury company, purchased 7,391 ETH last week. Worth approximately $14.2 million, the transaction marked the company’s smallest weekly Ethereum acquisition of 2026.The purchase lifted BitMine’s total holdings to 5.81 million ETH. The company now controls approximately 4.8% of Ethereum’s total supply. The latest transaction also extended BitMine’s uninterrupted ETH buying streak to 58 weeks.However, the weekly purchase remained far below the acquisitions of more than 100,000 ETH that the company completed earlier this year. BitMine Chairman Thomas Lee previously said the company would slow its buying pace as it approached its goal of owning 5% of Ethereum’s supply.BitMine has shifted its focus toward share repurchases during this period. The company bought back 3 million BMNR shares last week for an estimated $50 million to $58 million. Its total share repurchases since July have now reached 19.1 million shares.BitMine also holds 209 BTC, $104 million in cash and marketable securities, as well as stakes in Beast Industries and Eightco Holdings.Strategy sells 1,690 BitcoinBitcoin treasury company Strategy sold 1,690 BTC last week, raising $108.6 million. The Bitcoin was sold at an average price of $64,262 after fees and expenses. The company used the entire amount to repurchase shares of its variable-rate preferred stock, STRC. Strategy bought back 1,152,020 STRC shares for $108.6 million.Following the sale, Strategy’s Bitcoin holdings fell to 840,447 BTC. The company acquired these coins for a total of $63.36 billion at an average purchase price of $75,385.Strategy also raised another $653.1 million by selling 6.59 million shares of common stock during the same week. It transferred $650 million of the proceeds to its dollar reserve, lifting the balance to $4.65 billion as of August 9.Companies turn their attention to capital managementBitMine’s smaller Ethereum purchases and Strategy’s Bitcoin sale point to a new phase in corporate crypto treasury strategies. Companies are placing greater weight on share repurchases, cash reserves and financing costs as they manage their digital asset holdings.Thomas Lee also expressed disappointment that the CLARITY Act failed to secure a Senate vote before the August recess. Still, he said softer inflation and employment data could ease financial conditions, creating a supportive environment for the crypto market.
World’s Largest Asset Manager Brings $311 Billion Fund Suite to Ethereum
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, launched its first tokenized fund access in Europe on Tuesday. Working with JPMorgan’s Kinexys platform, the company created onchain share classes on the Ethereum blockchain.The initiative covers funds from BlackRock’s Institutional Cash Series (ICS) money market range. These funds held a combined $311 billion in assets under management as of June 30, so this is far from a small pilot project.According to BlackRock, Kinexys acts as a translation layer between onchain transactions and the funds’ traditional recordkeeping systems. Each token represents a share in an ICS fund, while the official shareholder register remains with the fund’s transfer agent.In other words, blockchain does not change the legal ownership structure. It digitizes the access and transfer layer.A total of 12 tokenized share classes across six fund families are now available: Euro Government Liquidity, Sterling Government Liquidity, U.S. Treasury, Euro Liquidity, Sterling Liquidity and U.S. Dollar Liquidity.Smart contracts allow approved investors to transfer shares directly between wallets around the clock, seven days a week. The structure continues to generate yield, while fund movements can be tracked onchain in near real time.Hannah Winter, head of BlackRock’s Digital Cash business, said tokenized money market funds bring short-term investment instruments into a digital format without compromising capital preservation, liquidity or risk management standards.How will institutions use the funds?According to the announcement, the tokenized share classes can support institutional cash management, digital collateral management, bank distribution channels and integration with broader tokenized financial ecosystems. Access is currently limited to 15 markets.The onchain share classes are available to investors in Bermuda, Estonia, France, Germany, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Singapore and the United Kingdom.Lithuania’s inclusion on the list indicates that the country’s digital asset infrastructure is also becoming an attractive destination for institutional players.Tokenization has been on BlackRock’s agenda for yearsThis step is not a one-off experiment for BlackRock. In an article published by The Economist in December 2025, CEO Larry Fink and COO Rob Goldstein argued that tokenization could accelerate transaction settlement, reduce operational friction in private markets and expand investment access by recording asset ownership on blockchain-based ledgers.The European launch came only one day after BlackRock unveiled two tokenized money market products designed for stablecoin reserves. BRSRV is a newly established fund, while BSTBL tokenizes share classes of the company’s existing Select Treasury Based Liquidity Fund.Both products invest primarily in cash, short-term U.S. Treasury bills and overnight Treasury-backed repurchase agreements.The move also aligns with the objective outlined last month by BlackRock Chief Financial Officer Martin Small. During the company’s second-quarter earnings call, Small said BlackRock’s ultimate goal was to allow investors to access tokenized Treasury funds, iShares ETFs and private-market investments through digital wallets alongside crypto assets and stablecoins.
Bitcoin and Ethereum Options Worth $10.4 Billion Expired Today
The crypto options market saw a major expiration event on July 31. According to data shared by Wu Blockchain, 149,000 Bitcoin options contracts expired, carrying a total notional value of $9.6 billion.The put-call ratio came in at 0.28. The calculation is relatively straightforward: the number of put options in the market is divided by the number of call options. A low ratio of 0.28 means that call options outnumbered put options by nearly four to one. The overwhelming majority of the expiring positions were opened on the assumption that Bitcoin’s price would rise.The most actively traded strike price was $64,000. A strike price determines the level at which an options contract gives its holder the right to buy or sell the underlying asset.For example, an investor holding a Bitcoin call option with a $64,000 strike has the right to purchase Bitcoin at that price when the contract expires. The fact that $64,000 attracted the highest activity shows that market attention was heavily concentrated around this level.Ethereum presented a more mixed pictureOn the same day, 435,000 Ethereum options contracts also expired, with a total notional value of $830 million. Ethereum’s put-call ratio stood at 0.63, showing a considerably more balanced distribution than Bitcoin.As the ratio of put options to call options rises, the market can be described as more cautious about the price outlook, or at least more willing to seek downside protection. The most active strike price for Ethereum was recorded at $1,850.What do current prices indicate?Bitcoin is currently trading near $63,900, down a negligible 0.05% over the past 24 hours. The picture changes slightly when the timeframe expands, as Bitcoin has lost 2.29% over the past week.Despite the weekly decline, Bitcoin has gained 8.89% over the past 30 days. The recent cooling has therefore failed to disrupt the broader upward trend.The chart supports this view. Bitcoin traded near $65,600 on July 27 before fluctuating between $63,600 and $65,200 throughout the week. The price later slipped to around $63,978. The key detail is that the $64,000 strike price was almost identical to Bitcoin’s spot price at expiration. This means that a large share of the contracts were positioned around the current market price rather than a distant speculative target.That proximity makes the low put-call ratio more significant. Market participants appeared to expect Bitcoin to break above this price region.Ethereum’s price action tells a slightly different story. ETH is currently trading near $1,887, down 0.79% over the past 24 hours and 0.34% over the past week.The main difference appears in its monthly performance. Ethereum has gained 19.60% over the past 30 days, more than twice Bitcoin’s monthly return.The chart points to a similar pattern. Ethereum traded near $1,960 on July 27 before moving within a range of $1,880 to $1,940 during the week. It later declined to approximately $1,890.Ethereum’s $1,850 strike price also remained just below the spot price, with a gap of roughly $40. This proximity partly explains why Ethereum’s put-call ratio was more balanced than Bitcoin’s.When the spot price trades this close to a major strike level, investors can more easily open positions on both sides of the market for hedging purposes.Large options expirations often generate short-term volatility in the crypto market. Options writers may open positions in spot or futures markets to manage their exposure, especially when the spot price remains close to major strike levels.This hedging activity can trigger sudden and temporary price movements as expiration approaches. Part of the volatility seen in Bitcoin and Ethereum during the week may be linked to these adjustments.It is difficult to draw a long-term conclusion from a single day of options data. Still, Bitcoin’s low put-call ratio and the strong monthly performance of both assets suggest that the broader market trend remains upward despite the recent short-term cooling.
Kimi K3 Shock Pulls Bitcoin Down to $63,000
Bitcoin, Ethereum and other major cryptocurrencies fell on Friday. The sell-off was mainly attributed to Beijing-based Moonshot AI releasing a free artificial intelligence model that outperformed Anthropic’s best model in coding tasks.Moonshot unveiled Kimi K3 on Thursday. By Friday morning, AI and semiconductor stocks were falling across Asian markets. Market participants dubbed the event the “Kimi moment,” a reference to the DeepSeek shock that erased nearly $600 billion from Nvidia’s market value in a single session 18 months ago.What does the model do?Moonshot’s model has 2.8 trillion parameters and a context window of one million tokens. That makes it roughly four times larger than the previous version.K3 uses a mixture-of-experts architecture. For each task, it activates only 16 of its 896 internal experts. This keeps operating costs relatively low despite the model’s size. According to information shared in the company’s technical blog, the architectural changes provide around 2.5 times greater scaling efficiency than the previous model.K3 ranked first on Arena’s Frontend Code leaderboard with a score of 1,679. Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5 followed with 1,631 points, while OpenAI’s GPT-5.6 scored 1,618.K3 led six of the seven categories. Moonshot’s previous model ranked 18th on the same leaderboard, meaning the company climbed 17 places with a single release. However, K3 still trails the top configurations from Claude and OpenAI in general knowledge and reasoning tests. Its advantage is therefore concentrated in a specific field rather than extending across every category.The licensing terms are causing more concern in markets than the pricing itself. K3 is an open-weight model, and Moonshot plans to make the full version publicly available on July 27. Anyone will be able to download the model and run it on their own hardware free of charge.Anthropic released Fable 5 last month, while OpenAI launched GPT-5.6 a week ago. Both are closed-source, paid models. The assumption supporting hundreds of billions of dollars in AI infrastructure spending was that the most advanced models would remain scarce, expensive and primarily American. A free Chinese model taking the top spot in a coding leaderboard directly challenges that premise.Moonshot’s domestic rivals were among the hardest hit. Shares of Z.ai fell 27%, while MiniMax dropped around 16%.Domino effect across marketsBitcoin fell to around $63,000 on Friday. The cryptocurrency lost 1.7% over the previous 24 hours and 2.2% on a weekly basis.According to market data, ETH held near $1,836 and maintained a weekly gain of 2.4%. Hyperliquid suffered the steepest decline, falling 8% over 24 hours and 12% for the week. Bitcoin price Nasdaq 100 futures declined 1.8%, while S&P 500 futures dropped 0.9%. A semiconductor exchange-traded fund lost 3% in premarket trading. Taiwan’s stock market entered correction territory, while Asia’s main benchmark fell to its lowest level in two months. European markets proved relatively resilient because of their lower exposure to the technology sector.The central question behind the sell-off has been hanging over markets since the beginning of the month: Will the hundreds of billions of dollars invested by AI companies generate sufficient returns? TSMC’s results this week failed to provide a clear answer.The crypto market has been caught in the same current throughout the quarter. Softer inflation data pushed Bitcoin toward $65,000 earlier this week, although that move was driven by macroeconomic conditions. The sell-off in semiconductor stocks is now pulling prices in the opposite direction. The Federal Reserve will meet on July 28–29.The miners’ fragile betThe most tangible risk for the crypto sector lies in the business models of mining companies rather than in on-chain data. Over the past two years, Bitcoin miners have increasingly transformed themselves into landlords for AI data centers. They signed long-term contracts with model developers based on the assumption that demand for computing power used in training and inference would continue to rise.This strategy relies on scarcity. If advanced AI capabilities can be obtained for free through an open-source model that requires fewer resources, tenants may have less reason to sign these contracts. That could undermine the miner-to-AI transformation strategy that has supported the valuations of many publicly traded Bitcoin companies.DeepSeek’s release delivered the same lesson 18 months ago. The market reaction was sharp but brief. Nvidia recovered, Bitcoin rebounded and capital expenditure continued to rise.The difference this time may lie in how crypto is positioned. In January 2025, Bitcoin fell alongside technology stocks because it was treated as a risk asset during a risk-off session. In July 2026, it is behaving more like a leveraged reflection of the AI capital cycle. One week, it rises on the back of a Korean chip listing; the next, it falls after a new model announcement from China.K3’s model weights will become publicly available in ten days. That is when the market will find out whether its leaderboard performance holds up under broader scrutiny.
