Crypto Daily | Google Increases Stake in Bitcoin Miner TeraWulf; Michael Saylor Eases Strategy Stock-Sale Limits

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Google Increases Stake in Bitcoin Miner TeraWulf

TeraWulf shares gained nearly 5% Monday after the Bitcoin miner said it was expanding and that Google was upping its stake in the company. 

The Easton, Maryland-based firm said that Google will provide an incremental $1.4 billion backstop to support project-related debt financing, bringing its total stake to $3.2 billion. In exchange, Google will receive warrants to buy 32.5 million shares of the sustainable Bitcoin miner.

The latest agreement increases the tech giant's pro forma equity stake to 14% from a previously announced 8% share. 

Michael Saylor Eases Stock-Sale Limits as Bitcoin Premium Falls

Michael Saylor is already easing the funding limits he set just weeks ago, as market swings test his bold new playbook to grow his burgeoning Bitcoin stockpile.

After vowing to curb common share sales and rely instead on an exotic financing program known as the perpetual preferred stock, Strategy Inc. is now making room to issue equity below its previous self-imposed threshold. The shift gives Saylor, the co-founder and chairman of the largest crypto treasury company, more flexibility to keep raising cash and paying bills as his company’s once-rich premium to its Bitcoin holdings shrinks.

In late July, the firm pledged it would not sell new stock if its shares traded at less than 2.5 times the value of its Bitcoin holdings except for paying debt interest or preferred equity dividends, in a bid to reassure investors facing relentless waves of share dilution. That cushion, which Saylor dubs “mNAV premium,” has long been the company’s financing weapon, letting it raise cash at inflated prices and buy more Bitcoin at an effective discount.

Now, the firm says it will also allow stock issuance below that threshold “when otherwise deemed advantageous to the company.” The shift highlights how quickly Saylor’s grand ambition to go all-in on a novel strategy in favor of preferred stock is getting tested by questionable demand.

Ethereum Treasury Aims to Foil Short Sellers With 'Loyalty Payment' as Shares Trade at Discount to Holdings

Ethereum treasury firm BTCS has offered investors a one-time payment for making their shares illiquid on Monday, saying that it would help them foil Wall Street short sellers.

Those who hold BTCS shares with the company’s transfer agent will receive a “loyalty payment” of $0.35 per share in January, the company said in a press release, while unveiling a $0.05 dividend that will be payable in Ethereum in September as well.

BTCS shares rose 10.4% to $4.87 on Monday. Shares have cooled from a three-year high of $8.49 last month but are still up 97.2% year-to-date.

US Treasury Seeks Input on GENIUS Act Stablecoin Law

The U.S. Treasury Department is seeking new ideas for detecting and cutting off illicit crypto activity as it begins to put the new stablecoin law into effect.

The Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act — the first major U.S. law to erect a regulatory system in the crypto space — called for government action on limiting dangers from bad actors in digital assets, and the Treasury Department is asking for public comments "to identify innovative or novel methods, techniques, or strategies that regulated financial institutions use, or have the potential to use, to detect illicit activity, such as money laundering, involving digital assets."

The crypto sector will have a 60-day comment window to share industry views on clamping down on shady crypto use, according to the department's request on Monday.

SEC Punts on Trump Media Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF Decision, Plus XRP and Dogecoin Funds

The SEC will decide on the Truth Social Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF on October 8, likely after a rules change request from two exchanges that could shorten approval processes.

The agency delayed decisions on XRP funds from Grayscale, Bitwise, CoinShares, Canary Capital, and 21Shares.

It also pushed back deadlines on separate Dogecoin and Litecoin ETFs, and a proposal to add staking to an existing spot Ethereum ETF.

Bitcoin Treasury KindlyMD Closes $200 Million Raise to Buy More BTC

Bitcoin treasury KindlyMD has closed a $200 million convertible note offering that it will use to buy more BTC, the company announced Monday. 

The issuance is the latest step in the company's strategy to build its BTC holdings and adds to the $540 million that the company raised via a private placement in public equity (PIPE), which closed concurrently as it merged with Nakamoto Holdings. The combine company is retaining the KindlyMD name. 

"The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the Convertible Note offering to purchase more Bitcoin, as well as for working capital and general corporate purposes," KindlyMD said in a statement Friday. 

Metaplanet’s Bitcoin Treasury Swells to 18,888 BTC With Fresh Buy

Metaplanet Inc. bought an additional 775 Bitcoin for $93 million (¥13.733 billion) Monday, lifting the Tokyo-listed firm’s holdings to 18,888 BTC as it extends its Bitcoin treasury program.

The company said the tranche was executed at an average $120,000 (¥17,720,023) per coin, lifting its aggregate cost basis to $1.94 billion (¥284.097 billion) and its overall average purchase price to $102,000 (¥15,041,118) per Bitcoin.

“18,888 BTC. Onward and upward,” Metaplanet President Simon Gerovich tweeted, sharing the announcement.

Bitcoin & Ethereum Spot ETF Flow

The overall net outflow of the US Bitcoin spot ETF on Monday was $121.81 million. The total net asset value of Bitcoin spot ETFs is $150.89 billion, and the ETF net asset ratio (market value compared to total Bitcoin market value) is 6.55%.

The Bitcoin spot ETF with the highest net inflow on August 18 was Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB), with a net inflow of $12.66 million.

Source: SoSoValue

The overall net outflow of the US Ethereum spot ETF on Monday was $196.62 million. The total net asset value of Ethereum spot ETFs is $27.74 billion, and the ETF net asset ratio (market value compared to total Ethereum market value) is 5.34%.

The Ethereum spot ETF with the highest net outflow on August 18 was iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHA), with a net outflow of $87.16 million. Following that was Fidelity Ethereum Fund (FETH), with a net outflow of 78.4 million, according to SoSoValue.

Source: SoSoValue