Crypto World
Bitcoin’s complexity paradox: How layer-2 scalers became AI's main target

A string of incidents involving Coldcard, Lightning and Liquid highlights how AI is changing the economics of finding bugs in bitcoin infrastructure.
Crypto World
Bitmine Acquires 28,000 ETH, Reaches 97% of Treasury Target
Bitmine Immersion Technologies said it has added another tranche of Ether, tightening the gap between its current holdings and a long-stated corporate target to accumulate 5% of Ethereum’s total supply. The new purchase extends a streak of periodic ETH buys led by chairman Tom Lee, as the company positions its treasury around staking-linked yield.
In an announcement released Tuesday via PR Newswire, Bitmine reported acquiring 28,086 ETH last week. At the time of the filing, the company said the purchase is worth roughly $69.5 million, taking its total Ether holdings to 5.93 million tokens acquired at an average price of $2,495 per ETH.
Key takeaways
- Bitmine purchased 28,086 ETH last week, lifting total holdings to 5.93 million ETH.
- The company says its average acquisition cost is $2,495 per ETH and that the new stake-related positioning supports annualized staking revenue expectations.
- Bitmine reported it has completed 97% of its goal to reach 5% of Ethereum’s total supply within 15 months.
- Third-party tracking indicates Bitmine faces about $5.1 billion in unrealized losses on its Ether treasury, amid ETH weakness in 2026.
- Bitmine’s NYSE-listed shares were down more than 2% at Tuesday’s market open, according to Yahoo Finance.
Ether accumulation keeps the 5% goal in focus
Bitmine’s latest move builds on an acquisition campaign that has been closely tied to its stated objective of owning a substantial share of Ethereum. In the same PR Newswire release, the company said it has now completed 97% of the plan, with the timing framed around a 15-month window.
Just days earlier, Bitmine said it completed a 53,501 ETH purchase, which pushed its holdings to about 4.9% of Ethereum’s 120.7 million circulating supply. With the newest addition, the company is drawing nearer to a target that would make it one of the most concentrated corporate Ether treasuries globally.
Bitmine also reiterated its leadership role in the effort. Earlier coverage from Cointelegraph described Bitmine’s ongoing Ether buying streak and Tom Lee’s involvement in steering the treasury strategy.
How the treasury is financed: assets, staking, and expected revenue
Beyond the headline purchases, Bitmine provided a snapshot of its balance sheet. The company said it has $15.7 billion in total assets, including $593 million in marketable securities, cash and other cryptocurrency holdings. It also reported 5.1 million Ether is staked.
The release connects that staking position to an outlook for yield, stating that staked ETH is expected to generate $330 million in annualized staking revenue. Separately, Cointelegraph has previously covered similar staking-related dynamics in the context of evolving institutional Ethereum access, including Fidelity’s staking-linked developments reported around an ETF filing.
For investors, the practical significance is that Bitmine’s strategy is not only about accumulating ETH at scale, but also about capturing ongoing network rewards. That can influence how shareholders evaluate the company’s treasury performance during drawdowns—particularly when ETH’s spot price fluctuates while staking economics continue to accrue.
Mark-to-market pressure remains as Ether trades lower
Even with an aggressive accumulation plan, Bitmine’s reported performance is constrained by the market’s direction. According to Dropstab data cited in the article, the company is facing $5.1 billion in unrealized losses on its Ether holdings.
The pressure aligns with broader price weakness in 2026. Ether has fallen 16% since the beginning of the year and was trading at $2,469 at 1:29 pm UTC on Tuesday, according to CoinMarketCap. With Bitmine’s stated average purchase price at $2,495 per ETH, the company’s treasury remains exposed to the same valuation swings affecting the wider market.
Equity reaction and what to watch next
Bitmine’s stock performance also reflects investor uncertainty around the timing and durability of crypto sentiment. Yahoo Finance data cited in the report showed the company’s NYSE-traded BMNR shares were down more than 2% at Tuesday’s market open, with the stock positioned to deepen its year-to-date decline into double digits.
In the near term, the most important question for readers is whether Bitmine can keep aligning new purchases with its 5% target timeline while managing the risk of continued volatility. The company has laid out a clear operational roadmap—weekly or periodic acquisitions alongside a large staked position—but the outcome still depends on Ethereum’s price trajectory and the pace of additional buying required to close the remaining gap to its stated supply share.
As the campaign progresses, investors may want to track three things closely: the pace of additional ETH acquisitions needed to reach (and sustain) the 5% goal, changes to Bitmine’s balance sheet composition and staking throughput, and how equity markets respond to the gap between long-term treasury strategy and near-term mark-to-market losses.
Crypto World
Zcash (ZEC) Rockets 2,200% as Privacy Coins Become Crypto’s Biggest Outlier
Bitcoin is currently 36% below its October 2025 high, 335 days after that level was reached, while the median asset among the top 200 cryptocurrencies is down 58%.
But Glassnode found that privacy is the only sector that has moved above its October peak after gaining 213%, while every other sector remains below its level at the time, ranging from DeFi at 27% lower to Gaming at 74% lower.
Only Sector Above its October Peak
The divergence has persisted despite a broad market rebound over the past 30 days, during which all ten sectors posted gains. Privacy again led that monthly advance as it rose by 90%. The sector’s market capitalization also increased from $7.1 billion a year ago to $33.6 billion today, a figure roughly comparable to Tron’s market cap. Nearly half of that increase occurred during the past 30 days.
The biggest contributor to that expansion has been Zcash. Its market-cap ranking has jumped from 82nd to 10th, while its value has increased by more than 2,200% over the same period. It now represents 62% of the privacy sector’s total capitalization. Monero, meanwhile, doubled over the same period.
Despite ZEC’s outsized contribution, the gains extend beyond a single asset: all eight privacy coins with a full year of trading history are higher, compared with only one in eight assets across the broader top-200 market.
Excluding ZEC, the cap-weighted privacy basket is still up 85% over the year and 56% since Bitcoin’s October high. Over the past 90 days, DASH, XMR, and ZEN have each outperformed Bitcoin. Among the 25 largest assets, only four are above their October 6 prices: ZEC, HYPE, XMR, and WBT. Two of those four are privacy coins.
Sector Returns Diverge
HYPE is the clear exception among the major assets. Without HYPE, the DeFi sector would be down 46% for the year. Every other major crypto asset, including ETH and DOGE, is still trading below its October high.
A total of 91.5% of the top 200 assets posted gains over the past 30 days. That marks the broadest monthly advance in the history of the dataset. The picture changes considerably when the timeframe extends to a full year. Just 25 of the 200 assets are in positive territory, and the median coin has lost 55%.
The ten sector indices are also showing their widest gap in 30-day returns since November 20, 2025.
The post Zcash (ZEC) Rockets 2,200% as Privacy Coins Become Crypto’s Biggest Outlier appeared first on CryptoPotato.
Crypto World
Strategy Skips Bitcoin Buy to Repurchase $176M STRC
Michael Saylor’s Strategy, the largest corporate Bitcoin treasury, skipped its weekly Bitcoin acquisition to repurchase $176 million of its preferred STRC stock.
Strategy repurchased 1.8 million STRC shares for an aggregate $176.3 million between Aug. 31 and Sept. 7, according to a Tuesday filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
The company also doubled the size of its Digital Credit Securities Repurchase Program to $2 billion. With no new purchases, Strategy’s holdings sit at 845,050 Bitcoin (BTC), acquired for a total of $63.6 billion, at an average purchase price of $75,412 apiece.
Last week, Strategy made its first BTC buy since mid June, with a $370 million purchase.
While STRC’s share price was largely flat in premarket activity on Tuesday, trading at $97.70, or a 2.3% discount from its intended $100 par value, the company’s Nasdaq-traded MSTR common stock was down more than 3% at last look, according to Yahoo Finance.
STRC is one of Strategy’s main vehicles to fund its Bitcoin accumulation. Trading below par limits Strategy’s ability to raise funds through STRC sales and may force the company to further increase its dividend rate.
Strategy unveiled a capital framework on June 29 to allow Bitcoin sales to fund dividends and increased the annual dividend rate on its STRC preferred stock to 12%.
Related: Standard Chartered wavers on $100K Bitcoin year-end call, says it may be ‘too low’
BTC treasury challenger Strive steps purchases
While Strategy opted to pause its Bitcoin buying last week, management other companies stepped up purchases of the biggest crypto by market cap.
Strive, the fifth-largest corporate Bitcoin treasury, acquired 1,375 Bitcoin for $109 million, at an average cost of $79,281 per BTC, bringing its total holdings to 24,531 Bitcoin, CEO Matt Cole revealed on Monday. Ahead of Tuesday’s market open, the company’s Nasdaq-traded ASST shares were down more than 2.5%, after more than doubling in the past month.
France-listed Bitcoin treasury Capital B also revealed a $25 million Bitcoin acquisition on Monday, its largest in nearly a year, pushing the French company ahead of H100 Group among publicly traded BTC holders.
Crypto World
No Bitcoin for Strategy This Week as Focus Remains on STRC Buybacks
It appears that last week’s bitcoin purchase from the largest corporate holder of the cryptocurrency was an outlier, as the company has refrained from doubling down. Instead, its former CEO, Michael Saylor, announced minutes ago on X that the firm has repurchased another $176 million worth of STRC.
Moreover, it increased the size of the recently launched Digital Credit Securities Repurchase Program from $1 billion to $2 billion. Saylor’s post also reminded that the company currently holds 845,050 BTC and $6.5 billion in USD assets.
Strategy’s position recently turned green even after the minor correction in the past 24 hours. Its stash was bought at an average price of $75,412 per unit. Given BTC’s current trading price of $78,200, it means that the company stands on an unrealized profit of over $2 billion.
Strategy has repurchased $176M of $STRC and increased the size of its Digital Credit Securities Repurchase Program from $1.0B to $2.0B. As of 9/7/26, we hold 845,050 $BTC and $6.5B of USD Assets. $MSTR https://t.co/mxqv9QCRat
— Michael Saylor (@saylor) September 8, 2026
It’s worth noting that Strategy’s purchase last week raised some eyebrows in the crypto community because it came at prices of over $80,000 while its sales were completed when the asset had tumbled to around $62,000. In other words, Strategy bought high after selling low.
Nevertheless, its STRC repurchasing program has benefited the underlying asset’s recovery. The shares, which are supposed to trade at par levels of $100, dumped to $75 earlier this summer, but have rebounded to almost $98 as of Friday’s close.
The post No Bitcoin for Strategy This Week as Focus Remains on STRC Buybacks appeared first on CryptoPotato.
Crypto World
Bitmine Buys 28k ETH, Completes 97% of Treasury Accumulation Goal
Bitmine Immersion Technologies, the largest corporate Ether holder, announced another purchase of the second-biggest crypto, bringing the company closer to management’s goal of accumulating 5% of the total supply.
Bitmine acquired 28,086 Ether (ETH) last week, according to a Tuesday announcement, which is currently worth about $69.5 million. The purchase brings Bitmine’s total holdings to 5.93 million Ether acquired at an average price of $2,495 per ETH.
Bitmine reported $15.7 billion in total assets, including $593 million in marketable securities, cash, other crypto holdings and 5.1 million in staked ETH, which is expected to generate $330 million in annualized staking revenue.
Following the purchase, Bitmine said it completed 97% of its goal to acquire 5% of the total Ether supply within 15 months. Led by chairman Tom Lee, the company announced a 53,501 ETH acquisition last week, pushing its holdings to account for 4.9% of Ethereum’s 120.7 million circulating supply.
Bitmine ranks as the world’s largest publicly listed Ether treasury. The company is currently facing $5.1 billion in unrealized losses on its ETH holdings, according to Dropstab data. Ether’s price fell 16% since the beginning of 2026 and was trading at $2,469 at 1:29 pm UTC on Tuesday, according to CoinMarketCap.
The company’s NYSE-traded BMNR stock price was down more than 2% at Tuesday’s market open, poised to extend its year-to-date decline into double digits, according to Yahoo Finance.
Related: Tom Lee says ‘mini crypto winter’ is over, sees Ether above $60K
Crypto World
Strive Adds More Bitcoin as Total Holdings Rise Above 24,500 BTC
Strive has continued its tradition of announcing its latest bitcoin purchases on X on Monday or the first business day of the week, similar to what Michael Saylor does for Strategy. In the example, after Labor Day came minutes ago, as CEO Matt Cole outlined a major $109 million BTC acquisition for 1,375 units, accumulated at an average price of $79,281.
Thus, the company’s stash has increased further and has now reached 24,531 BTC. Given the cryptocurrency’s current price tag of $78,200, this puts the USD valuation of Strive’s stash at just over $1.9 billion.
Strive acquired an additional 1,375 BTC for $109M at an average cost of $79,281 per bitcoin, bringing total holdings to ₿24,531.
70% of the capital raised last week came from $SATA, which now has $999M notional outstanding.
Time to break the billion-dollar wall.$ASST $SATA pic.twitter.com/qjjykekHTk
— Matt Cole (@ColeMacro) September 8, 2026
Recall that the company announced an even more significant purchase last week when it added 1,800 BTC for $143 million at a similar average price.
Unlike the events from eight days ago, though, there’s a major discrepancy now. Back then, Strategy also outlined its first BTC purchase in over two months. Now, though, Saylor’s company said it has stood on the sidelines while refocusing on repurchasing STRC shares.
The post Strive Adds More Bitcoin as Total Holdings Rise Above 24,500 BTC appeared first on CryptoPotato.
Crypto World
Visa combines VisaNet data with onchain lending to power stablecoin card working capital

Visa’s stablecoin settlement volume surpassed a $20 billion annualized run rate, up 15x year over year. Now it wants blockchain lenders to use that data to extend credit to the issuers driving the growth.
Crypto World
Circle agrees to buy cross-border payments firm Tazapay for $400 million

The deal could grant Circle vital, regulated “last-mile” infrastructure, bridging the gap between stablecoins and traditional local banking systems.
Crypto World
Bybit Launches FX Perpetual Contracts, Starting With EUR, GBP, and USD Pairs
Bybit announced today that it’s launching Forex Perpetual Contracts for EUR/USD, GBP/USD, and USD/JPY, extending its derivatives business into the trillion-a-day global forex market.
All the contracts will be settled in USDT. They have no expiry date and track the underlying spot currency pairs, while allowing traders to use crypto assets as collateral.
The move builds on a broader shift in which major cryptocurrency exchanges and trading venues, in general, are increasingly offering access to traditional financial assets through derivatives and tokenization.
FX Perpetuals Expand Bybit’s TradFi Suite
The first listings are EURUSDUSDT, GBPUSDUSDT, and USDJPYUSDT, with leverage of up to 100x, according to a statement by Bybit shared with CryptoPotato.
Unlike conventional Forex markets, Bybit’s contracts can be traded around the clock.
This would allow traders to react to decisions, geopolitical developments, and other macro events, even when the underlying FX market is currently closed.
The exchange also said that these products are designed to potentially help users hedge currency exposure while keeping their collateral in crypto.
Keep in mind that the launch follows the debut of the exchange’s TradFi Perpetual suite in April 2026.
Crypto Platforms Keep Expanding to TradFi Solutions
With the booming sector of real-world assets, more and more crypto-first exchanges are pushing towards traditional finance.
But that’s perhaps to be expected. Crypto traders want access to traditional markets, and providing that access from a single account seems like the most logical next step.
That said, FX perpetuals remain leveraged derivatives, which means that users face funding costs and liquidation risks rather than simply owning the underlying currencies.
It’s interesting to see whether these contracts can attract meaningful, sustained liquidity outside conventional FX trading hours as well.
The post Bybit Launches FX Perpetual Contracts, Starting With EUR, GBP, and USD Pairs appeared first on CryptoPotato.
Crypto World
Ethereum Price Analysis: ETH Struggles Below $2.5K, Is a Deeper Pullback Coming?
Ethereum has entered a consolidation phase after a sharp recovery from the $1.5K area.
The cryptocurrency is now trading slightly below $2.5K, holding relatively firm despite repeated tests of the upper end of its recent range. Meanwhile, exchange reserves continue to decline, pointing to a potentially constructive supply-side backdrop.
Ethereum Price Analysis: The Daily Chart
The daily structure has improved significantly over the past several weeks. ETH broke out of the prolonged base around the $1.9K zone and then reclaimed the $2.1K area, which had previously acted as major resistance.
The breakout was particularly strong, with ETH moving almost vertically from roughly $1.9K toward $2.5K. The price has since established itself above the moving averages shown on the chart, with both the 100-day and 200-day moving averages turning upward. This shows that the broader trend is transitioning from recovery toward a potentially bullish structure.
ETH is now trading inside a significant resistance zone around $2.4K-$2.5K, with the current price near $2.47K. The market has tested this area several times without a decisive daily breakout, making it the key level to watch. A sustained move above $2.5K could open the way toward the next resistance area, which sits around $3.3K.
On the downside, the first important support is the former breakout area around $2.1K. As long as ETH remains above this region, the recent structural improvement remains intact. The daily RSI is also noteworthy, as it has risen considerably from the deeply weak levels seen during the June bottom but has retreated below the traditional overbought threshold.
This points to a potential consolidation or correction until the market cools off and fresh buying pressure emerges.

ETH/USDT 4-Hour Chart
The 4-hour chart shows a much clearer consolidation structure. Following the explosive move from the $1.9K area, ETH has been moving sideways inside a roughly $2.35K-$2.55K range.
Repeated reactions from the upper end of this range suggest sellers remain active around $2.45K-$2.5K, while buyers have consistently defended the lower boundary near $2.35K-$2.4K. ETH is currently positioned toward the middle of the range, as indecisiveness is also evident in the 4-hour RSI, which is hovering around 50.
A confirmed breakout above $2.5K would strengthen the continuation setup and potentially expose higher resistance levels. Conversely, a break below $2.4K would suggest that the consolidation is turning into a deeper correction, with the $2.25K demand zone becoming the next major area of interest.

On-Chain Analysis
The exchange reserve chart provides an interesting backdrop to the technical picture. Ethereum’s exchange reserves have fallen steadily from above 21M ETH during 2025 to approximately 14.9M ETH currently, even as ETH has recovered toward $2.4K.
Exchange reserves measure the amount of ETH held on centralized exchanges. A persistent decline generally means fewer coins are immediately available on exchanges for potential selling, although the metric alone does not prove investors are accumulating.
The divergence is particularly notable in the latest portion of the chart. ETH has recovered sharply from its earlier lows while exchange reserves have continued trending downward. This suggests that the supply available on exchanges has not increased alongside the price recovery.
From a market-structure perspective, that can be supportive if demand continues to expand. With fewer ETH sitting on exchanges, a sustained increase in spot demand could potentially make it easier for price to move higher. However, treat the declining reserve trend as a supporting factor rather than a standalone bullish signal.

The post Ethereum Price Analysis: ETH Struggles Below $2.5K, Is a Deeper Pullback Coming? appeared first on CryptoPotato.
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