Strategy has resumed Bitcoin purchases after a brief pause, acquiring 4,603 BTC for $370 million, according to a Monday Form 8-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The transaction raises the company’s total treasury to 845,050 BTC.

In the filing, Strategy reports an average purchase price of $80,318 per Bitcoin, bringing cumulative acquisitions to $63.3 billion at an average cost of $75,413. The company funded the buy using net proceeds from a 602 million MSTR common stock sale, while also allocating part of those proceeds to corporate cash and share repurchases.

Key takeaways

• Strategy bought 4,603 BTC for about $370 million at an average price of $80,318, lifting treasury holdings to 845,050 BTC.
• The purchase was funded through net proceeds from a 602 million MSTR common stock sale, with additional uses including cash and STRC repurchases.
• The deal marks Strategy’s first corporate Bitcoin acquisition since mid-June, when it purchased 1,587 BTC for roughly $100 million.
• Preferred stock STRC remains central to Strategy’s funding model, and trading below par can constrain the company’s ability to raise capital via STRC sales.

A funded Bitcoin buy adds to Strategy’s 2026 accumulation

The SEC filing details how the 4,603 BTC acquisition was executed and financed. Strategy paid an average of $80,318 per Bitcoin, resulting in a total purchase price of $370 million. After this addition, its Bitcoin holdings stand at 845,050 BTC, reflecting ongoing accumulation rather than a shift to a hedging or diversification strategy.

Strategy also used the financing package to manage near-term corporate balance sheet priorities. The filing says $30 million of the net proceeds was directed to increase Strategy’s USD cash reserve, while $151.8 million went toward repurchasing preferred STRC stock. That split highlights a familiar pattern for the company: continuing BTC accumulation while simultaneously smoothing funding mechanics tied to preferred shares.

Why the STRC discount matters for future treasury moves

STRC—Strategy’s perpetual preferred stock—trades based on expectations for how the company will fund Bitcoin purchases and dividends. On Monday pre-market trading, Yahoo Finance data showed STRC changing hands at $97.33, about a 2.67% discount to its intended $100 par value.

In practice, that discount can affect Strategy’s ability to raise funds efficiently through STRC issuance. The article’s background context notes that trading below par limits how much capital the company can attract via STRC sales. If that continues, investors may watch whether Strategy compensates by adjusting nominal dividend expectations to keep STRC competitive—potentially increasing pressure on its cash flows.

Strategy’s preferred-share structure has been a key part of its “capital framework,” which it outlined in a prior SEC filing dated June 29. Earlier coverage from Cointelegraph described how Strategy’s framework allows Bitcoin sales to fund dividends and increased the annual dividend rate on STRC to 12%. The combination of BTC accumulation, dividend policy, and STRC market pricing is the balance Strategy is currently managing as it scales treasury size.

Signals from Saylor and what changed since mid-June

The new purchase comes after a pause. Strategy’s most recent previously reported corporate Bitcoin acquisition occurred in mid-June, when the company bought 1,587 BTC for roughly $100 million. The Monday filing therefore marks a clear resumption of corporate buying after that earlier tranche.

The timing also aligns with messaging from Strategy’s co-founder and executive chairman, Michael Saylor. Cointelegraph previously reported that Saylor had signaled the company was “back to Bitcoin buying.” On Sunday, he posted “We’re Back” in a widely viewed X post—an approach he has used before major treasury announcements.

While the purchase itself is confirmed by the SEC filing, the sequence of Saylor’s public signaling followed by an official 8-K underscores how investors often treat weekend social posts as potential precursors to larger corporate actions. For traders, the practical takeaway is that corporate treasury updates tied to preferred-stock financing may reintroduce event-driven volatility around MSTR and STRC even when spot market conditions are unchanged.

Market reaction and the next things investors should monitor

In pre-market trading on Monday, Nasdaq-traded MSTR was up less than 1%, after falling more than 7% on Friday, as reflected in the reporting context provided alongside the announcement. STRC, meanwhile, rose modestly in pre-market activity, up 0.44% to $97.33.

Looking ahead, investors should watch whether STRC continues to trade near its par value or remains discounted—because that can influence the company’s ability to fund future Bitcoin purchases using its preferred-share mechanism. The company’s next filings will also matter: Strategy has already shown it can adjust capital allocation across BTC purchases, cash reserves, and preferred-share repurchases, depending on where funding channels are most effective.

For now, the confirmed addition of 4,603 BTC provides another data point that Strategy’s treasury strategy is still actively tilted toward accumulation—while its financing structure, particularly STRC pricing versus par, remains a critical variable for how quickly it can scale further.

Ethereum price traded near $2,455 on Aug. 31 after buyers again failed to hold the price above $2,500, leaving ETH confined between major resistance and support near $2,400.

Ethereum price action today

According to data from crypto.news, Ethereum (ETH) price opened the week at $2,481.78 before reaching an intraday high of $2,564.27 on Aug. 27. Sellers rejected the move, and ETH traded near $2,455 at the time of writing on Aug. 31.

The pullback placed the token about 1% below its weekly opening level. However, ETH remained up roughly 28% over 30 days after recovering from below $1,900 earlier in August.

The daily chart shows that the recovery accelerated around Aug. 19, when ETH broke above a group of long-term moving averages near $1,900–$2,050. The price then climbed more than 30% in several sessions before entering consolidation.

ETH has since traded mainly between approximately $2,390 and $2,550. Repeated upper wicks near the top of the range show that buyers have tested the resistance several times without securing a sustained daily close above it.

The latest daily candle recovered from a low near $2,401, suggesting that buyers are still defending the lower end of the range. However, the price must reclaim $2,500 before it can challenge the Aug. 27 high again.

Momentum cools after the August rally

Ethereum’s daily relative strength index stood at 68.34, down from levels above 70. The reading remains close to overbought territory but shows that momentum has eased as the price struggles below $2,550.

The RSI’s moving average was higher at 75.33. An RSI move below its average after an overbought reading can accompany consolidation or a deeper pullback, although it does not determine the next price direction by itself.

ETH continues to trade above all five moving averages shown on the daily chart. The 20-day simple moving average sits at $2,246.73, making it the first major dynamic support if the current range breaks down.

The 50-day and 200-day averages stand at $2,031.57 and $2,026.20, respectively. Contrary to the earlier death-cross concern, the latest chart shows the 50-day average slightly above the 200-day line. The narrow gap means the longer-term trend has improved, but the signal has little room to absorb a sharp reversal.

The 100-day moving average sits near $1,897.27. ETH’s position well above that level reflects the strength of the August recovery, although the distance between price and its moving averages also leaves room for mean reversion.

Ethereum faces liquidity near $2,550

The 4-hour chart places ETH inside a horizontal range extending from around $2,390 to $2,550. Price has tested both sides since Aug. 21 without producing a confirmed breakout.

Short-term momentum remains mixed. The Aroon Down reading stood at 71.43%, compared with 64.29% for Aroon Up, showing a slight bearish advantage after the latest rejection. However, both readings remain elevated, which is consistent with volatile price movement inside the range rather than a clear directional trend.

Chaikin Money Flow stood at minus 0.07 on the 4-hour chart. The negative reading points to mild net selling pressure, but its proximity to zero suggests that sellers have not established strong control.

The one-week CoinGlass liquidation heatmap shows a dense concentration of leveraged positions around $2,545–$2,550, followed by another liquidity band near $2,570–$2,580. A move into either area could trigger short liquidations, but the same zones may also attract renewed selling.

On the downside, visible liquidation concentrations sit near $2,410 and $2,390. A break below $2,400 could therefore force leveraged long positions to close and increase short-term volatility.

Key ETH levels to watch

A daily close above $2,550 would invalidate the upper boundary of the current range and clear the way for a test of the liquidation zone near $2,575. The next wider resistance area sits near $2,650, according to the price structure shared by market analyst Ted Pillows.

Pillows said ETH had tried and failed to break $2,550 again. He expects further range-bound trading and “a small capitulation before reversal,” while his chart identifies approximately $2,250 as the first deeper support.

The immediate downside level remains $2,400. A 4-hour or daily close beneath it would shift attention toward the 20-day moving average near $2,247, which closely matches Pillows’ first support zone.

If that area fails, the 50-day and 200-day moving averages around $2,030 form the next major support cluster. A drop that deep would erase much of the late-August breakout and weaken the current recovery structure.

The bullish setup requires ETH to defend $2,400, reclaim $2,500 and close above $2,550. The bearish setup would gain strength below $2,400, with $2,247 and $2,030 serving as the main lower targets.

US policy remains a market catalyst

Market analyst Michaël van de Poppe said the ETH-to-Bitcoin pair was moving sideways near what he considered a potential entry zone. He expects ETH to outperform Bitcoin in the coming month based on his forecast that the CLARITY Act will receive approval.

However, the legislation had not been enacted as of Aug. 31. An Aug. 5 regulatory filing said the bill passed the House in July 2025 and advanced through the Senate Banking Committee in May 2026, but negotiations remained ongoing, and its prospects were uncertain.

US spot Ethereum ETF flows provide another measure of institutional demand. U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs recorded $815.7 million in net inflows across the five trading days from Aug. 24 to Aug. 28, according to data compiled by Farside Investors. BlackRock’s ETHA led the weekly intake with $567 million, while the ETF group posted its largest daily inflow of the week on Aug. 27 at $225.8 million.

ETH therefore enters September with its monthly recovery intact but short-term momentum fading. The next confirmed move depends on whether buyers can clear $2,550 or sellers can break the support and liquidation zone around $2,400.

Crypto projects are leaning harder into a strategy more familiar from traditional finance: buying back their own tokens. So far in 2026, projects have reportedly spent a record $638 million on token buybacks, according to data compiled by Allium Labs and cited by the Financial Times in a report released Monday.

That total highlights a clear concentration. Hyperliquid and Pump.fun together account for the majority of the year-to-date figure, with Hyperliquid responsible for roughly $370 million and Pump.fun nearly $200 million, as reported by the Financial Times based on Allium Labs’ dataset.

Key takeaways

• Year-to-date token buybacks reached $638 million in 2026, per Allium Labs data cited by the Financial Times—up from $545 million over the same period in 2025.
• Hyperliquid and Pump.fun dominate the activity, together accounting for roughly $570 million of the $638 million total.
• Buybacks are still uncommon in crypto, but more issuers are now using revenue to fund repurchases and support token value.
• Following an Ethena Foundation vote proposal for fee revenue to be used for ENA buybacks, ENA rose 10.7% on the day after the announcement, according to the report.
• HYPE and PUMP have outperformed the broader crypto market decline so far in 2026, based on TradingView-reported performance data.

Record buybacks, concentrated among a few protocols

The Financial Times report framed token buybacks as the crypto analogue to share buybacks: instead of supporting equity prices directly, projects repurchase their own tokens in an effort to bolster token valuation and returns for existing holders.

While this approach remains relatively rare across the broader industry, the numbers show it is no longer an edge-case tactic. Allium Labs’ figures—reported by the Financial Times—indicate buyback spending has accelerated sharply over the past year, rising to $638 million year-to-date in 2026 from $545 million in the same period of 2025. The earlier baseline from Allium Labs cited by the Financial Times shows much lower activity in 2024, at just $366,000.

Crucially, the activity is not evenly distributed. Hyperliquid’s buyback spend of roughly $370 million and Pump.fun’s nearly $200 million together represent the bulk of the year’s token repurchase momentum, suggesting that revenue-rich protocols with clear treasury mechanics are currently driving most of the trend.

How Hyperliquid and Pump.fun are funding repurchases

The performance of HYPE and PUMP appears tightly linked to that repurchase intensity. According to TradingView data cited by the report, HYPE is up 145% year-to-date and PUMP is up 109% year-to-date during a period when Bitcoin fell 10% and total crypto market capitalization declined by 11.9%.

Hyperliquid’s structure is especially aggressive: the report states Hyperliquid spends about 99% of its revenue on token buybacks. It adds that Hyperliquid reported $169 million in second-quarter revenue on Aug. 6, directing $141 million toward HYPE buybacks, citing prior coverage from Cointelegraph (link provided in the source material).

Pump.fun’s approach is similar in spirit but less extreme in percentage terms. The report says Pump.fun allocates about 50% of its net protocol revenue for token repurchases. It also notes the launchpad has $420 million in annualized revenue, based on average daily revenue over the past 90 days, referencing data presented in the source article.

For investors, the key takeaway is that these are not one-off buyback announcements; both projects appear to embed repurchases into how they use revenue. That can matter because sustained buyback programs may influence token holder expectations differently than occasional treasury actions.

Ethena enters the buyback conversation

The broader market dynamic is also shifting. On Thursday, the Ethena Foundation opened a vote on a fee-switch proposal, under which 95% of the net revenue paid to it from Ethena’s core business lines would be used to repurchase ENA tokens, according to the report.

The same coverage noted that the ENA token rose 10.7% on the day after the proposal was opened, suggesting traders are actively pricing in the possibility that revenue earmarked for repurchases could tighten supply or otherwise support valuation.

This matters beyond one token. As governance proposals proliferate, buybacks could become a more common tool for protocols seeking to align treasury use with tokenholder interests—particularly when those protocols have measurable and recurring revenue streams that can be redirected.

Why this trend could spread further

Momentum around token buybacks is beginning to attract mainstream portfolio analysis within crypto. Earlier in August, Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan said, as referenced in the source article, that “crypto valuations could double” in the next two years as protocols increasingly use revenue to fund token buybacks and burns, returning more value to investors.

That prediction is not a guarantee, but the underlying logic is straightforward: if revenue consistently converts into repurchases (and potentially burns), the token’s economic value proposition can become more direct, rather than relying solely on speculation about adoption or network effects.

Still, readers should treat this as an evolving sector experiment rather than a uniform playbook. The same data point can have different implications depending on how a protocol determines buyback size, whether repurchases are executed regularly, and how token supply mechanics work in practice. Even within the report’s examples, the buyback intensity varies—Hyperliquid’s stated near-total revenue dedication versus Pump.fun’s roughly half.

Going forward, the most useful signal to watch is whether the next wave of proposals and repurchase programs matches the consistency seen in Hyperliquid and Pump.fun—or whether buybacks remain occasional. As governance votes move from concept to execution, traders and long-term holders will likely focus on how reliably protocols convert revenue into buy pressure and how quickly markets respond when those programs begin.