Liquid Death CEO Mike Cessario refused to confirm an initial public offering (IPO) timeline. He gave the noncommittal answer despite the company hiring Goldman Sachs back in 2023.

Cessario made the comment on Bloomberg’s “The Close” with host Romaine Bostick. The interview also covered Liquid Death’s viral ad about AI data centers.

Goldman Ties Predate the Question

Bostick asked Cessario directly about the IPO timeline. He pointed to the Goldman Sachs hire and a new chief financial officer from Pepsi. Cessario did not say yes or no.

Cessario said Liquid Death wants to build a large, profitable business. Therefore, he is not focused on a specific exit strategy right now. Instead, the company will weigh an IPO or a merger when the time is right, he added.

This response leaves the IPO question open rather than closed. Liquid Death brought on a bank tied to public listings two years ago.

Yet the business still has no confirmed timeline. The pieces for a listing already sit in place.

The AI Ad Behind the Interview

The exchange followed a discussion about Liquid Death’s newest ad. The campaign shows people mailing jars of urine to AI data centers. Cessario used the ad to joke about water use at these facilities.

However, Cessario said the ad does not oppose AI itself. He pointed to a real problem instead. Even closed-loop data centers evaporate large amounts of water for cooling, he said.

Public sentiment toward data center growth keeps cooling. New disclosure rules in Texas now require water and power use disclosures before grid connection. The move reflects a wider wave of state pushback.

Cessario noted the ad appears only on social media. He said most broadcast networks would not air jars of urine in a brand campaign.

Cessario also addressed AI’s role in his own advertising agency. AI handles mundane production tasks well, he said. However, it cannot replace top creative talent. Instead, it will mainly push mediocre marketing out of the industry.

Liquid Death’s caution mirrors a broader trend among growth companies eyeing public markets. Firms like SpaceX face scrutiny over how tech valuations hold up once investor sentiment shifts.

Whether Liquid Death files within a year or five remains unclear. The bank hire and the CFO hire have sat ready since 2023.

The post Liquid Death CEO Dodges IPO Question Despite Goldman Sachs Ties appeared first on BeInCrypto.

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Night view of Alibaba’s headquarters building located by the Huangpu River in Shanghai, China on Nov. 16, 2025.

CFOTO | Future Publishing | Getty Images

Alibaba shares plunged as much as 10% in Hong Kong on Monday after the Chinese tech giant priced an 80 billion Hong Kong dollar ($10.20 billion) placement of newly issued shares to non-U.S. investors. 

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The company said it plans to use all of the net proceeds to invest in its full-stack AI capabilities, including expanding and enhancing its AI infrastructure.

Alibaba will issue 710 million new shares at HK$112.70 apiece, compared with the stock’s Friday closing price of HK$123. Shares were last trading 8.4% lower at HK$112.7.

The share placement, expected to close on Wednesday, comes just days after Alibaba reported a 75% drop in profit for the June-quarter as heavy AI spending weighed on its results. Capital expenditure jumped 75% to 67.7 billion yuan.

Vey-Sern Ling, senior equity advisor at UBP, told CNBC last week following Alibaba’s latest earnings that the company was well-positioned to pursue AI growth. 

“I think Alibaba clearly is well positioned to chase that growth, given that they have a cloud computing arm, they have a very strong AI model,” he said, adding that profits might weaken in the near term, while capex might rise.

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Alibaba has been ramping up investment in AI as it seeks to make the technology a key driver of future growth.The company last year announced plans to invest at least 380 billion yuan in cloud computing and AI infrastructure over the next three years. 

Alibaba’s Chinese tech peers have also been ramping up AI spending. Tencent’s capital expenditure rose 65% from the previous quarter to 52.8 billion yuan in the June-quarter as the company continued to invest in computing infrastructure to monetize its AI models. 

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Peter Schiff says he could have made a lot of money with Bitcoin (BTC). But he insists Bitcoin HODLers left even more money on the table by refusing to sell.

Schiff made the comment while replying to his own post about artificial intelligence (AI) and Bitcoin. He argued that AI poses a bigger threat to Bitcoin than it does a boost.

Schiff Defends His Bitcoin Track Record

Schiff has skipped Bitcoin for roughly five years, he says, and does not regret it. He believes he has come out ahead of Bitcoin HODLers, those who buy and hold regardless of price swings, by staying out of the market.

Yes, I could have made a lot of money with Bitcoin. But that’s old news. Over the last five years or so I’ve been better off not owning Bitcoin. It’s the Bitcoin HODLers who have left a lot of money on the table by not selling!

Schiff

However, Schiff’s Bitcoin skepticism is not new. He has repeatedly framed Bitcoin’s rallies as a reason to sell, not a signal to buy more. Historically, he has used Bitcoin’s struggles to push gold as the safer store of value instead.

AI Versus Bitcoin Debate Heats Up

In his original post, Schiff argued that AI competes with Bitcoin for speculative capital, electricity, and data center space. He also warned that AI could eventually find flaws in Bitcoin’s code or cryptography that humans have missed.

Meanwhile, AI’s growing footprint is already shaping crypto markets in other ways. BeInCrypto has reported that AI-driven inflation pressure has helped keep Bitcoin range-bound in recent months.

It is still unclear whether AI poses a genuine risk to Bitcoin’s security. For now, the exchange adds fresh fuel to one of crypto’s oldest rivalries.

The post Peter Schiff Says “I Could Have Made a Lot of Money With Bitcoin” appeared first on BeInCrypto.

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Iran’s parliament has advanced a plan to charge ships for using the Strait of Hormuz. The move adds fresh pressure on oil markets hours before Washington unveils new sanctions on Tehran.

Any disruption to Hormuz, which carries roughly a fifth of the world’s oil, would hit supply hard. That pressure would land on a bond market already struggling with record government borrowing.

Iran’s Parliament Moves on Hormuz Fees

Iran’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission backed a draft law on Sunday. It would require ships from countries that may use Hormuz to pay Tehran for the services it provides. Iran’s full parliament still needs to approve the bill before it becomes law.

The proposal follows weeks of Iranian rhetoric toward nations cooperating with US pressure. Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, warned that Tehran would treat cooperating countries as enemies.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent set the stage for Monday’s sanctions announcement in a Financial Times op-ed.

“At dawn begins an economic D-Day — the single greatest financial offensive ever marshalled against an adversary.”

— Bessent

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps spokesperson Sardar Mohebi dismissed the campaign as an admission of military failure.

Oil traders have responded cautiously so far. WTI crude slipped 1.3% to $85.93 a barrel Monday. Brent eased 1.87% to $93.22 as markets awaited sanctions details rather than reacting to rhetoric.

Bessent argues traders are misreading the campaign. He suggests maximum economic pressure lowers the odds of military escalation rather than raising them.

A Bond Market Already Under Strain

This pressure lands on a bond market that was fragile before Hormuz fees entered the conversation. The 30-year Treasury yield has traded near 5.3% through August. That marks its highest level since 2007, as persistent inflation and a swelling federal deficit push yields higher.

US government debt has now crossed the $40 trillion mark, intensifying scrutiny of Washington’s borrowing needs. Rising long-term yields also raise the government’s own financing costs. That feedback loop makes fiscal stress harder to unwind.

Elevated oil prices compound the problem. Energy costs feed directly into inflation, which leaves the Federal Reserve less room to cut rates. Sustained pressure at this chokepoint would test bond markets. They would need to absorb another supply shock on top of existing fiscal strain.

What Comes Next

Bessent’s Monday press conference should detail specific targets. A key question is whether sanctions extend to China, which buys more than 80% of Iran’s oil exports. Sanctions targeting Chinese buyers directly would carry far more weight for US markets than measures against Iran alone.

Iran’s parliament must still finalize the fee legislation. Whether Tehran’s countermeasures escalate alongside Washington’s sanctions could determine what happens next. This standoff may stay rhetorical, or it may become a real test for oil supply and the bond market.

The post Iran’s Latest Hormuz Threat Meets a Bond Market Already Near Breaking Point appeared first on BeInCrypto.

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Peter Thiel’s hedge fund revealed a concentrated bet on AI’s power needs in its newest SEC filing. Thiel Macro LLC reported eight holdings worth $418.7 million, with Amazon (AMZN) as the fund’s only technology position.

The fund’s 13F is a quarterly disclosure that institutional investors file with the SEC. The filing showed zero holdings for the two prior quarters. This return marks a pivot toward electricity generation, a resource many now see as AI’s real bottleneck.

The 13F Reveals a Power-Heavy Portfolio

Thiel co-founded PayPal and Palantir Technologies and was an early investor in Facebook. He now runs Thiel Macro LLC, the fund behind this filing. Amazon makes up 28.2% of the portfolio. The fund bought the $118 million stake during the second quarter.

Amazon also lifted its 2026 capital spending plan to $220 billion, largely for cloud and AI infrastructure. Every other position in the portfolio sits in power generation or distribution.

Vista Energy (VIST), an Argentine shale producer, ranks second at 18.1%, worth $75.9 million. Thiel relocated to Buenos Aires this year, a move that lines up with the Argentine bet. BeInCrypto previously covered Thiel’s Vista Energy stake, his biggest position outside Big Tech.

Vistra (VST), a nuclear-capable power generator, follows at 14.1%. The fund rebuilt this $59.1 million position this quarter. Four regulated utilities round out the middle of the portfolio. American Electric Power (AEP), DTE Energy (DTE), FirstEnergy (FE), and CMS Energy (CMS) each hold nine to 10 percent.

Nuclear developer X-Energy (XE) rounds out the portfolio at under one percent. AEP and FirstEnergy both cite AI-driven data center growth in their own regulatory filings.

The Next Big AI Bet?

Together, the six non-Amazon holdings absorb nearly 72% of the fund’s assets. Utilities elsewhere face similar pressure as data center power demand strains regional grids nationwide.

The filing covers positions through June 30, and Thiel Macro submitted it on August 14. The fund’s current holdings may already differ from this snapshot. Still, the allocation suggests Thiel is betting on electricity, not chips, to define AI’s next scarcity.

The post Peter Thiel’s Fund Shows the Next Big AI Bet Is Power, Not Chips appeared first on BeInCrypto.

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Brent crude fell 1.87% to $92.63 on Monday, giving back part of last week’s rally as traders assessed Washington’s escalating pressure campaign on Iran.

West Texas Intermediate slid 1.97% to $85.35. The selling ran across the energy complex, with natural gas, gasoline, and heating oil each losing between 1.68% and 1.88%.

Why Oil Prices Fell While Washington Escalated

Both benchmarks gained more than 5% last week on the escalating rhetoric. President Donald Trump on August 19 announced what he described as the “most crushing economic operation ever taken against any country.”

Trump said the measures would target Iran’s economy and isolate the country internationally, while warning that nations providing financial, commercial, or other support to Tehran could face severe economic consequences.

“This will be an ECONOMIC D-DAY, and we need all of our Allies to stand with the United States of America to isolate, and defeat, the Iran threat,” he said.

Bessent made the same case in a Financial Times opinion piece published Sunday, writing that an economic D-Day begins at dawn.

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Narrower measures are already in force. The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) froze more than $130 million in crypto tied to Iran in July, then hit a Hormuz shipping toll scheme weeks later.

Monday’s reversal, therefore, points to supply news rather than the policy outlook. BeInCrypto reported that ship transits through the Strait of Hormuz climbed from 39 to 192 over two weeks,  a 392% rise.

Traffic still sits roughly 90% below pre-war levels, when about 20.9 million barrels a day moved through the waterway, according to EIA figures.

Many captains switch off transponders in a war zone. Part of the increase, therefore, reflects ships restoring signals rather than fresh cargo.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Calls the Campaign an Admission of Defeat

Iran dismissed the campaign. Hossein Mohebbi, spokesman for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, called it an admission of military defeat, TASS reported.

“[US President Donald] Trump’s executive order on the launch of the toughest economic warfare against Iran mounts to a tacit acknowledgement of Washington’s defeat on the military front,” he said.

Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, threatened to halt oil flows through the strait entirely.

Markets have also grown less responsive to the rhetoric. Axios tracked 269 Trump posts mentioning Iran or Hormuz since February and found the price impact fading over time.

Scope will decide whether Monday’s decline holds. Iranian exports are already constrained by a naval blockade, so fresh measures may add little to the supply picture. The unresolved question is China, which buys more than 80% of Iran’s shipped oil according to Kpler.

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Jiang Zhuoer, founder of the Chinese mining pool BTC.TOP and one of the country’s most recognized crypto figures reversed a strongly bearish stance on the market.

He now plans to move his remaining capital into Ethereum, betting that ETH will outperform Bitcoin this cycle.

How Jiang’s Bearish Bet Backfired

Jiang previously sold ETH holdings between $1,738 and $1,931 and opened short positions to hedge against further downside. When Ethereum surged past $2,000 and kept climbing, those shorts lost money.

He closed the positions and repurchased ETH near $2,100, later selling roughly half his spot holdings near $2,525 while attempting to catch a short-term top with a tight stop-loss.

Jiang said he is now roughly 90% confident the crypto bear market has ended, calling his earlier bearish call far off the mark.

His plan is conditional. If Bitcoin retraces to the $67,000- $72,000 range, he will allocate all remaining funds to Ethereum. Should that pullback not happen, he intends to buy ETH at market prices no later than the end of October.

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He currently holds 20% to 30% of his intended capital in USDT reserves, waiting for the right entry point to redeploy the rest.

Why Jiang Now Believes the Bear Market Has Ended

His thesis centers on the ETH/BTC pair’s relative strength, which he argues reflects genuine demand rather than simple rotation out of Bitcoin.

Jiang points to growing US government support for blockchain under the Trump administration and accelerating tokenization of stocks and bonds as catalysts favoring smart-contract platforms like Ethereum.

“…This round, ETH is expected to outperform BTC. For example, if BTC reaches 200,000 USDT, and the ETH/BTC exchange rate is 0.1, ETH will reach 20,000 USDT. (These are just rough estimates, not actually calculated.)…,” Jiang said on X.

BitMine’s Tom Lee has voiced a similar view, citing the ETH/BTC ratio breaking above a multi-year downtrend, alongside tokenization tailwinds and rising demand from agentic AI applications running on Ethereum’s network.

As of August 23, Bitcoin trades near $77,050, up roughly 22% for the week from levels near $63,000, according to BeInCrypto data. Ethereum has moved even faster, climbing approximately 30% over the same period, from near $1,880 to around $2,420.

That outperformance aligns with both Jiang’s and Lee’s renewed conviction, even as Jiang continues to engage in active short-term trading around his broader bullish stance.

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The post Prominent Bitcoin Miner Bets on Ethereum, Predicts ETH Will Beat BTC This Cycle appeared first on BeInCrypto.

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Bitcoin suddenly surges: Is the bear market over?

Confidence has returned to crypto markets after Bitcoin saw a sudden rally to gain more than 23% this week to trade around $77,559 at the time of writing. The price briefly topped $79,000 on Friday.

Charting platform Barchart highlighted on Thursday that Bitcoin’s (BTC) price had crossed above its 200-day moving average for the first time since November 2025.

The 200-day moving average is widely used to gauge longer-term market trends, with moves above the indicator viewed as a sign of bullish momentum. Many now believe/hope the cycle has finally flipped positive.

Ethereum gained 31%, Solana gained 28% and XRP surged an astonishing 53%.

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The Bitcoin and Ether ETFs took more than $2.61 billion in inflows between them last week, and Micheal Saylor’s Bitcoin investments via Strategy have crossed the breakeven point of $75,385 — officially returning him to the status of far-sighted Bitcoin visionary, rather than degenerate financial engineer. Polymarket odds of Bitcoin reaching $90,000 before 2027 hit 48%.

Bitcoin’s weekly price chart. Source: CoinMarketCap

The rally in crypto prices was also reflected in the share prices of publicly listed crypto related firms including Canaan, Metaplanet, Coinbase and Robinhood which all saw double digit gains.

US debt policy sees rush to crypto and precious metals

The US debt pile crossed $40 trillion this week, and there’s absolutely no plan to balance the budget or to pay it down apart from a vague aspiration to grow the economy. The annual cost of paying interest on the debt has exceeded the cost of Medicare and is second only to social security as the Government’s largest expense.

The Kobeissi Letter attributed the rapid gains in precious metals and crypto to a combination of inflation, deficit spending and US Treasury policy. Record government deficit spending and the Treasury Department’s pledge to at least double the size of certain debt buyback operations to $4 billion helped drive the rally in both asset classes, Kobeissi argued.

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The founder of the Bridgewater Associates hedge fund, Ray Dalio, believes investors should allocate around 15% of their portfolios to gold and “a bit of Bitcoin” to position for the impending fallout from the US’s debt problems.

“My guess, which I suppose will be a bad one, is that [a US debt crisis] will come in three years, give or take two, if the course we’re on is not changed,” said Dalio. 

White House meeting with crypto leaders seeks CLARITY

US President Donald Trump has once again called for the passage of the CLARITY Act, following a meeting with crypto company executives including Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Gemini co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. Trump said.

He urged members of Congress to pass “a fair version” of the bill to keep the US “ahead of China.” The market structure bill, passed by the House of Representatives in July 2025, is up for a procedural vote on September 15 that will require 60 votes in favor.

“It’s very bipartisan, I would say,” said Trump. “Lot of Democrats support.”

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However Democrat Senators appear unlikely to pass the bill without further concessions on ethics provision by Trump. “I think, unfortunately, what the President means is fair to him,“ said Senator Ruben Gallego. “The president doesn’t just get to decide what level of regulation he gets.“

Trump also managed to goose the price of Hyperliquid by 20% at the meeting by revealing: “I understand that Mike [Selig, CFTC chair] is also working to bring Hyperliquid into the United States in a fully compliant and legal fashion.”

SEC unveils proposal that could spark new ICO boom

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has proposed new rules for the cryptocurrency industry that could put pressure on lawmakers to pass the CLARITY Act or spark a new Initial Cryptocurrency Offering boom.

Currently open for a 60 day comment period, the rules offer exemptions to crypto projects that allow the issuance of up to $5 million in tokens during a four-year period, and up to $75 million during a 12-month period with stricter reporting and structure rules. There is also a safe harbor proposal exempting cryptocurrencies from being treated as ”investment contracts.”

Commissioner Hester M. Peirce said that a “whole generation has struggled” with the SEC’s application of, “a set of inapt rules to crypto.” She added the SEC’s new crypto guidelines mark an important step toward “putting clear, sensible, enforceable rules in place for crypto offerings.”

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CFTC chair vows to create its own crypto rules too

Michael Selig, who chairs the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), said the commission would move forward on crypto regulations if the CLARITY Act fails to pass the Senate. Selig said he had already directed staff to allow registered and non-registered entities to offer “crypto asset trading on a leveraged or margined basis” and explore developer protections.

“We’re going to give CLARITY its breathing room for a vote, but if the Democrats cannot support a bipartisan work product, which reflects compromises from both sides of the aisle, and ultimately send a fair version of the bill to the President’s desk, then rest assured, I will direct CFTC staff to move swiftly to propose these new rules for the industry,” said Selig.

Winners and Losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is up 23.5% to trade at $77,559, Ethereum (ETH) is up 31.1% to trade at $2,456 and XRP (XRP) is up 53.3% to $1.52. The total market cap is at $2.63 trillion according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin winners of the week are Pump.fun (PUMP) with a 98.9% gain, Ethena (ENA) on 98.3%, and Stacks (STX) on 94.8%.

The top three altcoin losers of the week are JUST (JST) which was down 4.3%, MemeCore (M) down 2.9% and Sun (SUN) down 1%.

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Top Prediction of the Week

Standard Chartered says $100K Bitcoin year-end call may be ‘too low’

Bitcoin may move toward its all-time high of $126,000 before the end of the year, with the recovery potentially accelerating after Oct. 6, according to Geoff Kendrick, global head of digital asset research at Standard Chartered.

Kendrick said in a Friday note that the latest rally has been driven largely by short liquidations, while inflows into spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds have also started to recover. He said low open interest could leave room for more investors to return as prices rise.

“For the first time this year there is now a risk my end year forecast (of USD100k) is too low,” Kendrick wrote.

Top FUD of the Week

Most Americans say Trump family crypto investments are not ‘appropriate’

A new poll conducted by Reuters/Ipsos found that a majority of respondents in the US believed it was not “appropriate” for US President Donald Trump and his family to earn billions through cryptocurrency investments while in office. 

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According to the results of the poll of 1,166 people between Aug. 14-17, 63% of the respondents said it wasn’t appropriate for Trump and his family to earn money from crypto. Notably, 69% of Republicans polled said it was appropriate, while an overwhelming majority of Democrats, 92%, responded negatively.

Bitget CEO sees Bitcoin near current levels at year-end, doubts US will buy BTC

Bitget CEO Gracy Chen expects Bitcoin to remain broadly around current levels through the end of the year despite its recent surge, citing interest rates and broader macroeconomic conditions as key factors shaping the cryptocurrency’s outlook.

Cointelegraph host interviews Bitget CEO Gracy Chen. Source: Trade Secrets

She pointed to the possibility of higher interest rates as one of a number of factors that could pressure prices.

“If any of that happens, the price should go down, at least theoretically,” Chen said, adding that BTC has become increasingly integrated with traditional finance and sensitive to broader macroeconomic conditions.

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Chen predicted that BTC could finish the year $10,000 to $20,000 above or below current levels.

MANTRA token sinks 18% to record low amid blockchain halt

MANTRA’s native token sank to an all-time low of $0.004126 around 11:00 pm UTC on Thursday shortly before MANTRA Chain stopped producing blocks and its team announced a precautionary halt over an unexplained incident.

MANTRA said Friday it was “aware of an incident affecting MANTRA Chain” and had halted the network as a precaution while it investigated. “We don’t have a root cause or timeline to share yet,” the project said, adding that all endpoints and transactions were frozen. 

The halt prevents assets from moving on MANTRA Chain and has prompted affected exchanges to pause deposits and withdrawals, with no timeline given for either service to resume. On Aug. 22 MANTRA said it the “vulnerability in the Cosmos-EVM module has been fixed, the network has resumed, and no user funds were affected.”

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Cointelegraph publishes long-form journalism, analysis and narrative reporting produced by Cointelegraph’s in-house editorial team with subject-matter expertise. All articles are edited and reviewed by Cointelegraph editors in line with our editorial standards. Some articles contain affiliate links, from which Cointelegraph may earn a commission. These relationships do not influence which products we review or our editorial conclusions. Content published in here does not constitute financial, legal or investment advice. Readers should conduct their own research and consult qualified professionals where appropriate. Cointelegraph maintains full editorial independence.

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Bitwise Asset Management took in more than $1.8 billion of new money in the first half of 2026, chief executive Hunter Horsley said Sunday. Crypto prices fell through most of it.

Tom Lee called the result outstanding. However, the money did not chase prices, as three of the four Bitwise product lines behind that total pay investors an income instead.

Why Lee Called It Outstanding

Horsley posted the figure on Sunday. Net inflows measure new money in, minus money pulled out.

In H1 of this year, amidst a bear market, investors put over $1,800,000,000 into Bitwise products (“net inflows”),” the Bitwise executive shared.

Tom Lee, co-founder and head of research at Fundstrat Global Advisors, commented, lauding the team for growing significantly despite bearing market conditions.

Lee has stayed bullish through the slump. He ranked 17 crypto stocks earlier this week. Bitcoin (BTC) traded near $77,403 on Sunday, little changed.

What the Money Actually Bought

Horsley said four franchises each drew over $100 million. They were:

• ETFs and ETPs (exchange-traded funds and products)
• Private strategies
• Staking, and
• Vaults.

Three of them pay a yield. Bitwise numbers show how much.

Its vault, opened in January with the onchain lender Morpho, targets about 6% a year on stablecoins. Its tokenized Crypto Carry Fund held $259 million by late May and yielded 4%.

Carry sounds complex but is simple. The fund buys crypto, sells futures against it, and keeps the gap.

Staking drew the fastest money. Bitwise’s Solana staking fund passed $500 million just 18 days after listing last November. Rivals now rush to put Ethereum yield in ETPs.

The Fund That Sells Price Alone Shrank

One Bitwise product pays nothing. The Bitwise 10 Crypto Index ETF (BITW) holds a basket of large tokens. Bitcoin and ether are about 91% of it.

Its filings tell the story. Net assets fell from $1.03 billion on December 31 to $678 million on March 31. That is 34% gone in three months.

Two forces did it. Price per share dropped 24%. Investors also cashed out 2.25 million shares, about 13% of the fund.

Cost was not the reason. Bitwise had just cut the fee from 2.50% to 0.75% when the fund joined NYSE Arca in December. The same fund gained 94.8% in 2024.

Staff felt it too. A Bitwise workforce reduction on August 12 cut headcount from roughly 180 to 155.

Net inflows count deposits, not gains. Inside Bitwise, investors paid for yield and walked away from price.

The post Bitwise Just Took $1.8 Billion in a Bear Market, Tom Lee Noticed appeared first on BeInCrypto.

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HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has significantly increased its scrutiny of UK crypto users during the 2025-2026 financial year.

The tax authority reportedly sent more than 81,000 warning letters to holders it suspects may have unpaid tax, the BBC reported after reviewing a freedom of information request.

UK Holders on Notice

The number is nearly three times higher than the 27,714 letters sent in 2024. HMRC believes a large share of the unpaid tax relates to gains made during the crypto bull run between 2022 and 2025. The tax authority has reminded recipients that obligations can arise when crypto is sold, given away, exchanged, or used to make purchases.

Failure to pay can result in penalties of up to 100% of the tax owed, in addition to interest. Meanwhile, offshore transfers potentially carry greater consequences.

The crackdown is also set to become broader as HMRC prepares to receive new powers in 2027. Offshore firms will be required to hand over customer information to the UK tax authority, which estimates the measure could raise £315 million (or $430 million) by 2030.

Neela Chauhan, a partner at accounting firm UHY Hacker Young, told the BBC that many traders are young and have had little previous experience dealing with HMRC. She said some operate on the assumption that the agency has limited visibility into their crypto activity. Chauhan also said authorities suspect many investors of evading tax and suggested that identifying unpaid liabilities among wealthy holders could become considerably easier once the new powers take effect.

While HMRC is tightening oversight, banking access is becoming a serious concern for the industry.

Banking Roadblocks

Earlier this month, Parliament’s Crypto and Digital Assets All-Party Parliamentary Group asked the chief executives of major UK banks to explain how they deal with cryptocurrency businesses. Labour MP Gurinder Singh Josan and Lord Vaizey of Didcot sent the letter after hearing repeated complaints from firms unable to open bank accounts, alongside reports of restrictions on payments.

The group asked banks about their policies, transaction limits, reasons behind those decisions, and whether the country’s incoming crypto rules could change their approach. The MPs accepted that banks must tackle financial crime and protect customers, but asserted that firms should be judged on their individual risk rather than simply being part of the sector. Vaizey called the banking problems “an unnecessary piece of friction.”

Research from the UK Cryptoasset Business Council found that banks were blocking or delaying around 40% of attempted transfers to digital asset exchanges.

The post UK Sends 81,000 Crypto Tax Warnings as HMRC Targets Unpaid Bull Run Gains appeared first on CryptoPotato.

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