The LINK token may see a 25-fold increase to $200 by the end of 2030, as the growing real world asset market increases demand for the industry’s largest oracle services provider, according to Standard Chartered.

The Chainlink (LINK) token may see an more than 25-fold increase by the end of the decade, as tokenized real world assets (RWA) will reach $4 trillion by the end of 2028, according to a forecast by Geoff Kendrick, the global head of digital asset research at Standard Chartered.

Kendrick said that the growth in tokenized assets will require more external data to come securely onchain, which may increase Chainlink’s fee generation and push its LINK token to $200 by the end of 2030, up from $8 today, according to a Monday report shared with Cointelegraph.

The report also forecast a 37-fold rise in tokenized and crypto-native assets deployed in decentralized finance, pushing these assets to $2.7 trillion by the end of 2030. Kendrick said these assets will require trusted data, interoperability between networks, privacy-preserving compliance and integrations with existing financial systems, which “only Chainlink is currently equipped to provide.” 

The report follows growing demand for tokenized assets. Tokenized RWA trading on decentralized exchanges (DEXs) reached a new all-time high of $141 billion in July, marking a 19.5% monthly rise largely driven by public equities, according to data provider CryptoRank.

Chainlink is the blockchain industry’s leading decentralized oracle provider for crosschain communication, with $34.4 billion in total value secured. Chronicle ranks second with $7.36 billion, according to data aggregator DefiLlama.

Standard Chartered’s Kendrick said that potential risks to its Chainlink price forecast include slower-than-expected institutional tokenization initiatives, competition from specialist oracle providers and potential technical setbacks.

Magazine: What NYSE’s exploration of onchain systems means for financial markets

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Strategy, which holds the largest corporate Bitcoin treasury, sold BTC for the second week in a row to repurchase its STRC preferred stock.

The company sold 1,690 Bitcoin for $108.6 million between Aug. 3 and Aug. 9, according to a Monday 8-K filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Strategy used the proceeds to buy back 1.15 million shares of its STRC preferred stock for $108.6 million. STRC is a variable-rate preferred stock designed to pay monthly dividends.

The transaction marked Strategy’s fourth disclosed Bitcoin sale of 2026, bringing its total Bitcoin sales for the year to 6,948 BTC, while the company still holds 840,447 BTC purchased for an aggregate $63.36 billion.

Bitcoin becomes part of the funding engine

Strategy sold the latest batch at an average net price of $64,262 per Bitcoin, while its total holdings carry an average purchase price of $75,385 per BTC, including fees and expenses.

Strategy’s prior disclosed sale involved 1,638 BTC for $104.73 million between July 27 and Aug. 2, when it also used Bitcoin sale proceeds to fund STRC repurchases.

Source: SEC

The latest filing shows that Strategy has $785.2 million remaining under its digital credit securities repurchase program, which covers its preferred stock, while another $1 billion remains available under its Class A common-stock repurchase program.

$4.65 billion reserve cushions preferred dividends

Strategy also continued building its US dollar reserve, reporting a balance of $4.65 billion as of Sunday, up from roughly $4 billion in the previous weekly update.

The company said $650 million of the $653.1 million in net proceeds from recent MSTR stock sales went toward the reserve, while the latest figure also includes expected proceeds from at-the-market (ATM) sales that had not yet settled.

Source: SEC

STRC shares have also rallied during Strategy’s recent buybacks, retaking $90 on Aug. 3 after rebounding 24% from their June lows.

STRC was up 0.46% at $95.45 in premarket trading Monday after closing Friday at $95, while MSTR gained 0.25% to $100.26, according to Yahoo Finance.

Magazine: Strategy became a symbol of the dot-com crash: Could history repeat?

Crypto asset manager Grayscale Investments has dropped plans for exchange-traded funds tied to Cardano’s ADA, Polkadot’s DOT and Hedera’s HBAR, withdrawing three registration statements from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) late Friday.

Through three separate requests with the regulator, Grayscale told the SEC it “does not intend to proceed with the planned distribution” of the shares of each trust.

The withdrawals were initiated by Grayscale and weren’t SEC rejections.

Grayscale’s initial Cardano ETF proposal came in February 2025, and its Polkadot filing later that month. Grayscale filed the corresponding ADA and DOT registration statements on Aug. 29, followed by its HBAR registration on Sept. 9.

The proposed funds were designed as passive vehicles that would track the value of their respective tokens after fees and expenses. Grayscale said it had not sold securities or distributed preliminary prospectuses under the registrations.

All three tokens have been losing value over the last few months. Year-to-date, ADA is down more than 41%, while DOT lost 54% of its value and Hedera’s HBAR lost 35%.

Since late February 2025, when the filings came in, performance has been worse. ADA endured a 70% drawdown, while DOT saw an 80% downward move. HBAR also dropped more than 70%.

Bitmine Immersion (BMNR), the largest Ethereum treasury firm, bought another 7,391 ether ETH$1,892.21 last week.

The purchase, worth roughly $14.2 million at ether’s price as of writing of $1,915, lifted the company’s holdings to over 5.8 million ETH, or about 4.8% of Ethereum’s total supply.

The latest haul, which extends Bitmine’s ETH buying streak to 58 weeks, was the smallest weekly purchase through the year and remains a fraction of the 100,000-plus weekly acquisitions Bitmine made earlier this year.

Thomas Lee, chairman of Bitmine, noted earlier this year that the firm would slow the pace of crypto accumulation as it gets closer to its goal of owning 5% of ether’s supply.

Instead, the company has shifted towards buying back shares. It repurchased another 3 million shares last week, which would have cost roughly $50 million to $58 million based on the stock’s trading range during the period. Since July, the firm has bought back 19.1 million of its own shares.

Bitmine also holds 209 BTC, $104 million in cash and marketable securities and stakes in Beast Industries and Eightco Holdings.

Bitmine shares traded flat neat $18.80 in pre-market trading.

Clarity delay

Lee focused on the macro backdrop despite another setback for U.S. crypto legislation, with the CLARITY Act failing to secure a Senate vote before the August recess.

Strategy, the publicly traded firm with the largest corporate Bitcoin treasury, has again converted part of its BTC holdings into cash to support buybacks of its STRC preferred stock. In its latest SEC filing, the company reported a second consecutive week of Bitcoin sales used to fund repurchases of STRC shares.

According to a Monday 8-K filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Strategy sold 1,690 Bitcoin for $108.6 million between Aug. 3 and Aug. 9. The proceeds were used to buy back 1.15 million shares of its STRC preferred stock for the same $108.6 million total.

Key takeaways

• Strategy sold 1,690 BTC for $108.6 million (Aug. 3–Aug. 9) to repurchase STRC preferred shares.
• This was the company’s fourth disclosed Bitcoin sale of 2026, bringing 2026 total BTC sales to 6,948.
• Strategy still holds 840,447 BTC with an aggregate purchase price of $63.36 billion, implying ongoing long-term exposure.
• The filing shows remaining repurchase capacity under both the preferred stock and common-stock buyback programs.
• Alongside STRC buybacks, Strategy continued building a US dollar reserve, reporting $4.65 billion as of Sunday.

Bitcoin sales tied directly to STRC buybacks

Strategy’s latest filing reinforces the company’s funding approach: using periodic Bitcoin liquidations to finance preferred stock repurchases. STRC is a variable-rate preferred stock structured to pay monthly dividends, and Strategy’s buybacks appear designed to manage capital structure while continuing dividend-related obligations.

On this occasion, the company reported an average net sale price of $64,262 per Bitcoin for the 1,690 BTC it sold. For comparison, Strategy’s broader Bitcoin cost basis is higher: the company cited an average purchase price of $75,385 per BTC for total holdings, including fees and expenses.

Strategy also previously disclosed a similar sequence. Earlier coverage noted that Strategy sold 1,638 BTC for $104.73 million between July 27 and Aug. 2, and used those proceeds to fund STRC repurchases as well. The current week’s sale follows that pattern closely—suggesting the company is maintaining an active, repeatable mechanism rather than relying on one-off treasury adjustments.

How much BTC Strategy has sold in 2026

While the latest transaction adds another step to Strategy’s 2026 funding routine, it does not represent a major shift away from holding BTC. The filing states the trade marked the company’s fourth disclosed Bitcoin sale of the year, bringing total 2026 BTC sales to 6,948 BTC.

After the latest sale, Strategy still holds 840,447 Bitcoin purchased for an aggregate $63.36 billion. That large remaining position matters for investors because Strategy’s balance sheet exposure to Bitcoin remains the dominant driver of its treasury value, even as the company periodically monetizes BTC to meet financial objectives.

From a market perspective, these disclosures also keep the question of “how much BTC is converted” in focus. If Strategy’s buyback-linked sales continue on a regular cadence, traders may increasingly weigh whether those conversions pressure sentiment around BTC liquidity at specific intervals—even if the firm’s long-term exposure remains intact.

Repurchase capacity and the dollar reserve build

Beyond the immediate buyback, the 8-K includes additional numbers that help map out how Strategy plans to fund and sustain the preferred stock program. The filing says Strategy has $785.2 million remaining under its digital credit securities repurchase program, which covers the preferred stock. It also reports another $1 billion available under its Class A common-stock repurchase program.

Strategy simultaneously continued building its US dollar reserves. The company reported a $4.65 billion balance as of Sunday, up from roughly $4 billion in the previous weekly update. In the filing, Strategy said $650 million of $653.1 million in net proceeds from recent MSTR stock sales went toward the reserve.

The reported cash number also includes expected proceeds from at-the-market (ATM) sales that had not yet settled at the time of the update. Taken together, the reserve build is relevant because it may reduce the need for frequent immediate BTC liquidations under certain market conditions—while still leaving BTC as the core long-duration holding.

STRC share momentum alongside buybacks

Strategy’s STRC buybacks come at a moment when the preferred stock has shown strength. The article cited that STRC shares rallied during Strategy’s recent repurchases, reclaiming $90 on Aug. 3 after rebounding 24% from their June lows.

In premarket trading Monday, STRC was up 0.46% to $95.45, after closing Friday at $95. According to Yahoo Finance, Strategy’s MSTR shares were also slightly higher, up 0.25% to $100.26 at the time of the report.

While price moves in any single session can’t be attributed solely to buybacks, the sequence is still notable: repurchases funded by BTC sales are arriving while market participants appear willing to bid up STRC from earlier weakness. For investors, the practical takeaway is that Strategy’s corporate actions are being tested in real time by equity market liquidity, particularly around preferred stock where dividends and variable-rate mechanics can influence demand.

Looking ahead, readers should watch two things: whether Strategy continues the pace of BTC-to-STRC conversions disclosed in its SEC filings, and how the firm’s remaining repurchase capacity and US dollar reserve evolve week to week. Any change in the cadence—or in the average net sale price compared with its cost basis—could affect how investors interpret the trade-off between maintaining BTC exposure and supporting the company’s preferred stock funding engine.