Crypto’s August rally puts corporate faith to the test. Bitcoin (BTC) miners who spent much of the crypto meltdown for AI investors are once again trading as leveraged bets on BTC, while Strategy and Strive are adding thousands more bitcoins to their balance sheets.
The same concentration is at play elsewhere. Bitcoin is closing in on owning 5% of Ether’s (ETH) circulating supply despite billions in unrealized losses, while 21 major financial institutions are taking a different approach by creating stablecoins for payments and settlements.
Bitcoin rally puts miners back in the spotlight
Bitcoin’s August rally lifted beaten-down mining stocks as much as 67%, reversing a trend that underscores the sector’s continuing sensitivity to miners’ advances in AI and BTC market conditions.
Blocksbridge Consulting reported in a recent newsletter that bitcoin’s nearly 23% rally in late August outpaced most AI-connected infrastructure stocks. Canaan, American Bitcoin and Cango gained between 41% and 67%, while CoreWeave gained around 21%, Nebius 17% and IREN 15%. Meanwhile, some miners with greater exposure to AI and high-performance computing are flat or declining.
Blockbridge cited three catalysts for the rally: an extension of US Treasury liquidity-supporting buybacks, renewed regulatory optimism after the White House crypto meeting and a sharp shorting push that ended more than $1.6 billion in positions.
The outperformance suggests that investors may once again be rewarded for direct bitcoin exposure, although the sector still faces risks from the high costs of building AI data-center capabilities.
Struggle, strategy adds to Bitcoin holdings as BTC rallies
Strive and Strategy added billions of dollars worth of Bitcoin to their corporate coffers in the last week of August, with Strive buying 1,800 BTC for about $143 million and Strategy acquiring another 4,603 BTC.
Strive’s purchases between Aug. 24 and Aug. 28 boosted its holdings to 23,156 BTC, making it the fifth-largest publicly traded corporate bitcoin holder. After buying 1,110 BTC at an average price of $73,409 the previous week, the company paid an average of $79,431 per BTC, including fees and expenses.
Strategy, meanwhile, resumed buying, gaining 4,603 BTC at an average price of $80,318 and lifting its holdings to over 845,000 BTC after four sales since May.
The purchases coincided with a broad digital asset recovery that began on August 19, after the US Treasury announced plans to double certain long-term bond buybacks.
21 financial institutions plan a G7 stablecoin initiative for 2027
A consortium of 21 major financial institutions, including Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Citi, plans to establish a new company to develop and issue stablecoins, marking another sign of traditional money’s push for the digital dollar as the regulatory framework takes shape.
The group intends to launch a US dollar-denominated stablecoin in the first half of 2027 before expanding to other G7 currencies, with a subsequent euro offering. Stablecoin will target wholesale, institutional and retail markets for cross-border payments and digital asset settlement.
The initiative builds on an initiative announced last October by 10 banks exploring 1:1 reserve-backed digital money on public blockchains. The consortium now spans North America, Europe, East Asia, the Middle East and Africa and intends to comply with both the US GENIUS Act and the EU’s MiCA regulations.
Bitmine is close to 5% of Ether supply after a 65-week buying streak
BitMine extended its Ether buying streak to 65 consecutive weeks, adding 53,501 ETH last week as a broader crypto market recovery lifted the value of its digital asset portfolio.
The latest purchase brings Bitmain’s holdings to 5.9 million ETH, worth about $14.8 billion based on Ether’s price of $2,511 as of Sunday. The company now owns 4.9% of Ethereum’s 120.7 million circulating supply, putting it within striking distance of its stated 5% goal.
Ether, Bitcoin and Solana are the three best-performing major assets since June 30, with ETH leading the gain, said Tom Lee, chairman of BitMine.
“We believe this sets the stage for institutions to add to their crypto holdings given the significant outperformance against other macro assets,” Lee said.
Despite the accumulation, BitMine is sitting on an unrealized loss of about $5.1 billion in its Ether holdings, according to Dropbox data, reflecting sustained purchases through the downturn that began in late 2022.
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