Corporate crypto exposure moved back to center stage after the market’s August rebound. As rising prices rewarded direct holdings, Bitcoin miners, public-company balance-sheet strategies and stablecoin plans from large financial institutions all drew renewed attention.
Bitcoin rally pushed miners back into focus
Cointelegraph’s weekly Crypto Biz report said August’s Bitcoin rally tested corporate conviction across the sector. Miners that had spent much of the downturn trying to attract AI-focused investors started trading again like leveraged BTC exposure as the market turned higher.
BlocksBridge Consulting said in a recent newsletter that Bitcoin’s roughly 23% gain in late August beat most AI-linked infrastructure stocks. Canaan, American Bitcoin and Cango rose between 41% and 67%. By comparison, CoreWeave gained about 21%, Nebius added 17% and IREN rose 15%. Some miners with heavier exposure to AI and high-performance computing were flat or declined.
BlocksBridge identified three catalysts behind the move:
- an expansion of US Treasury buybacks that supported liquidity,
- renewed regulatory optimism after a White House crypto meeting,
- and a sharp short squeeze that liquidated more than $1.6 billion in positions.
The report said the outperformance may show investors once again rewarding direct Bitcoin exposure. Even so, the sector still faces the high cost of building AI data-center capacity.
Strive and Strategy expanded Bitcoin treasuries
Strive and Strategy both added to their Bitcoin holdings in the final week of August. Strive bought 1,800 BTC for about $143 million, while Strategy acquired another 4,603 BTC.
Strive’s purchases from Aug. 24 through Aug. 28 lifted its holdings to 23,156 BTC, making it the fifth-largest publicly traded corporate Bitcoin holder. The company said it paid an average of $79,431 per BTC, including fees and expenses. The prior week, it had bought 1,110 BTC at an average price of $73,409.
Strategy resumed buying as well, purchasing 4,603 BTC at an average price of $80,318. After four sales since May, its total holdings moved back above 845,000 BTC.
Those purchases came during a broader digital-asset recovery that began on Aug. 19, after the US Treasury said it would double certain long-term bond buybacks.
21 financial institutions are planning a G7 stablecoin venture
A consortium of 21 major financial institutions plans to create a new company to develop and issue stablecoins. Cointelegraph named Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Citi among the participants.
The group intends to launch a US dollar-denominated stablecoin in the first half of 2027, then expand into other G7 currencies, with a euro product next. The tokens are aimed at wholesale, institutional and retail use cases for cross-border payments and digital-asset settlement.
The effort builds on an initiative announced last October, when 10 banks said they were exploring a 1:1 reserve-backed form of digital money on public blockchains. The consortium now spans North America, Europe, East Asia, the Middle East and Africa, and it plans to comply with both the US GENIUS Act and the European Union’s MiCA framework.
Bitmine extended its Ether buying streak to 65 weeks
On Ethereum, Bitmine kept buying. The company extended its accumulation streak to 65 consecutive weeks and added 53,501 ETH last week as the broader crypto recovery lifted the value of its digital-asset portfolio.
The latest purchase pushed Bitmine’s holdings to more than 5.9 million ETH. Based on an Ether price of $2,511 as of Sunday, the position was worth about $14.8 billion. The report said the company now owns 4.9% of Ethereum’s 120.7 million circulating supply, putting it close to its stated 5% target.
Bitmine chairman Tom Lee said Ether, Bitcoin and Solana have been the three best-performing major assets since June 30, with ETH leading the gains.
Lee said, 「We believe this sets the stage for institutions to add to their crypto holdings given the substantial outperformance versus other macro assets.」
Despite the buildup, DropsTab data shows Bitmine is still carrying about $5.1 billion in unrealized losses on its Ether holdings. The figure reflects continued buying through the downturn that began in late 2022.
Cointelegraph said Crypto Biz is its weekly look at the business side of blockchain and crypto, delivered every Thursday.