Treasury buybacks lift Bitcoin as Metaplanet expands to the US and Cypherpunk bets on Zcash mining

Bitcoin and the broader crypto market got a lift this week after the US Treasury moved to double certain long-dated bond buybacks, a policy shift traders have started to treat as “not-QE.” BTC rose more than 23% toward $79,000, while Ether topped $2,400. The move has become a live question for digital assets: if Washington keeps supporting liquidity without formally launching quantitative easing, could Bitcoin and other risk assets benefit most? Cointelegraph says that debate is already feeding into corporate strategy. Standard Chartered analyst Geoff Kendrick said Bitcoin could reach $100,000 by the end of the year as the Treasury doubles buybacks of 10- to 20-year and 20- to 30-year coupons. In a client note, he called it “exactly the type of thing Bitcoin loves.” Kendrick said $65,500 is the key technical level for BTC. A break above that area, he argued, would confirm the cycle low is in. On Wednesday, the Treasury said the expanded buyback program will run from Sept. 9 through Nov. 4. After the announcement, long-dated yields fell and Bitcoin climbed more than 6% to nearly $69,000, its highest level since early June, according to CoinMarketCap. He still sees the $100,000 call as contingent on BTC holding above $65,500. If that level fails, he said, the cycle low cannot be confirmed. Metaplanet is also moving its Bitcoin treasury model abroad. The Tokyo-based firm plans to take a controlling stake in Nasdaq-listed Super League Enterprise and use the deal to expand its strategy into the US. Under the agreement, Metaplanet will contribute 2,100 BTC and $2.5 million in cash to Super League, which will be renamed Superplanet. Based on the figures in the report, the Bitcoin contribution is worth about $145 million. The 2,100 BTC come from Metaplanet’s existing treasury and represent less than 5% of its 43,000 BTC holdings. CEO Simon Gerovich said the structure creates two fundraising paths: Superplanet in the US and Metaplanet in Japan. Super League shares jumped more than 50% on the news. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter, subject to shareholder approval and customary closing conditions. Cypherpunk Technologies is making its own bet, this time on Zcash mining. The publicly traded firm is expanding into Zcash (ZEC) after a $33.33 million equity deal with Winklevoss Capital for a mining fleet. The operation is already online at US facilities and gives Cypherpunk roughly 18% of the network’s hashrate. The company says the fleet is producing about 4.2 GSol/s. Cypherpunk also holds 323,394 ZEC, or about 1.9% of circulating supply, and it is targeting 5% ownership. It has described Zcash mining as offering more attractive economics than Bitcoin mining or AI data center workloads. Those economics still depend on ZEC’s price, network hashrate, mining difficulty and operating costs. The report notes that ZEC had rallied more than 1,300% over the past 12 months before pulling back. On July 28, the network rolled out its Ironwood upgrade to replace the Orchard pool after a flaw that could have allowed counterfeit ZEC creation, though no exploitation was detected. The week also brought a regulatory step for a different market. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission is seeking public comment on futures contracts tied to AI computing capacity, a move that could shape trading and hedging around compute costs. Bloomberg reported Monday that the CFTC sent the request to the White House Office of Management and Budget. CME Group said last week it plans to launch two compute futures contracts on Oct. 5, pending regulatory approval, with Silicon Data providing the benchmarks. Estimates from TD Lombard, Goldman Sachs and Bridgewater Associates put AI infrastructure spending at about 2% to 2.5% of US GDP this year. According to Bloomberg, once the White House review is complete, the CFTC is expected to open a public comment period that typically lasts 30 or 60 days.