WuBlockchain’s Aug. 31 daily crypto roundup highlighted updates involving BitMine, Strategy, U.S. federal asset sales, token buybacks, a contract dispute involving Chainalysis and ICE, and forecasts for regulated crypto trading in Russia.
BitMine bought 53,501 ETH over the past week
According to a BitMine announcement, the company purchased 53,501 ETH over the past week, bringing its total holdings to 5,901,112 ETH, or about 4.9% of Ethereum’s total supply.
Of that amount, 5,067,309 ETH has been staked, equal to roughly 86% of its holdings. Expected annualized staking income is about $335 million.
As of Aug. 30, the company held about $541 million in cash and marketable securities. Its crypto assets, cash, securities and other investments were worth about $15.6 billion in total.
Strategy spent $369.7 million on 4,603 BTC last week
According to an 8-K filing submitted by Strategy to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company bought 4,603 BTC between Aug. 24 and Aug. 30 for about $369.7 million, at an average purchase price of about $80,318.
As of Aug. 30, Strategy held 845,050 BTC. Its cumulative purchase cost stood at about $63.73 billion, with an average purchase price of about $75,412.
U.S. government sold Anthropic shares held by two former FTX executives
The U.S. federal government had previously obtained Anthropic shares held by former FTX executives Caroline Ellison and Nishad Singh through criminal asset forfeiture proceedings. In 2025, the U.S. Marshals Service sold those shares to existing Anthropic investors.
Ellison and Singh had originally invested about $10 million and $40 million, respectively, in Anthropic’s 2022 financing round. The exact sale date, buyers and transaction price were not disclosed. As of June this year, proceeds from the sale had still not appeared among funds received by the FTX bankruptcy estate.
Crypto project token buybacks reached $638 million this year
Digital asset projects have repurchased about $638 million of their own tokens so far this year, above the $545 million recorded in the same period last year. Hyperliquid and Pumpfun accounted for nearly 90% of the total.
Hyperliquid allocates 99% of trading fee revenue to HYPE buybacks. Since launching in December 2024, it has repurchased and burned $1.3 billion worth of tokens. Sky Protocol has bought back $26 million in tokens, while Lido plans regular buybacks once conditions including $40 million in annualized revenue are met.
Analysts said buybacks can reduce token supply and signal confidence, though their actual impact on price remains uncertain.
Chainalysis challenges ICE contract awarded to TRM Labs
Chainalysis has protested U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s award of an exclusive contract worth about $95 million to TRM Labs. The contract covers cryptocurrency tracing for a Department of Homeland Security task force and is described as the largest blockchain analytics deal signed by the U.S. government to date.
Chainalysis alleges that ICE did not conduct an open competition, that the procurement requirements closely matched TRM’s proprietary products, and that other companies were given only three days to respond. The process, according to the complaint, was completed in about two weeks.
The complaint also says the “unique capabilities” rationale cited by ICE had been removed in revisions to the Federal Acquisition Regulation. These are allegations made by Chainalysis, and no ruling has been issued. TRM Labs has not been accused of wrongdoing. Oral arguments are scheduled for Sept. 2.
Russia’s first-year regulated crypto trading volume may top $46 billion
Anatoly Popov, deputy chairman of the executive board at Sberbank, said crypto trading volume on regulated exchanges is expected to reach at least 4 trillion rubles, or about $46.43 billion, in the first year, though most trading is still expected to take place through unregulated channels. By 2029, that figure may rise to 7.5 trillion rubles, or about $87.06 billion.
Russia’s central bank plans to allow investors to legally buy crypto assets through brokers starting Sept. 1. Non-qualified investors will face an annual purchase cap of 300,000 rubles, or about $3,800, through a single licensed intermediary. Qualified investors will have a limit of 3 million rubles, or about $38,000.
At present, Russia’s official exchanges are authorized to trade only BTC, ETH and USDT.