Writers, illustrators and independent musicians are pushing a widening set of lawsuits against Google, Meta and Anthropic over how AI systems were trained, with disputes spanning copyright infringement, allegedly unauthorized use of platform data and the scope of user agreements. The legal picture remains mixed. Anthropic reached a $1.5 billion settlement with authors in a case approved on July 20, 2026 by San Francisco federal judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín, covering roughly 500,000 works at about $3,000 apiece, and agreed to destroy pirated ebook files. But the same litigation also left room for AI companies, after judge William Alsup found that training on lawfully purchased and scanned second-hand books under the so-called "Panama Project" qualified as fair use. Other cases are still moving through court. Artists have continued their long-running suit against Stability, Midjourney, DeviantArt and Runway AI; musician Sam Kogon is challenging Google over YouTube Content ID data allegedly used to train Lyria and ProducerAI; and claims against Meta over Llama were narrowed after a judge found insufficient evidence of market harm, while piracy-related allegations survived. New suits filed this year by music publishers, book publishers and authors show the fight is still growing.

Public companies holding bitcoin on their balance sheets recorded a net weekly sale of $15.92 million as of 8 a.m. ET on July 27, 2026, according to SoSoValue, in a sign that treasury allocation activity remained subdued. Total bitcoin held by listed companies excluding miners slipped to 1,139,480 BTC, down 0.02% from a week earlier, with an estimated market value of $74.16 billion, or 5.7% of bitcoin’s circulating market capitalization. Strategy and Japan-listed Metaplanet did not add to their BTC positions last week. Strategy instead sold about 5.43 million MSTR shares between July 20 and July 26, generating net proceeds of $544.5 million, and spent $25 million to repurchase 288,930 shares of STRC preferred stock. KULR sold 333 BTC at $64,538, Strive bought 79 BTC for $5.19 million, and OrangeBTC bought 6 BTC for $394,500. The report also tracked broader shifts in crypto treasury strategy. Metaplanet acquired Siiibo Securities and is said to be aiming at a bitcoin-backed fixed-income market in Japan. KULR used BTC sale proceeds to repay a $20 million Coinbase credit line. Empery Digital invested $20 million in AI data center developer Cardinal Data Power. On the ETH side, Bitmine Immersion Technologies added 9,946 ETH over the past week and repurchased 6.1 million common shares, lifting its ETH holdings to 5.7874 million ETH, about 4.8% of Ethereum’s total supply.

A growing list of public companies that once embraced the bitcoin treasury model are now selling BTC, paying down debt and reworking their balance-sheet strategies after sharp declines in both bitcoin and their own share prices. CoinDesk reports that Strategy, Satsuma Technology, Smarter Web Company, Sequans Communications, Nakamoto and Empery Digital have all sold bitcoin for purposes ranging from debt repayment and operating needs to stock buybacks and cash preservation. Crypto miners including MARA Holdings and Bitdeer are also reducing holdings, using proceeds to repay or repurchase debt while shifting energy and computing capacity toward AI data centers. The pressure extends beyond asset sales. Leadership turnover at Twenty One Capital and the collapse of Bitcoin Standard Treasury Company’s proposed merger point to broader strain across the digital-asset treasury sector. Even so, Strategy remains the largest public bitcoin holder with more than 840,000 BTC, and CEO Michael Sayler said limited sales would not amount to a broad exit plan.

Swan Bitcoin CEO Cory Klippsten said in an interview that Tether effectively controls Twenty One Capital, a publicly listed bitcoin treasury company backed by the stablecoin issuer, and uses it to advance political interests in the United States. He did not provide evidence for the claim. Klippsten also said Tether did not respond to a request for comment. In the same interview, he described Strike founder Jack Mallers’ role as CEO of Twenty One Capital as largely nominal, saying Mallers’ main job was to promote the company’s stock. Klippsten added that Mallers’ departure was not his own decision. The remarks amount to a direct criticism of both Tether’s influence over Twenty One Capital and Mallers’ position at the company. The original report did not include supporting documentation for the allegations and noted only that Tether had not commented.

Metaplanet spent $405.48 million to buy 5,075 BTC in the first quarter of 2026, lifting total holdings to 40,177 BTC, even as its stock fell 87% and traded below book value.

US spot Bitcoin ETFs have pulled in $59.38 billion in net inflows since January 2024, while Wall Street firms are also moving into direct crypto trading, tightening the link between traditional finance and digital assets.

Twenty One Capital rose more than 8% in after-hours trading after Tether Investments proposed merging the bitcoin-focused company with Strike and Elektron Energy. No deal terms or timeline were disclosed.

21 Capital has overtaken MARA Holdings as the second-largest public company bitcoin holder with 43,514 BTC (~$2.9B), after MARA sold 15,133 BTC in March. Strategy remains #1 with 762,099 BTC.