BGIN News & Events

Crypto exchange Bullish agreed to acquire the U.K.-based transfer agent Equiniti for $4.2B in the day's most consequential deal, while Coinbase announced the elimination of roughly 700 positions citing AI productivity gains and bitcoin squeezed through $81,000 for the first time since January on $532M of spot ETF inflows. Strategy holds center stage after the close, reporting Q1 FY26 results with its bitcoin purchase program on pause. Stay up on the crypto news that matters with "Crypto Currents," daily from The Fly. Join us at 2 PM ET for your essential briefing on the fast-moving world of cryptocurrency on FlyCast radio.BULLISH BUYS EQUINITI:reported that Bullish(BLSH)agreed to acquire U.K.-based issuer-services firm Equiniti in a $4.2B transaction composed of approximately $2.35B in Bullish stock priced at a 30-day VWAP of $38.48 per share and $1.85B of assumed debt, with a targeted close in January 2027.Bloomberg Lawnoted the combined entity is targeting approximately $1.3B in pro-forma adjusted revenue for FY26, and management is billing the result as the first fully integrated blockchain-enabled issuer-services platform.Equiniti operates in the shareholder record-keeping, proxy administration, and dividend disbursement space, providing infrastructure that underpins the equity operations of hundreds of listed companies globally. The acquisition pivots Bullish from pure-play exchange into traditional capital markets plumbing, handing Bullish shareholders direct exposure to a recurring-revenue financial infrastructure business while putting the firm on a collision course with entrenched transfer-agent incumbents.COINBASE WORKFORCE CUTS:reported that Coinbase(COIN)will eliminate approximately 700 positions, roughly 14% of its global workforce, with restructuring charges of $50M-$60M concentrated in Q2 FY26, per anSEC filing. CEO Brian Armstrong announced the reductions via X, attributing the decision to crypto market volatility and AI-driven productivity gains that allow smaller, flatter teams to operate at greater scale. Coinbase shares rose approximately 4% in pre-market trading following the disclosure.The restructuring charge is a near-term earnings headwind ahead of Coinbase's Q1 FY26 report, due May 7 after the close, but the margin trajectory of a leaner, AI-augmented cost structure is the more durable signal for consensus models. The May 7 release will be the first opportunity to test whether Armstrong's productivity thesis maps to measurable operating leverage.STRATEGY EARNINGS TONIGHT:Strategy(MSTR)is due to report Q1 FY26 financial results after market close today, followed by a 5:00 PM ET conference call. The company confirmed that it paused bitcoin purchases this week ahead of the release, temporarily removing the market's most consistent institutional buyer from the spot tape. Strategy holds 818,334 bitcoin at an average acquisition cost of $75,537 per coin, and its STRC preferred shares are currently trading below the $100 par value, a condition that constrains fresh at-the-market capital raises under the existing structure.BITCOIN ETF FLOWS:U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs absorbed net inflows of $532M, led by BlackRock's(BLK)iShares Bitcoin Trust at $335M and Fidelity's FBTC at $184M. Bitcoin simultaneously broke above $81,000 for the first time since January, driven by a short squeeze that forced liquidation of an estimated $180M in bearish perpetual futures positions stacked above $78,785. On-chain analyst 'Murphy', viaLookonchain, noted that approximately 423,000 bitcoin traded in the $78,000 cluster with an unfilled on-chain gap remaining at $81,000 to $82,000 and and institutional wallet activity near $83,000-$84,000 that the analyst characterizes as non-resistant consolidation, with the next meaningful supply cluster above $87,000, a constructive backdrop for miner margins at, a framework with direct margin implications for miners MARA Holdings(MARA), Riot Platforms(RIOT), CleanSpark(CLSK), and Iren(IREN).TOKENIZATION AND STABLECOINS:Figure Technology(FIGR)willwork with OpenWorld to tokenize OpenWorld's equity securities on Figure Technology Solutions' Onchain Public Equity Network ahead of OpenWorld's proposed Nasdaq listing, a real-world asset transaction that places on-chain equity issuance on a direct path to a major U.S. exchange. Global market maker Virtu Financial(VIRT)joined the zerohash liquidity network as a market-making partner,expanding institutional access to crypto, stablecoin, and tokenization services for zerohash's financial institution clients. PayPal(PYPL)alsofiled Q1 FY26 earnings this morning, covering financial performance across consumer and merchant platforms including its PYUSD stablecoin and integrated crypto trading services.MINING AND HARDWARE:Cipher Digital(CIFR)reported Q1 FY26 results before market open today,submitting two filings with the SECcovering bitcoin mining operational and financial results for the period ended March 31, 2026. At the Bitcoin 2026 conference in Las Vegas, ASIC manufacturer BGIN Blockchain(BGIN)unveileda commemorative prototype miner "PortableBTC"alongside its institutional 4nm BT1 chip program.PRICE ACTION:As of time of writing, bitcoin(BTC-USD)was trading at$81,270.04, while etherwas trading at$2,377.33,according to price data from TipRanks.

As bitcoin, ethereum and other cryptocurrencies see major legal, institutional, and technological developments, the financial landscape continues to adapt. Stay up on the crypto news that matters with the "Crypto Currents" weekly from The Fly. Also, join us for your essential daily recap, every day at 2 PM ET on FlyCast radio.CHARLES SCHWAB DETAILS SPOT CRYPTO TRADING LAUNCH:On Thursday, Charles Schwabannouncedoffer that will begin a phased rollout to retail clients in the coming weeks. Schwab Crypto will provide direct access to bitcoin and ethereum trading, combined with educational content and experienced professional support. At launch, Schwab Crypto will include direct trading in bitcoin and ethereum, in-depth digital assets education and resources, including insights and commentary from the Schwab Center for Financial Research and crypto-focused content through Schwab Coaching, as well as the ability to view and trade cryptocurrency and traditional investments side-by-side across Schwab.com, Schwab Mobile, and thinkorswim. It will also include access to Schwab's 24/7 support from thousands of tenured service professionals and will be priced among the lowest in the industry at 75 basis points on the dollar value of each trade. Over time, Schwab plans to add additional cryptocurrencies to the platform, as well as transfer capabilities for both deposits and withdrawals, allowing clients with existing digital asset investments to bring them to Schwab alongside their other investments."With Schwab Crypto, investors can access familiar cryptocurrencies within an all in one investing and banking experience, backed by an ecosystem of education, tools, resources, and support so they can make informed decisions about how crypto might fit into their broader investing goals," said Joe Vietri, Head of Digital Assets. "Whether you're new to crypto and looking for a firm you know and trust, or you already own digital assets, our goal is to be the destination of choice for retail investors who want to incorporate digital assets into their portfolios with confidence."ETORO ENTERS AGREEMENT TO ACQUIRE ZENGA:eToroannounced Wednesday that it has entered intoa self-custodial crypto wallet provider, in a move that deepens eToro's digital asset capabilities and accelerates its strategy of connecting traditional finance with on-chain infrastructure and the crypto native economy. The acquisition brings together eToro's global multi-asset platform and distribution with Zengo's non-custodial wallet technology, supporting Zengo's next phase of growth while expanding eToro's digital asset capabilities. The transaction strengthens eToro's ability to support evolving digital asset use cases, including tokenized assets and emerging decentralized trading models such as prediction markets and perpetuals, as these markets develop.Yoni Assia, CEO, said, "We believe the future of finance will be increasingly digital, decentralized and user-controlled, with self-custody playing an important role in that evolution. Zengo has built an innovative and secure wallet experience, and this acquisition will enable us to accelerate its growth while continuing to provide users with choice in how they access digital assets. As we often say, crypto downtimes are the time to build and this acquisition reflects that long-term approach. At the same time, we continue to demonstrate the strength of our diversified business model. We've seen strong capital market activity so far this year, with commodity trading accounting for 60% of trading commissions by asset class in Q1 2026, with commodities trading volume nearly 4x higher year over year. This growth was driven by shifting global macro dynamics, our standing as a top-tier global multi-asset platform, and our strategic expansion of 24/7 trading, including gold and oil."On Thursday, eToro announced the relaunch of Tori, its AI investing companion, introducing three upgrades: persistent memory, real-time market sentiment from X powered by Grok 4.2, and the ability to create and manage user-defined AI-driven Agent Portfolios entirely through conversation.eToro also announced Tuesday the launch of the eToro App Store, a marketplace enabling investors and developers to build, share and access trading and analytics applications directly within the eToro platform.SEC APPROVES PLAN TO REMOVE DAY TRADING LIMITS:The Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday approved changes to the pattern day trading rule, shifting from a fixed $25,000 threshold for small investors to risk-based margin requirements applied to all traders. Public feedback "overwhelmingly supported" the plan, which includes the "elimination of the $25,000 minimum equity requirements and definition of pattern day trader," SEC Assistant Secretary Sherry Haywood wrote in an order.Goldman Sachs noted the change and pointed out that as this likely reduces margin requirements for traders, which would allow more smaller-sized accounts to trade more actively, this could drive increased retail trading volumes in equities, which could benefit brokers under coverage, including Buy-rated Robinhoodand Interactive Brokersand Neutral-rated eToro. This could be particularly true for the former, which has smaller average account sizes and mostly U.S. exposure, whereas Interactive Brokers has larger average accounts, and eToro is predominantly non-U.S. exposed.Meanwhile, BernsteinThe firm has an Outperform rating on the name with a $130 price target. The upside will be driven by a recovery in crypto markets and "breakout" revenue growth in prediction markets, the analyst said. Bernstein believes a "weak" Q1 report is already priced into Robinhood shares. The market will be forward looking as trading volumes recover Q2 onwards, contended the firm.Additionally, Truist lowered the firm's price target on Robinhood to $100 from $120 and kept a Buy rating on the shares. The firm updated its Robinhood model to incorporate trading data from February and March ahead of Q1 earnings. While shares have been under pressure year-to-date with revenue headwinds from crypto prices and high-beta equity volatility, shares have consolidated in recent months around $70, which the firm views as an attractive entry point for a platform poised to organically grow assets 20%+ annually for the next three years, the analyst said.CRYPTO COMPANIES SEEK MYTHOS ACCESS:Major crypto exchanges and custodians including Coinbaseand Binance are racing to prepare for powerful AI models like Anthropic's Mythos, which the AI company says could be dangerously good at finding and exploiting software vulnerabilities, The Information's Yueqi Yang reported Tuesday. Coinbase has been in "close communication" with Anthropic about Mythos, "a highly restricted model not available to the public," Coinbase Chief Security Officer Philip Martin said. "Mythos, and future models like it, will enable even deeper testing of software and systems at scale. This will accelerate digital threats as well as digital defense."Meanwhile, Piper Sandler raised the firm's price target on Coinbaseon the shares. Heading into Q1 earnings, the firm expects management teams to strike a positive tone on the outlook for trading volumes, especially in futures as the Iran War continues to impact global energy and commodities markets. Piper is somewhat cautious on the tough year-over-year comparisons facing exchanges in Q2, but a continuation of the Iran War is a strong counter.NORTHERN TRUST, DIGITAL ASSET PARTNER FOR CUSTODY CAPABILITIES:Northern Trustannounced Thursday it hasto support the development of custody capabilities for tokenized financial assets. This integration will advance Northern Trust's broader digital asset strategy as the firm continues to evolve its asset servicing model in response to changing market structures. As part of this agreement, Northern Trust will integrate with Canton Network's infrastructure to develop and deploy applications that bridge digital and traditional markets, supporting institutional grade custody and asset servicing workflows for network participants. This move also creates opportunities with other regulated partners and financial services utilities that provide services for digitally issued assets. Northern Trust will utilize its digital assets platform to support custody and asset servicing for tokenized assets issued or transacted on the network."As institutional adoption of digital assets progresses, clients are looking for custody and servicing models that align with established market standards and regulatory expectations," said Guy Gibson, co‑president, Asset Servicing and head of Institutional Banking and Markets. "Connecting to the Canton Network allows us to extend our asset servicing role into new market structures while maintaining the same principles of scale, control, and risk management that clients expect from Northern Trust."OTHER CRYPTO NEWS:Benchmark startsHoldingswith a BuyBitGo, tradias expandHyperscale DatareportsStrategyacquiresprice target raised to $385 from $350 at TD CowenBitmine ImmersionannouncesCanaanreportsTeraWulfreports preliminaryStrivepurchasesEmpery DigitalsellsBGIN BlockchainannouncesDeFi Technologiesprice target loweredat MaximLM FundingminesHigh Rollerteams with Crypto.com toVisalaunchesBitdeerproducesExodus Movementexpandsfiles lawsuit to compel W3C to complete saleSolunaacquiresfor $16.5MLQR Houseto acquireCypherpunk TechnologiesincreasesMorpheus Research saysTechnology, 'short position justified'CRYPTO STOCK PLAYS:Publicly traded companies in the space include Bit Digital, Coinbase, Core Scientific, Greenidge Generation, Mara Holdings, Strategy, Riot Platformsand TeraWulf.PRICE ACTION:As of time of writing, bitcoin rose roughly 6% this week to $77,225 in U.S. dollars, according to CoinDesk.

The collapse of U.S.-Iran ceasefire talks pushed oil prices back up and has been keeping bitcoin(BTC-USD)pinned near the $70,500 support level. Meanwhile, a Polkadot(DOT-USD)bridge exploit added further headwinds for cross-chain infrastructure investors. Stay current on the crypto news that matters with "Crypto Currents," daily from The Fly. Join us at 2 PM ET for your essential briefing on the fast-moving world of cryptocurrency on FlyCast radio.STRATEGY EXTENDS BITCOIN ACCUMULATION WITH $1B BUY, BITMINE REACHES ETHER HOLDINGS OVER 4% OF CIRCULATING SUPPLY:Strategy(MSTR)disclosed in afiling this morningthat it acquired 13,927 bitcoin for roughly $1B during the week of April 6-12, at an average price of $71,902 per coin, lifting its total treasury to 780,897 bitcoin at an aggregate cost of approximately $59.02B, or $75,577 average. The purchase was funded entirely by selling 10.03M shares of its STRC preferred stock for net proceeds of about $1.001B, with no dilution to MSTR common shares this cycle. Founder Michael Saylor, noting a 5.6% bitcoin yield year-to-date in 2026 and a breakeven annual return rate of about 2.05%.On the ether(ETH-USD)side, treasury giant Bitmine Immersion Technologies(BMNR)disclosed in aregulatory filingthat its total ether holdings stand at 4.875M ether, roughly 4.04% of total circulating supply, valued near $10.75B at $2,206 per token. 3.33M of their owned ether valued at $7.4B is actively staked. The company also holds 198 bitcoin, $719M in cash, and $85M in Eightco Holdings(ORBS)shares, and announced that its NYSE uplisting from NYSE American became effective April 9, a development that broadens its index-eligibility and institutional accessibility. The scale of Bitmine's staking position makes it one of the largest single publicly traded concentrations of staked ether on U.S. exchanges, a defining concentration for any portfolio with Ethereum infrastructure exposure.CANGO LAUNCHES HPC/AI SUBSIDIARY AS MINERS PIVOT FROM PURE PROOF-OF-WORK:Cango(CANG)announcedthat EcoHash, its high-performance computing and AI inference subsidiary, has begun commercial operations at its owned 50-megawatt facility in Georgia, deploying plug-and-play compute modules via its proprietary EcoLink Orchestration Platform. LM Funding America(LMFA)disclosed in an8-Ka more constrained operational picture for March 2026. The company mined 9.6 bitcoin at a record hashrate of 0.79 EH/s but sold 23.1 bitcoin, leaving a 341.2 bitcoin treasury valued at nearly $22.9M. It also extended an $11M Galaxy Digital credit facility to June 26, 2026, signaling continued reliance on debt financing amid compressed mining economics. Meanwhile, BGIN Blockchain(BGIN)resolved a prolonged hosting dispute,the company said, recovering all 5,325 seized mining machines from Mawson Hosting and Krypton Technologies under a confidential settlement, an event that removes a material operational drag from BGIN's U.S. subsidiary, BGIN Infrastructure.BROADRIDGE AND MARTI EXPAND DIGITAL ASSET INFRASTRUCTURE FOOTPRINTS:Broadridge Financial Solutions(BR)launched a unified digital asset platform for Canadian wealth managers,per the firm's announcement, covering crypto trading, tokenized real-world assets, integrated custody via Galaxy Digitaland Anchorage/Tetra, and on-chain proxy voting, building on infrastructure that already tokenizes more than $8T in assets monthly. The launch is a telling signal that institutional-grade digital asset tooling is moving into mainstream North American wealth management, with custody integration through regulated counterparties rather than self-managed wallets. Marti Technologies(MRT)reported FY25 results, posting revenue of $39.2M, up 110% year over year and 15% above guidance, with gross margin swinging from -15% to +61%. The Turkey-based mobility platform maintains a policy of holding 20–50% of cash reserves in bitcoin and guided for FY26 revenue of $70M with positive adjusted EBITDA.CLARITY ACT AND SEC ROUNDTABLE SET THE WEEK'S REGULATORY TONE:The U.S. Senate returned from Easter recess Monday, reopening the window for a potential CLARITY Act markup vote this week, with an SEC digital assets roundtable scheduled for April 16 as the immediate near-term catalyst. CoinbaseCEO Brian Armstrong publicly endorsed the CLARITY Act on April 9 following White House pressure, and passage of the bill would be a significant positive for Coinbase's regulatory standing and product roadmap. The legislative outcome also carries direct implications for miner and exchange-adjacent equities whose compliance overhead and product offerings are sensitive to jurisdictional clarity on digital asset classification.On the corporate side, BitGo(BTGO)that BitGo Prime has added tradias, a regulated European crypto-asset services provider currently merging with Boerse Stuttgart Digital, to its institutional liquidity network, expanding execution quality and market access for its institutional client base. Bitcoin Depot(BTM), the largest North American bitcoin ATM operator with over 9,000 kiosk locations, named Tony Gagliardi as its new chief compliance officer effective April 8,the company disclosed. Gagliardi previously held global compliance roles at Coinbase, OKX, and Paxos, a résumé that reflects the rising anti-money laundering and know-your-customer regulatory bar across the digital asset kiosk sector.PRICE ACTION:As of time of writing, bitcoin(BTC-USD)was trading near $71,797.97, and ether(ETH-USD)was trading near $2,206.60,according to price data from TipRanks.