Strategy Acquires $1.28B in Bitcoin in Largest Single-Week Purchase
Oil's spike and the Iran shock are not just a macro headline, they are now the central driver of how capital is moving across bitcoin, ether, tokenized gold, and spot ETF wrappers tied to U.S.-listed names.For equity investors who traffic in Coinbase, Strategy, miners, and the new class of treasury and RWA plays, today's flows are a live stress test of whether the "digital gold" and "on-chain macro" narratives actually hold up when war, energy, and Washington collide in real time.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.BITCOIN HOLDS NEAR $66,000 AS BRENT CRUDE TOPS $119 ON IRAN WAR:reports that bitcoinrose even as Brent crude jumped above $100 and toward $119 per barrel, while stock futures and bonds retreated on fears of a prolonged conflict around the Strait of Hormuz. SeparateBloombergcoverage notes S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures down about 1.1%, and strategist Ed Yardeniraisedhis odds of a U.S. market "meltdown" to 35%, putting bitcoin's resilience under a fresh macro lens. The total crypto market value sits near $2.33T and the broader digital-asset complex is down roughly 21% year-to-date and bitcoin has logged its weakest 50-day start on record with a 23% drawdown, yet real-world-asset tokens have expanded their sector footprint by more than a quarter to about $26.9B,suggesting institutional capital continues flowing into crypto-adjacent infrastructure even during the drawdown.NASDAQ TAPS KRAKEN FOR TOKENIZED STOCKS WHILE COINBASE LAUNCHES EU FUTURES:Nasdaqis advancing its issuer-centric equity tokenization blueprint through a partnership with Kraken parent Payward, according toBloomberg, with tokenized shares set to settle through DTCC while preserving traditional voting and dividend mechanics.Kraken's blogdescribes xStocks as already handling more than $25B in tokenized equity volume with 80,000 on-chain holders, forming the bridge that should allow one-to-one tokens tracking names like Nvidia and Tesla to move between on-chain venues and Nasdaq's regulated markets by 2027.Coinbaseis pushing in parallel on regulated derivatives in Europe, withCryptoNinjasreporting that the company's MiFID-licensed entity has launched futures across 26 countries, including Germany and France, on Coinbase Advanced. The newly available lineup spans perpetual-style contracts with hourly funding and daily settlement plus monthly and quarterly expiries, offering up to 10x leverage on select bitcoin, ether, and equity-index products with lower leverage on other pairs. Coinbase shares trade around $197 with 21 Buy ratings and a consensus target near $251.Broadridge Financial Solutionsalso announced the, marking NYFIX's first cryptocurrency integration in Asia and extending institutional FIX-protocol crypto order routing to Broadridge's network of over 2,200 buy- and sell-side participants.STRATEGY BUYS $1.28B IN BITCOIN IN LARGEST SINGLE-WEEK 2026 PURCHASE:Strategydisclosedthat it acquired 17,994 bitcoin between March 2 and March 8 for $1.28B at an average price of $70,946 per BTC, a 527% increase over the prior week's purchase. Total holdings now stand at 738,731 BTC with a cumulative cost basis of $56.04B and an average purchase price of $75,862. The company funded the buy by selling 3,776,205 shares of STRC preferred stock for $377.1M in net proceeds and 6,327,541 shares of MSTR common stock for $899.5M in net proceeds. Strategy also amended its Omnibus Sales Agreement to allow multiple agents to sell securities outside regular market hours, expanding its capital-raising flexibility.Bitmine Immersion Technologiesis taking an ETH-heavy approach, with its8-K filingreporting 4,534,563 ETH held at about $1,965 per coin, 3,040,483 ETH staked, 195 BTC, $1.2B in cash, and a $200M Beast Industries stake for a combined crypto, cash, and "moonshot" portfolio around $10.3B. Chairman Tom Lee told investors in the accompanyingpress releasethat Bitmine stepped up purchases to 60,976 ETH over the past week and cited DeMark Analytics work comparing current ETH behavior to S&P 500 paths in 2011 and 1987, suggesting a potential bottoming window in early-to-mid March.Sharplink, another ether treasury name, used itsto lay out 2025 results showing revenue of $28.1M vs. $3.7M last year, but a GAAP net loss of ($734.6M), driven primarily by unrealized ETH marks and an LsETH impairment while ETH per share doubled from 2.0 to 4.01 and institutional ownership climbed to 46%. The companion8-Knotes that Sharplink raised roughly $3.2B in capital during 2025 and is now the second-largest public ETH holder, with management emphasizing a focus on growing ETH per share and generating yield above native staking rates.AVAX Oneis running a treasury strategy around Avalanche, according to apress release. The company points to a $40M repurchase program with more than 2.4M shares bought back through early March, roughly $600K in AVAX staking rewards, and 2026 revenue guidance of $11M-$44M, and will present its policy agenda in Washington at the Digital Chamber's DC Blockchain Summit in a fireside chat featuring its CEO and Ava Labs' general counsel.STABLECOINS, LEGISLATION, AND THE BANK YIELD FIGHT:describes how dollar-pegged stablecoins have evolved into major buyers of U.S. Treasury bills as issuers invest reserve assets in short-dated government paper.Circle Internet Group(CRCL)filed its10-K annual report, reporting USDCin circulation of $75.3B, up 72% year-over-year, total revenue and reserve income of $2.7B, up 64%, and Q4 2025 revenue of $770M, up 77%. USDC accounted for approximately 70% of all stablecoin transfer activity, with a record $1.8 in transaction volume in February. Circle shares have rallied roughly 60% since the Q4 earnings beat.The CLARITY Act remains stalled after the American Bankers Association formally rejected a White House-brokered compromise on stablecoin yield offerings on March 5, according toReuters.Banks argue that stablecoin rewards programs offered by exchanges could siphon deposits from traditional banking accounts, while crypto firms call the proposed restrictions anti-competitive. President Trump criticized banks on Truth Social, saying they need to "make a good deal" with the crypto sector. Standard Charteredprojects that stablecoins could attract approximately $500B in deposits from U.S. banks by 2028 if yields remain competitive. The Senate Banking Committee is eyeing a mid-to-late March markup window.Separately, stablecoin payments firm KAST raised $80M at a $600M valuation, co-led by QED Investors and Left Lane Capital, with an annual revenue run rate expected to reach $100M this year,, reflecting continued VC appetite for stablecoin infrastructure despite the broader downturn.GOLD WHALES DUMP $40M IN TOKENIZED BULLION WHILE OIL SHORTS PILE INTO HYPERLIQUID:data highlight that two gold whales sold a combined nearly $40M of tokenized gold, Tether Gold and PAX Gold, over 48 hours as spot prices hovered near $5,080 per ounce equivalents, locking in more than $7M in aggregate profit. On-chain analyst coverage fromBlockchain.newsshows one whale cutting a $54.63M portfolio that paired WBTC and XAUT to roughly flat overall, with losses of around $5.15M on 264.8 WBTC offset by about $5.18M of gains on 5,809.8 XAUT, illustrating how tokenized bullion has become a direct hedge against bitcoin drawdowns during risk shocks.Oil-linked on-chain positioning has also spiked, with reports that a new address put on a 5x, $10.2M short in Hyperliquid's WTI crude perpetual just as benchmarks pushed through $108, while MakerDAO co-founder Rune Christensen's wallet shows a 7x leveraged long worth roughly $7.8M with more than $1.3M in unrealized gains and offsetting shorts in ETH and an equity-index contract, effectively implementing a long-oil/short-risk macro book using DeFi tools.adds that a well-known trader known as CBB was nearly liquidated on a separate Hyperliquid oil short that went more than 50% against him before emergency margin and partial liquidation raised his liquidation threshold, underscoring the speed with which on-chain commodity venues can move.FARAGE BACKS LONDON BTC TREASURY AS SPOT ETFs PULL $568M IN WEEKLY INFLOWS:reports that Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has acquired a 6.31% stake in Stack BTC Plc, a London-listed bitcoin treasury company run by former U.K. chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng that buys profitable U.K. businesses and deploys surplus cash into BTC.Bloombergnotes that Blockchain.com joined the 26M GBp equity raise, whilebitcointreasuries.netshows Stack BTC holding 21 BTC, turning what is a relatively small balance sheet into a politically charged signal of support for the treasury model.U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs took in about $568.45M of net inflows in the first week of March, ending a four-month streak of monthly outflows as BlackRock'sIBIT led with more than $300M on a single day and total spot ETF assets rose to roughly $87.07B, according toAInvest. Spot products now hold a low-teens percentage share of BTC supply depending on methodology, with inflows returning even as price volatility and macro uncertainty stay elevated, a dynamic that matters for U.S.-listed miners, brokers, and treasury names that trade as leveraged proxies on that flow.MINERS AND INFRASTRUCTURE:Sphere 3D(ANY)reported FY25 results showing 111.6 BTC mined and announced a definitive agreement tomerge with Cathedra Bitcoinin an all-stock deal, with the combined entity aiming to expand into AI services alongside bitcoin mining.DeFi Technologies(DEFT)received aNasdaq bid-price deficiency noticeafter shares traded below $1 for 30 consecutive business days, triggering a 180-day compliance window until September 1. Managementannouncedit will present at the Canaccord 6th Annual Digital Assets Virtual Symposium on March 11 at 2:30 PM. ET.Signing Day Sports(SGN)that its special meeting to vote on the proposed business combination with BlockchAIn Digital Infrastructure is scheduled for March 13. If approved, the merged entity trades on NYSE American under ticker AIB. BlockchAIn's 40 MW South Carolina data center generated $22.9M in revenue and $5.7M in net income in 2024.PRICE ACTION:As of time of writing, bitcoin was trading at$69,023.77, while ether was trading at$2,026.46,according to price data from TipRanks.
