Bitcoin Depot's Kiosk Empire Files for Bankruptcy, Strategy Buys Nearly 25,000 Bitcoins
Bitcoin Depot's kiosk empire is in bankruptcy court, Strategy just bought nearly 25,000 bitcoin into a falling market, and more than half a billion dollars in liquidations drove bitcoin to a two-week low amid Iran tensions. Galaxy Digital cleared the NYDFS's highest regulatory bar, Bitmine disclosed a $12.6B ether-heavy treasury, and a Reuters investigation surfaced uncomfortable infrastructure overlaps between Iran's top exchange and Trump's crypto venture. 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 DEPOT COLLAPSE:Bitcoin Depotfiled voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the Southern District of Texas and immediately shut down its entire kiosk network, asin a press release. The company also issued WARN Act notices to all employees, and a court-supervised sale of assets is now underway. The collapse was driven by state-level compliance costs, proliferating transaction limits, and outright bans on bitcoin ATMs in several jurisdictions,. Bitcoin Depot's wind-down marks the most visible failure yet of the physical crypto retail distribution model, a business that thrived on unbanked consumers but proved unable to absorb the sustained weight of fragmented, state-by-state regulation.STRATEGY DOUBLES DOWN:Strategyraised $2.03B between May 11-May 17, $1.95B via STRC preferred shares and $83.7M through its at-the-market common stock program, then deployed the proceeds to purchase 24,869 bitcoinat an average price of $80,985 per coin,. The company's total holdings now stand at 843,738 bitcoin. The timing is notable: Strategy was buying into a declining market as bitcoin fell to multi-week lows during the same period. The purchase adds a roughly $2B demand signal to a tape already under macro pressure, and reinforces management's stated policy of treating every liquidity event as a bitcoin acquisition opportunity regardless of near-term price action.REGULATORY AND COMPLIANCE:Galaxy Digitalreceived both a BitLicense and a Money Transmission License from the New York State Department of Financial Services for its GalaxyOne Prime NY entity,. The dual authorization allows Galaxy to offer regulated digital asset trading, custody, and financial services to institutional clients across New York State.A separaterevealed that Iran's Nobitex exchange processed more than $2.3B via Tronand BNB Chainnetworks that also intersect with the infrastructure underlying Trump's World Liberty Financialcrypto venture. The report raises compliance exposure questions across the broader industry given the shared infrastructure overlap between a sanctioned exchange and a high-profile U.S. crypto project.Adding an unusual dimension to the Iran angle,that Iran launched a bitcoin-backed shipping insurance program for the Hormuz Strait, a state-level adoption move that simultaneously functions as a sanctions workaround and adds novel sovereign demand context to the market backdrop.TREASURY AND INFRASTRUCTURE MOVES:Bitmine Immersion Technologiesholds total crypto and cash assets of $12.6B, anchored by 5,278,462 etherrepresenting 4.37% of total ETH supply, valued at approximately $11.6B at $2,191 per coin, alongside 202 bitcoin, $685M in cash, and minority stakes in Beast Industries and Eightco Holdings,. Annualized staking revenues are now running at $289M.Soluna Holdingsposted Q1 revenue growth of 58% vs. last year, marking a fourth consecutive sequential quarterly increase, driven by the early completion of the Kati 1A facility and advancement of the Kati 2 AI joint venture,. Net loss for the quarter came in at $17.9M, approximately $1M wider sequentially, though adjusted EBITDA loss improved vs. the prior quarter. BTQ Technologiesconfirmed commercial-grade readiness of its QSSN quantum-secure stablecoin settlement infrastructure in South Korea, and separately completed what it believes is the first production-grade BIP 360 bitcoin quantum-safety implementation, with a shareholder call scheduled for May 19,. The company's cash balance stood at C$12.1M.PRICE ACTION:As of time of writing, bitcoin was trading at $76,261.10, while ether was trading at $2,103.23,.
