Here’s What You Missed in Crypto This Week

As bitcoin, ethereum and other cryptocurrencies get increasing attention from investors, Wall Street and its traditional banks continue to adjust to the shift. Catch up on this week’s top stories highlighting the intersection of these old guard and new school areas of finance with this recap compiled by The Fly.

MICROSTRATEGY BUYS MORE BITCOIN: In a Monday regulatory filing, MicroStrategy (MSTR) said during the period between August 1 and September 24, the company acquired approximately 5,445 bitcoins for approximately $147.3M in cash, at an average price of approximately $27,053 per bitcoin. As of September 24, MicroStrategy held an aggregate of approximately 158,245 bitcoins, which were acquired at an aggregate purchase price of approximately $4.68B and an average purchase price of approximately $29,582 per bitcoin. As previously disclosed, on August 1, MicroStrategy entered into a sales agreement with Cowen and Company, Canaccord Genuity and Berenberg Capital Markets as sales agents, pursuant to which MicroStrategy may issue and sell shares of its class A common stock, par value $0.001 per share, having an aggregate offering price of up to $750M from time to time through the agents. As of September 24, MicroStrategy had issued and sold an aggregate of 403,362 shares under the agreement for aggregate net proceeds to MicroStrategy of approximately $147.3M. (read more)

COINBASE SECURES PERPETUAL FUTURES APPROVAL:  In a Thursday blog post, Coinbase (COIN) announced Coinbase International Exchange has received additional regulatory approval from the Bermuda Monetary Authority to extend perpetual futures trading to non-US retail customers. The company said, “In the coming weeks, we will begin to offer eligible customers access to regulated perpetual futures contracts on Coinbase Advanced…As announced in the Phase II of our ‘Go Broad, Go Deep’ strategy, we are dedicated to partnering with high-bar global regulators to build a crypto regulatory framework that allows crypto technology to continually drive innovation. We chose to build our business and become a public company in the US believing that the US should be at the forefront of efforts to update our financial system. However, in expanding greater access to perpetual futures to eligible non-US customers, we are excited to further our mission to help update the global financial system and provide more economic freedom and opportunity for users around the world.” (read more)

KRAKEN PLANS TO OFFER STOCK TRADING: Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken is planning to offer trading in U.S.-listed stocks and exchange-traded funds, with a launch targeted for 2024, Bloomberg’s Anna Irrera and Olga Kharif reported Thursday, citing a person with knowledge of the matter. Kraken, which will initially offer trading in the U.S. and UK through a service developed by its new Kraken Securities unit, already has the required regulatory permits in the UK and has applied with FINRA for a broker-dealer license in the U.S. (SLNH) announced Tuesday it has brought Project Dorothy 1 fully online, completing construction on Project Dorothy 1B and deploying 50 MW of bitcoin mining machines for its hosting and proprietary businesses. This now brings Soluna to 2.6 EH/s under management. CEO John Belizaire commented, “We’ve had a busy summer ramping Project Dorothy through record high temperatures. As we approach the peak wind months and cooler temperatures in Texas, we have achieved a key milestone to complete Project Dorothy 1 and bring it to its 50 MW capacity. We have also made great progress accelerating development at Project Dorothy 2, Project Kati, and working on operational improvements, including significant reductions in SG&A. We also began delivering on our promise to mitigate curtailment for renewable energy power projects.” (read more)

BINANCE EXITS RUSSIA WITH SALE TO COMMEX: Binance announced Wednesday it has entered into an agreement to sell the entirety of its Russia business to CommEX. To ensure a smooth process for existing Russian users, the off-boarding process will take up to one year. All assets of existing Russian users are safe and securely protected. “As we look toward the future, we recognise that operating in Russia is not compatible with Binance’s compliance strategy,” said Binance CCO Noah Perlman. “We remain confident in the long-term growth of the Web3 industry around the world and will focus our energy on the 100+ other countries in which we operate.” There will be an orderly process for the migration of users. Binance and CommEX will partner to inform users how to migrate their assets to CommEX. A portion of Russian KYC’d new user registration will immediately be redirected to CommEX and will scale up over time. Over the next several months, Binance will sunset all exchange services and business lines in Russia. Every effort will be made to maintain a smooth user experience during this transition. While financial details of the deal will not be disclosed, it is important to note that with this sale, Binance fully exits Russia. Unlike similar deals from international companies in Russia, Binance will have no ongoing revenue split from the sale, nor does it maintain any option to buy back shares in the business. (read more)

CRYPTO STOCK PLAYS: Publicly traded companies in the space include Bit Digital (BTBT), Coinbase, Core Scientific (CORZ), Greenidge Generation (GREE), Marathon Digital (MARA), MicroStrategy, Riot Platforms (RIOT), Stronghold Digital Mining (SDIG) and TeraWulf (WULF).

PRICE ACTION: As of time of writing, bitcoin rose roughly 2% this week at $27,001 in U.S. dollars, according to CoinDesk.