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Strategy Faces Scrutiny Over Stock Issuance To Fund Bitcoin Buying

by admin August 28, 2025

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Strategy’s latest stock sale to buy more Bitcoin has put investor nerves on edge, as numbers and timing raise fresh doubts about shareholder dilution and the company’s funding choices.

Strategy: Rapid Shift In Equity Policy

Based on reports, Strategy changed its public guidance on August 18 and then, within days, moved to issue a large amount of new stock.

CryptoQuant analyst JA Maartunn traced the pattern: no fresh issuance on Aug. 3, roughly $18 million on Aug. 10, about $51 million on Aug. 17 — then close to $360 million raised in a single week after the guidance change.

That sharp jump in new capital has drawn scrutiny from market watchers who worry the company is leaning on share issuance to keep buying Bitcoin.

The new rules link stock sales to something called market net asset value, or mNAV, which compares the company’s share price to the value of its Bitcoin.

Strategy running out of steam? 🚂💨

Before Aug 18, almost no new money came into $MSTR:
🔹 Aug 3: $0
🔹 Aug 10: ~$18M
🔹 Aug 17: ~$51M

But after they dropped the “no dilution below 2.5x mNAV” promise, $359M was raised by issuing new shares (see tweet below).

Policy changed.… https://t.co/nenuT1soI3 pic.twitter.com/pORoidxPhf

— Maartunn (@JA_Maartun) August 26, 2025

If the stock trades at more than four times its mNAV, the company will sell lots of shares to buy more Bitcoin. If it trades between 2.5 and four times, it will sell some shares, but more carefully.

And if the stock drops below 2.5 times, share sales would mostly go toward paying debt or covering dividends instead of buying Bitcoin.

Reports add that if Strategy shares trade under 1x mNAV, the company could borrow to repurchase stock. That framework reversed an earlier pledge not to sell shares for Bitcoin purchases when mNAV was below 2.5x — a reversal that critics point to as the key change.

BTCUSD trading at $112,984 on the 24-hour chart: TradingView

How The Purchase Was Financed

According to the company’s SEC filing, nearly $310 million came from at-the-market common stock sales at an average share price of $354, plus roughly $47 million from preferred share classes.

In total, the firm raised a little more than $357 million and used the proceeds to buy 3,081 Bitcoin. The purchase pushed its holdings to 632,457 BTC.

That stack of 632,457 coins equals roughly 3% of circulating supply, based on market counts cited in filings and market reports. The company’s public target remains at 1 million coins — a goal that, by the reported figures, is now about 60% complete.

Dilution Risk And Debt Capacity

Investors focused on dilution have reason to be worried. Each new share increases the number of claims on the same Bitcoin pool, and when issuance happens while the stock trades at low multiples to mNAV, existing holders see their per-share Bitcoin backing decline.

Reports say Strategy’s debt sits at about 20% of Bitcoin NAV with headroom up to 30%, giving it borrowing room — but choosing to issue equity at low mNAVs still weakens per-share economics.

Featured image from Meta, chart from TradingView

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August 28, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

This HP Laptop with Office 365 Is Cheaper Than Buying Office Alone, Amazon Clears Out Stock for Labor Day

by admin August 28, 2025

It doesn’t often happen that Amazon’s best-sellers list puts a budget Windows laptop next to high-end MacBook Airs, but that’s what’s happening right now. There’s an HP 14-inch model (Intel Celeron N4020, 4 GB RAM, 64 GB Storage) that has quietly become a serious player on the platform as one of the best-selling laptops on the site, and the reason why is simple: it’s awfully cheap.

With the ongoing Labor Day sale, you can get it for $172 down from its usual $230. At that price, it’s one of the cheapest brand-new laptops you’ll find anywhere, and it’s less than some headphones or tablets. The deal becomes even harder to pass up when you factor in it also includes a one-year subscription to Microsoft 365 which alone usually costs $129 (per year). And since that comes bundled for free, you’re essentially paying close to the value of the software and getting a full-sized laptop in exchange.

See at Amazon

Why You Should Buy It

The screen itself is a 14-inch HD micro-edge bezel panel that boasts a slim design that doesn’t scream “budget.” It’s not too small for Netflix sessions or working on documents, and its size sits comfortably in the sweet spot between being travel-friendly and being productive. The laptop is also easy to carry around thanks to a thin build and light weight which is convenient if you’re going to class or a local coffee shop.

The machine runs on Intel’s Celeron N4020 processor with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. It’s not built for heavy creative projects or gaming, but that isn’t what this computer is meant for. Instead, it’s built to give you coverage for normal things such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, email or Zoom meetings. The storage might feel tight compared to higher-end models, but remember—Microsoft 365 allows you to access OneDrive cloud storage which means you can keep your most important files online and free up space on the device.

Battery life is always something to watch out for with cheaper laptops, but HP has managed to keep it respectable here: You’ll have hours of use out of one charge, which should be sufficient to get you through a school day or long study session. Add in preinstalled Windows 11 Home, and you’re receiving the latest version of Microsoft’s operating system with periodic updates, all for the cheap price.

At $172, this HP laptop is precariously close to “why not?” territory.

See at Amazon

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August 28, 2025 0 comments

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180,000,000 ADA in Massive Buying Spree, Price Up 9%

by admin August 23, 2025

After multiple days of mimicking the broader crypto market downtrend, Cardano has suddenly flipped to the gainers’ side on August 22nd.

This positive trend witnessed today appears to have been spurred by the massive Cardano whale activity recorded over the last two days, according to data shared by popular crypto analyst Ali Martinez.

According to Ali, Cardano whales have scooped up 180,000,000 ADA in the last 24 hours, a bullish move signaling resilience among large investors despite the recurring market bloodbath.

$167 million in ADA in 2 Days

While the market had only flipped positive today with Cardano seeing a sudden shift in investors’ sentiments, the data suggests that the whales had doubled down on ADA while it was on the downside.

Per ADA’s price as of press time, the total ADA tokens scooped by Cardano whales over the last 2 days is worth over $167 million, signaling renewed confidence among investors.

While whales play the role of large investors who own a significant amount of the concerned cryptocurrency, the sustained interest by the large holders despite negative trends hints at a decisive attempt to buy the dip on Cardano.

Following the massive price surge witnessed today, ADA touched a notable low of $0.82 on August 22nd and surged massively by over 9% a few hours after then. As such, the tenth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization has hit an intraday high of $0.93 on the same day.

Africa Is Buying a Record Number of Chinese Solar Panels

by admin August 21, 2025

While overall sales to African countries are still small compared to these traditional export markets, the Global South appears to be at a turning point in how it thinks about energy. For decades, energy-starved countries largely had one default option when they wanted to add new power supply: import coal and gas. Now, for the first time, solar energy is emerging as the cheaper and greener way forward, so there’s no need to sacrifice the environment for development.

Familiar Story

What’s happening in Africa right now might sound familiar, especially if you know anything about the global green energy industry. We’ve seen several versions of this story before, most notably in Pakistan last year.

In 2024, Pakistan installed about 15 Gigawatts of solar panels; for context, the country’s total peak electricity demand is about 30 Gigawatts. Households put so many panels on their rooftops that Pakistani cities now look visibly different on satellite maps. The trend is threatening the future of Pakistan’s national grid because people are using their own panels to generate power, reducing the need to buy electricity from the grid. And almost all of this happened because the country was mass-importing solar panels from its neighbor and ally, China.

A similar trend happened in South Africa in 2023. The utility infrastructure in both countries is not resilient enough to meet peak demand, causing consistent blackouts that pushed consumers to look for alternative energy sources. The government introduced policies that made solar especially attractive, like tax breaks for buying panels or paying people for transmitting excess energy to the grid.

But across the board, the main thing driving the popularity of solar is simple: the cost to purchase and install Chinese panels has gotten so low that the world has reached an inflection point. Even if a country isn’t particularly worried about climate change, it simply makes economic sense to generate energy from solar, says Anika Patel, China analyst at Carbon Brief, a climate policy publication.

“A lot of African nations right now just need more electricity. And the fact that there is this option to install solar plants at a fraction of the cost of building a new coal or gas plant is attractive,” she says.

Price is an especially important factor for African countries, because it’s harder to get a loan to fund a solar power plant project there than in developed countries, says Léo Echard, policy officer at the Global Solar Council and the author of a report on Africa’s solar market. Since Chinese solar companies have significant price advantages over manufacturers in other countries, they are always the go-to option for supplying Africa’s solar demand.

From Massive Plants to Rooftops

There are two types of demand driving the solar boom in African countries, Echard says. In North Africa, countries like Algeria and Egypt are building massive utility-scale solar power plants that require large numbers of panels. But in Sub-Sahara Africa, the panels are being imported by more rural communities in places that traditionally haven’t been connected to the grid at all.

Just like in Pakistan, this network of distributed rooftop solar panels is transforming the energy landscape. People are getting access to energy, and that access isn’t dependent on government spending or foreign loans. Instead, it spreads organically, household by household, as long as the panels are cheap enough.

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August 21, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

Softbank reportedly considered buying Intel’s foundry division outright before investing $2 billion into the company as equity

by admin August 20, 2025

SoftBank today announced its intent to purchase a historic $2 billion worth of Intel shares—a roughly 2% stake—making it one of the largest shareholders of the American chipmaker. However, the Financial Times reports that just days before the deal was inked, Softbank actually considered buying Intel’s foundry division outright.

This follows another unprecedented report that the White House is considering a 10% stake in Intel, utilizing grants from the CHIPS Act and converting them into equity.

Intel received that CHIPS Act money on the promise of never spinning off the fabs the funds directly impacted, as they serve an important geopolitical role in the race for bleeding-edge semiconductors. Intel is one of the last companies in the cutting-edge process race with TSMC, whose roots in Taiwan have provoked long-simmering concerns about its vulnerability and the stability of leading-edge semiconductor supply in the event that China should invade the island in pursuit of reunification.

United States’ Bitcoin Holdings Top $24 Billion After Ruling Out Buying

by admin August 18, 2025

Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure

On-chain data shows the US is one of the world’s largest Bitcoin holders, with its portfolio now exceeding $24 billion. However, recent events have shown that the possibility of the US government increasing its stash is very low. Particularly, the US government’s strategy for cryptocurrency took a new turn this week after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent clarified that Washington will not be actively buying any additional Bitcoin.

Bessent Rules Out New Purchases But Leaves A Possibility

While speaking in a Fox Business interview, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent explained that the government has no plans to buy additional Bitcoin beyond its current reserve. The Treasury chief said the reserve will continue to be funded primarily through assets seized in criminal cases rather than direct purchases. His estimates place the value of the reserve between $15 billion and $20 billion.

Bessent later softened his position on social media, noting that even though the US is not allocating budgetary resources to acquire more Bitcoin, it is committed to “budget-neutral pathways” for expanding reserves to make the country the Bitcoin superpower of the world. The statement suggests that auctions, seizures, and non-traditional acquisitions could still increase holdings in the future, even if the Treasury avoids direct market buys.

Bitcoin Holdings Push Toward $24 Billion

Data from blockchain analytics platform Arkham Intelligence reveals a bigger picture than Bessent’s estimates of $15 billion to 20 billion. According to Arkham, wallets linked to the US government currently hold about 198,022 BTC, valued at approximately $23.42 billion. Many of these holdings originated from seizures related to criminal activity, including the well-known Silk Road case.

The portfolio, however, extends well beyond Bitcoin. Arkham’s data reveals holdings of about 59,951 ETH, worth $273 million, along with 347 million USDT and smaller allocations across other assets such as 750 WBTC, 40,293 BNB, 5,205 WETH, and 13.6 million BUSD. Taken together, the government’s digital asset holdings are valued at approximately $24.27 billion. This figure recently climbed as high as $25 billion during Bitcoin’s surge above $124,000 last week.

Source: Chart from Arkham

Earlier this year, President Donald Trump signed into law the creation of a strategic crypto reserve, a move many interpreted as the start of government-led Bitcoin accumulation. Trump himself had many investors increase their expectations after stating that the United States would prioritize US-based cryptocurrencies like BTC as part of its financial strategy.

This context is what made Bessent’s recent statement so significant. Although the reserve exists in law, the Treasury has now made it clear that active market purchases of Bitcoin are not on the table for the time being. However, it is clear that the US government isn’t planning to sell its holdings anytime soon, which might flood the market with selling pressure.

BTC trading at $114,859 on the 1D chart | Source: BTCUSDT on Tradingview.com

Featured image from Pixabay, chart from Tradingview.com

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August 18, 2025 0 comments

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Brevan Howard, Goldman Sachs and Harvard Lead Billions in Bitcoin ETF Buying Spree

by admin August 17, 2025

Wall Street ramped up its exposure to bitcoin in the second quarter, adding positions not only in spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) but also in U.S. stocks closely tied to the cryptocurrency’s price, according to new filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Brevan Howard nearly doubled its position in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) during the second quarter, according to a securities filing. The macro-focused hedge fund held 37.9 million shares at the end of June, up from about 21.5 million in March.

The stake was worth more than $2.6 billion based on IBIT’s closing price on June 28, making Brevan Howard one of the largest reported institutional holders of IBIT alongside Goldman Sachs, which boosted its position to $3.3 billion in IBIT and Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust (FBTC). The banking giant also held $489 million worth of the iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA), according to a filing.

Goldman’s ownership of the ETFs isn’t necessarily a direct wager by its trading desk on bitcoin’s price; rather, it more likely represents positions held by Goldman Sachs Asset Management on behalf of its clients.

Brevan Howard, best known for macro trading, however, has long been active in the crypto space and operates a dedicated digital asset division called BH Digital. The unit manages billions in assets and invests in blockchain infrastructure, decentralized finance and related technologies.

Harvard, Wells Fargo and more

Other major IBIT investors include Harvard University, which reported a $1.9 billion stake in the ETF, and Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Company, which continues to hold $681 million.

In terms of U.S. banks, Wells Fargo nearly quadrupled its holdings of IBIT to $160 million, up from $26 million in the previous quarter, while maintaining a $200,000 stake in the Grayscale Bitcoin Fund (GBTC).

Cantor Fitzgerald also boosted its holdings to over $250 million while also increasing stakes in crypto-related stocks, including Strategy (MSTR), Coinbase (COIN) and Robinhood (HOOD), among others.

Trading firm Jane Street revealed holding a $1.46 billion stake in IBIT, which represents the largest single position in its portfolio after Tesla (TSLA) at $1.41 billion. It increased its stake in MSTR while reducing its holdings of FBTC.

Spot bitcoin ETFs like IBIT, which launched in January, allow investors to gain exposure to bitcoin’s price without directly holding the cryptocurrency. That structure offers traditional institutions an avenue to participate in the crypto market through familiar brokerage accounts and custodial arrangements.

Norway buys more

For some overseas entities, gaining exposure to bitcoin is easier through U.S.-listed companies that hold large amounts of BTC on their balance sheets.

That’s the approach being taken by Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, along with several other European state-backed investors, which are opting for equity stakes in crypto-adjacent firms rather than holding the crypto directly.

Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), the investment arm of the Norwegian central bank and the entity that manages the country’s $2 trillion pension fund, now indirectly holds 7,161 BTC, according to a new note from K33 Research. That figure is up 192% from 2,446 BTC a year ago, and up 87% from the 3,821 BTC it held at the end of 2024.

(Source: NBIM, K33 Research via X)

The largest portion of its exposure — 3,005 BTC — comes through shares in Strategy. The rest is spread across companies like Marathon Digital, Coinbase, Block, and Metaplanet. K33 also counted GME (GameStop) and several smaller holdings as contributing to the total.

Still, the exposure remains tiny in context. Norway’s fund owns stakes in thousands of companies across global markets, and the value of its bitcoin-linked investments is a fraction of its total holdings. At a current market price of $117,502 per BTC, the fund’s 7,161 BTC is worth around $841 million — or less than 0.05% of the $2 trillion portfolio.

The sharp increase over the past year may signal growing institutional comfort with the asset class, but it doesn’t represent a major strategic shift—yet.

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August 17, 2025 0 comments