Each day, Coinrule will run through the state of the digital assets market for Blockbeat, your home for news, analysis, opinion and commentary on blockchain and digital assets.
Michael Saylor and MicroStrategy are once again upping the ante. On Wednesday, the “Bitcoin Development Company” stated they are raising another $500 million in convertible notes to fund further Bitcoin acquisitions. This follows a nearly $800 million raise last week with 12,000 Bitcoin, or $822 million, scooped up over last weekend.
BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF IBIT now holds over 220,000 Bitcoin. That is over 1% of Bitcoin’s total supply of 21 million. This now surpasses MicroStrategy’s holdings of 205,000 Bitcoin. MicroStrategy’s latest buying frenzy suggests they want to ensure they make it to “the 1% club” before price escapes them. As Saylor said in a recent Yahoo Finance interview, “Whoever gets the most Bitcoin wins.” However, this time he’s David against Goliath. The Goliath is BlackRock and their recent daily buying sprees of over $500 million.
Another entity on a buying spree is Pantera Capital. The crypto-focused fund, with over $5 billion in AUM, has its sights set on acquiring discounted Solana being sold by the FTX estate. The fund aims to acquire $250 million of Solana at $59.95. These purchases will be turned into a fund according to Bloomberg. This week Solana has surged over 18% and reached above $170. At $170, Pantera’s offer for the nearly 4.2 million Solana provides a sweet discount of nearly 65%. FTX’s estate possesses 41.1 million Solana or nearly 10% of the circulating supply. So, more eager buyers may come forward, with potential juicy discounts attracting them.
In other news, over the past month, there has been a flight out of Ethereum blue-chip NFTs. Data from The Block also showcases Ethereum NFT trading volumes declined by almost 10% in February after 5 months of increasing volumes. Board Ape Yacht Clubs (BAYCs), one of the most famous collections, has seen its floor, or asking prices, decline to below 14 ETH. This is a major fall from their 2022 highs of over 150 ETH. With the rise of meme token trading centre-stage over the past month, NFTs have lost some of their attention.