Bitcoin was up 4.9% this week to a market capitalization of $1.33T
Early Riders Media
On this week's Final Settlement, the team unpacked whether the looming SpaceX, Anthropic, and OpenAI IPOs are really draining capital from Bitcoin, the AI bubble and government equity stakes, and Wall Street's race to tokenize deposits and stablecoins.
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Industry & Institutional Updates
BlackRock filed to launch the iShares Bitcoin Premium Income ETF (ticker BITA), a covered-call fund that pays monthly income generated from options trades on its spot Bitcoin ETF.
Coinbase partnered with MassPay to power stablecoin cross-border payouts across 180 countries for global enterprises.
BitGo launched Lightning Earn, letting institutions earn Bitcoin-denominated routing fees by providing liquidity on the Lightning Network.
Metaplanet acquired Siiibo Securities for 2.1 billion yen ($13.1 million), gaining a Japanese securities license to launch Bitcoin-linked investment products.
Mastercard launched Agent Pay for Machines, a protocol letting AI agents settle payments autonomously across cards, accounts, and stablecoins.
GSR received FINRA approval to complete its acquisition of broker-dealer Equilibrium, expanding its U.S. institutional digital asset platform.
Digital Asset raised $355 million from Wall Street giants and a sovereign wealth fund to expand its Canton Network.
Coinbase rolled out a stablecoin-secured credit card with Cardless, letting holders post USDC as collateral while still earning yield.
Morpho raised $175 million co-led by a16z, Paradigm, and Ribbit Capital at a $2 billion valuation to build an open credit network.
Strategy resumed its Bitcoin buying, acquiring 1,550 BTC for $181 million, nearly 50 times the amount it sold the prior week.
Blockworks acquired rival crypto data platform Messari for just over $10 million, a steep markdown from its roughly $300 million valuation in 2022.
SpaceX joined the public Bitcoin leaderboard as the 8th largest holder with 18,712 BTC, worth roughly $1.29 billion.
Nakamoto sold roughly 600 BTC for about $48 million to cut $45 million in debt and authorize a $25 million share buyback.
Fold sold $45 million of Bitcoin at $71,000 to wipe out all of its secured debt, sending its shares up nearly 140%.
Neura Robotics raised up to $1.4 billion from backers including Tether, Nvidia, and Amazon to scale its humanoid robots at a $7 billion valuation.
Japan's three largest banks agreed to jointly issue a yen stablecoin by March 2027, targeting B2B and cross-border settlement.
Regulatory & Sovereign Updates
A coalition of over 200 digital asset companies urged Senate leaders to bring the Clarity Act to a floor vote, uniting Coinbase, Circle, Ripple, and dozens of others.
Illinois passed a 0.2% digital asset transaction tax in its FY2027 budget, the first state-level tax of its kind, pending the governor's signature.
The UK's FCA proposed letting authorized retail funds allocate up to 10% to digital asset ETNs within UCITS vehicles.
Japan advanced a bill reclassifying digital assets as financial instruments and cutting the capital gains tax to a flat 20%.
What We're Watching: The Neutral Account Layer for the Stablecoin Economy
Early Riders has invested in Stables, which is building the universal operating account for stablecoins. Stables provides one regulated account where businesses can hold fiat and any major stablecoin, settle cross-border payments 24/7, and run treasury, payroll, and compliance from a single platform. The product consolidates what companies today have to assemble across multiple wallets, exchange accounts, banking partners, and audit systems.
Why Now
The GENIUS Act in the United States and MiCA in Europe have reframed stablecoins as legitimate primary instruments for commercial settlement. Stablecoin transaction volume exceeded $33 trillion in 2025, operating at the scale of major card networks. Every new issuer, chain, and corridor that comes online adds fragmentation, and increases the Stables’ neutral account layer.
The Bitcoin Symbiosis
As enterprises and banks build compliant stablecoin rails, they normalize digital financial infrastructure at scale, which is a meaningful tailwind for Bitcoin. Bitcoin remains the long-term reserve asset and the hurdle rate for capital, while stablecoins become the working capital layer for settlement and payments. Additionally, every business that runs settlement through Stables is a natural candidate for Onramp's institutional-grade infrastructure.
Chart of the Week
Stablecoins processed $33.0 trillion in transaction volume in 2025, up from $27.6 trillion the year prior, moving more value than any major card network, including Visa at $17.0 trillion and Mastercard at $10.6 trillion. For allocators, the dollar settlement is migrating onto public blockchains, deepening the institutional infrastructure and familiarity that ultimately accrues to Bitcoin.
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