The rise of crypto treasury companies
There’s never a dull moment on the blockchain. Here’s what you need to know this week:
BTC hovered near $115K after the Fed's interest rate decision. Also, Tether announced a U.S.-based stablecoin, and new XRP and DOGE ETFs could launch soon.
The rise of crypto treasury companies. How the crypto-stacking strategy became popular on Wall Street, and what could be next for the trend.
The supply of stablecoins on Ethereum notched a new record. And more key stats from around the cryptoverse.
MARKET BYTES
Markets traded sideways on Wednesday after Fed cut rates for first time in 2025
For the last two weeks, crypto prices have been slowly ticking upward — with BTC rising from around $108,000 to more than $115,000 — as traders anticipated that the Federal Reserve would cut interest rates at Wednesday’s meeting for the first time in nine months.
As was widely expected, the central bank cut rates by a quarter of a percent. Citing a cooling labor market, continued inflation, and economic “uncertainty,” the Fed also signaled two more cuts before the end of the year.
Here’s what you need to know about the Fed’s rate cut move, the latest crypto ETF headlines, and stablecoin news. Let’s dig in…
What does the Fed’s rate cut mean for crypto — and markets in general?
Generally, lower interest rates encourage traders to move capital out of safe-harbor investments like money market funds and into “risk assets” like crypto and stocks. But because this is a widely understood phenomenon, markets may “price in” the impact of a rate change in advance, resulting in muted price action following the actual news.
The course ahead… Some market watchers were optimistic that the Fed’s plan for further cuts is unlikely to change absent a major economic surprise. “We think it would take a significant upside surprise in inflation or labor market rebound to take the Fed off its current easing trajectory,” said Simon Dangoor, Goldman Sachs’ head of fixed income macro strategies.
Tether to launch U.S.-compliant stablecoin
Tether, the company behind the USDT stablecoin, announced last Friday that it plans to launch a new U.S.-based stablecoin called USAT.
The El Salvador-based firm’s main USDT stablecoin is the world’s biggest, with a market capitalization of around $170 billion. But in the U.S., Circle’s USDC is the leading dollar-denominated token.
The idea behind USAT, the firm says, is to offer a stablecoin that helps the company compete more effectively in the U.S. market, in part by creating a “U.S.-compliant” token that adheres to the newly passed GENIUS Act (which includes requirements such as 100% reserve backing with U.S. dollars or short-term Treasury bonds).
USAT will be headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, and will work with the U.S. firms Anchorage Digital (on issuance) and Cantor Fitzgerald (on custody).
“We want people to know that Tether is here to participate in the U.S. economy in a huge way,” said the firm’s new U.S. chief, Bo Hines, who left the White House this summer after serving as executive director of the President's Council of Advisers on Digital Assets.
Intelligence sharing… In other stablecoin news: On Tuesday, Google released a new payments protocol designed for use by AI agents. The system makes it possible for AI apps to send or receive money using both traditional networks like credit cards and newer technologies like stablecoins. Partners in the program include Coinbase, the Ethereum Foundation, American Express, Salesforce, and Etsy.
XRP and DOGE ETFs could begin trading this week
A new XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF) from Rex Shares and Osprey Funds is set to begin trading this week. According to The Block, “The Rex-Osprey XRP ETF will mostly hold XRP directly and will invest at least 40% of its assets into shares of other ETFs related to XRP.”
Rex-Osprey is also expected to launch a new DOGE ETF on Thursday, according to Bloomberg Senior ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas. (The DOGE fund was originally expected to begin trading last week, but was briefly delayed.)
Both the XRP and DOGE products are structured so that they can be approved under a different set of regulations from most crypto ETFs. As The Block explained, “[the funds are] registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 — a federal law that regulates investment funds that pool capital from investors to pursue a common investment strategy in an effort to protect investors from conflicts of interest and fraud.”
ETF fest… Some market watchers predict that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is preparing to institute a rule change that would allow a vast number of new crypto ETFs to begin trading in the near future — a moment that ETF issuer Bitwise’s CIO Matt Hougan describes as “ETPalooza.”
The move, which could come as soon as October, would allow for applicants to meet “generic” listing requirements for the asset class, as opposed to the current system, which requires lengthy individual vetting of each application. "The SEC adopting generic listing standards is a 'coming of age' moment for crypto, a signal that we've reached the big leagues," Hougan concluded. "But it’s also just the beginning."
WHALE STREET
Why are publicly traded companies buying billions in crypto?
In 2020, a little-known technology company called MicroStrategy began acquiring BTC for its corporate treasury. At the time, most market watchers were deeply skeptical, but the firm’s CEO Michael Saylor was steadfast in his belief that BTC would outperform any other asset his company might hold.
Five years later, the company — which has since been renamed Strategy — has accumulated 638,985 BTC worth a staggering $74 billion. In that time, its share price has surged by more than 2,000%.
Looking to emulate that success, a wave of new companies have emerged this year, and they don’t just hold BTC. Firms that hold ETH, Solana, Doge, XRP and more have seen their share prices (at least briefly) soar moonward and have boosted crypto markets with billions of dollars in new capital.
This past week alone, several companies announced billions more dollars in planned purchases of SOL, ETH, and DOGE.
Can crypto treasury firms keep up the momentum? Here’s everything you need to know.
What’s the business strategy for companies buying all this crypto?
When Strategy began buying BTC five years ago, Saylor’s rationale was clear. “We feel pretty confident that Bitcoin is less risky than holding cash, less risky than holding gold,” he said in 2020.
In the years since, the company’s stock has been one of the best performing assets across all markets. Inspired by that success, around 190 public companies have since committed to adding crypto to their balance sheets.
So, what’s the appeal? Since these companies are publicly traded, investors can get crypto exposure through the familiarity of equities, with the potential for leveraged upside, reports Bloomberg.
For example, Bitmine Immersion Technologies, the biggest ETH treasury firm, saw its stock jump more than 1,000% in June. And last week, EightCo Holdings, which announced plans to start buying Worldcoin, saw its stock jump more than 6,000% in a single session.
But stock price bumps aren’t the only benefit. The trendy strategy can also boost fundraising.
Through the end of August, more than $15 billion had been raised by public companies to buy crypto in 2025, outpacing venture capital investment in crypto startups over that same span.
And while Strategy’s approach is largely passive, with BTC serving as a reserve asset that the firm aims to “HODL” indefinitely, some newer treasury firms, like Bitmine and SharpLink Gaming, aim to use their crypto assets to generate income, via staking and other decentralized finance activities.
What token could benefit most from the corporate treasury trend?
Bitcoin is still the most popular asset for companies to hold in their treasuries, with an estimated 106 public firms holding more than $116 billion in BTC.
But bitcoin as a treasury asset could be losing momentum, according to Bloomberg. The average purchase size from BTC treasury firms fell to 343 BTC last month, down 86% compared to its 2025 peak. And the monthly growth in total holdings has also slowed, falling to just 8% in August after peaking at 163% in March.
Instead, some analysts say, ETH treasury firms appear to be poised to outperform their rivals in the coming months, largely due to the fact that ETH can be staked to earn yield (currently around 2% annually).
For Bitmine, the leading ETH treasury firm, which has nearly $10 billion in ETH holdings, a 2% yield could equal around $200 million annually. Others, like SharpLink Gaming (which owns around $4 billion in ETH) and ETHZilla, have also committed to staking the majority of their holdings.
A recent report from Standard Chartered noted that for companies to be able to keep buying crypto for their treasuries, their “mNAV,” or the value of the company’s stock compared to its assets, needs to stay above a ratio of 1 for the purchases to be sustainable. Staking can add around 0.6 to the mNAVs of ETH treasury companies, helping make the investments profitable during times of muted, or even downward, price action.
“I think the ETH [treasury firms] have the highest probability of being sustainable, and therefore ETH buying by [treasury firms] can continue at pace,” said Geoff Kendrick, global head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered.
Other altcoin treasury firms are having a moment too
This week, Forward Industries bought $1.6 billion worth of SOL, which has already been staked and will be deployed across Solana’s DeFi ecosystem. Helius, another emerging SOL treasury firm, announced it was raising $500 million to buy and stake SOL, sending its stock up 200% on the news. And Galaxy Digital reportedly made a $300 million SOL purchase over the weekend.
And It’s not just SOL. Earlier this month, CleanCore Solutions announced it would spend $175 million on DOGE to become the first-ever Dogecoin treasury firm. Last week, EightCo Holdings announced it was raising $270 million to buy Worldcoin, the Sam Altman-backed token that aims to use biometrics to verify human activity online, sending Worldcoin up more than 100%. And Lion Group, a Singaporean firm, announced plans last week to convert all of its SUI and SOL into the native token of the popular perpetual futures exchange, Hyperliquid.
The bottom line…
Juan Leon, senior investment strategist at Bitwise, said that he believes this is only the start of companies adding crypto to their balance sheets.
“We think, eventually, all companies will be crypto treasury companies in one way, shape or form,” Leon said. “Whether they hold 1%, 10%, or 100% of their balance sheet assets in crypto, they’re going to hold something. So we have a lot of room to run.”
NUMBERS TO KNOW
$167 billion
Total supply of stablecoins on Ethereum, a new all-time high as of Monday, primarily led by growth in USDC and USDT. According to analysts, the milestone indicates deepening institutional liquidity while supporting stablecoins as a “foundational layer for DeFi.”
500,000
Number of downloads that the Pudgy Penguins game Pudgy Party has tallied, as of Tuesday, since launching two weeks ago. PENGU, the Pudgy Penguins-connected token, was up more than 20% for the week.
86.7%
Percent of respondents in a new CoinGecko survey who said they believe that bitcoin will reach another new all-time high before the end of 2025. Bitcoin’s current high-water mark sits above $124,000.
TOKEN TRIVIA
What is the most secure form of two-factor authentication?
A
Authenticator apps
B
Hardware keys
C
SMS codes
D
Face ID
Encuentra la respuesta a continuación.
Respuesta de la trivia
B
Hardware keys
