The Daily: Trump crypto investors are $4.7B underwater, advocacy group says, and more

The following article is adapted from The Block’s newsletter, The Daily, which comes out on weekday afternoons.

Happy Friday! Bitcoin slipped back below $78,000 after Fed Chair Kevin Warsh warned at Jackson Hole that policymakers still have "work to do" if inflation fails to cool sufficiently.

In today's newsletter, Public Citizen says investors are at least $4.7 billion underwater on Trump's crypto projects, Circle strikes a sponsorship deal with Premier League club Chelsea, Bitwise's BSOL becomes the first $1 billion AUM Solana ETF, and more.

Meanwhile, Upbit parent Dunamu partners with Visa on a stablecoin and AI business.

P.S. Don't forget to check out today's reader poll on the Bitcoin ETF inflow streak later in the newsletter.

Investors at least $4.7 billion underwater across Trump crypto ventures, Public Citizen says

Investors across five Trump-linked crypto projects are at least $4.7 billion underwater, largely reflecting unrealized losses, according to advocacy group Public Citizen.

• The largest amount relates to the TRUMP memecoin, with Public Citizen estimating about 1 million of roughly 1.6 million retail wallets down a combined $3.2 billion, though only about $400 million of that has been realized.
• The Official Trump token peaked at $73.43 in January 2025 before collapsing to around $2.73, with the earliest buyers capturing nearly 90% of retail gains, per the report.
• Public Citizen said Trump's own proceeds were almost all profit, since his tokens were allocated to his company rather than bought and his other income from the project came via licensing fees.
• World Liberty Financial accounts for another $1 billion-plus, per the report, including a $1.04 billion paper loss at AI Financial Corp., whose shares have fallen 91% since it partnered with WLFI.
• Trump Media's bitcoin treasury accounts for another $450 million in paper losses, according to Public Citizen, which also estimated at least $9.3 million in losses for buyers of three Trump digital trading card collections.

Circle strikes Chelsea front-of-shirt sponsorship deal featuring USDC

Stablecoin issuer Circle struck a deal to become Chelsea's principal partner and official front-of-shirt sponsor, putting USDC branding on the Premier League club's men's, women's, and academy shirts from this season.

• The Circle and USDC branding will feature at the club's first home game of the season against Brighton on Sunday, though the deal's value and duration were not disclosed.
• The announcement comes as stablecoin adoption accelerates globally, dominated by U.S. dollar-pegged assets, with total stablecoin supply at $292.2 billion and USDC accounting for $73.9 billion, or about a quarter, after adding $1 billion in the past week.
• It marks crypto's return to big-ticket sports sponsorship following a market downturn, arriving shortly after the UK's financial regulator warned soccer clubs about deals with unauthorized crypto firms, a bar Circle clears with its FCA electronic money issuer license.

Bitwise fund is first Solana ETF to hit $1 billion AUM

The Bitwise Solana Staking ETF, BSOL, crossed $1 billion in assets under management just 10 months after launch, the firm said, becoming the first Solana ETF to hit the milestone.

• Bitwise noted most of its inflows arrived during a bear market, calling it a sign of investor conviction, though the fund still trades about 40% below its October listing price.
• BSOL accounts for more than half of all U.S. spot Solana ETF AUM, with the category drawing $1.7 billion in cumulative inflows and almost no sustained outflow stretch despite the 2026 market downturn.
• The milestone comes amid growing institutional access to Solana, with Charles Schwab set to add spot SOL trading and Goldman Sachs the top known holder of Solana ETFs at nearly $90 million.

IREN's $25 billion-$30 billion AI buildout may have 'spooked' investors, Bernstein says

Bernstein said IREN's plan to spend $25 billion to $30 billion on its AI cloud buildout in fiscal 2027 may have "spooked the market," but argued investors are overlooking the improving economics.

• The firm's analysts noted IREN's payback period on GPU spending has reduced to two years from three under its 2025 Microsoft deal, with recent contracts earning over $20 million per IT megawatt, double the Microsoft agreement.
• IREN's fiscal 2026 results, released Thursday, showed AI cloud revenue jumping nearly eightfold to $128.8 million and total revenue rising to $707 million, though it swung to a $702.6 million net loss on decommissioned bitcoin mining hardware impairments.
• Bernstein maintained its Outperform rating and $100 target on IREN, implying 147% upside on Thursday's close, citing its $4.7 billion in total contracted cloud ARR and $19 billion raised over the past year to fund its AI expansion.
  IREN is currently trading down 13% on Friday at $35.38.

BitGo buys NYDIG's institutional trading business, expanding derivatives offering

Crypto custodian BitGo acquired NYDIG's institutional trading business, adding derivatives, structured products, financing, and capital-markets offerings to its platform.

• About 30 NYDIG employees moved over with the deal, bringing their institutional trading relationships, as BitGo pitches itself as a full-lifecycle partner across custody, trading, financing, and settlement.
• NYDIG will now focus on its power generation, bitcoin mining, and high-performance computing data center business, with terms of the deal undisclosed.

Looking ahead to next week

• U.S. mortgage data are due on Wednesday. Jobless claims numbers follow on Thursday, with nonfarm payroll figures on Friday.
• Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey will speak on Friday.
• Collector Crypt, Celo, Zora, Sui, EigenLayer, Aerodrome Finance, and Wormhole are among the crypto projects set for token unlocks.
• BTheChange, Origin Seoul, Cypherpunk Week Amsterdam, NFT.NYC, Real-World Asset Summit Brooklyn, Global Blockchain Congress, and FUTUREMODE all get underway.

Reader poll

🤔 Bitcoin ETFs have pulled in money nine days straight. Will the inflow streak survive the week?

YES, IT KEEPS GOING

NO, IT BREAKS

One click records your pick. We'll share the answer in a later edition.

*Some 72% of respondents in last Friday's poll agreed bitcoin will revisit its $126,000 all-time high by year-end.

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