The Daily: Bitcoin tops $85,000 for the first time since January as short sellers get squeezed, and more

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

Happy Monday! Bitcoin's rally has outpaced bullish positioning among major crypto traders, with Nansen analyst Nicolai Sondergaard watching the $90,000 psychological level next if spot and ETF demand holds up.

In today's newsletter, bitcoin tops $85,000, Strategy buys another 950 BTC, Bitmine nears its 5% Ethereum supply target, and more.

Meanwhile, Visa is reportedly set to close a Crossmint memecoin rewards loophole following The Block's investigation.

P.S. Don't forget to check out The Funding, a biweekly rundown of crypto VC trends. It's a great read — and just like The Daily, it's free to subscribe!

Bitcoin tops $85,000 for first time since January as crypto short liquidations surge

Bitcoin topped $85,000 on Monday, its highest level since January, gaining more than 5% in 24 hours as Asian and European stocks climbed ahead of the U.S. open.

• The surge extends a recovery from last week's selloff, with bitcoin trading near $75,000 on Sept. 15 before reclaiming $80,000 on Friday.
• CoinGlass tracked more than $750 million in crypto liquidations over 24 hours, $648 million of them shorts, including $360 million in bitcoin positions.
• Ether, XRP, and Solana also rallied among major cryptocurrencies, as bitcoin narrowed its year-to-date loss to less than 2% while still sitting about 32% below its $126,000 all-time high.
• Tech stock gains, falling oil prices, and hopes for U.S.-Iran diplomacy development at this week's UN General Assembly helped fuel risk appetite, according to Capital.com analyst Daniela Hathorn.
• Meanwhile, markets putting the odds of another Fed hike in October at around 56% and Thursday's Trump-Xi White House meeting remain macro risks.

'A little more orange': Strategy buys 950 bitcoin for $76 million, bringing total holdings to 846,000 BTC

Strategy bought another 950 BTC for approximately $75.7 million at an average price of $79,670 per bitcoin between Sept. 14 and Sept. 20, according to an 8-K filing with the SEC on Monday.

• Strategy now holds a total of 846,000 BTC, worth around $72 billion, and is back in the black with roughly $8 billion in paper gains at current prices, at an average buy price of $75,416.
• Strategy funded the buy from its USD Cash reserve and also repurchased $174 million of its STRC preferred stock last week, leaving its USD Reserve and USD Cash holdings at $5.04 billion and $1.05 billion, respectively.
• MSTR shares jumped 8% on Monday to turn positive for the year.

Strive adds 1,355 bitcoin, picks up pace toward year-end second-place treasury goal

Strive bought another 1,355 BTC for about $107.7 million last week, lifting its total holdings to 26,355 BTC, now worth more than $2.25 billion.

• The firm remains the fifth-largest public bitcoin holder and would need roughly 1,226 BTC a week to overtake Twenty One for second place by year-end, potentially passing MARA in late November, assuming they don't add to their holdings.
• Last week's buy kicked off warrant exercises on Strive's ASST common stock, generating about $21.2 million in gross proceeds, with SATA preferred stock supplying nearly 58% of the capital raised.
• TD Cowen lifted its ASST target to $44 from $32 on faster-than-expected bitcoin accumulation, now projecting Strive ends 2026 with 32,105 BTC, up from its previous estimate of 27,156.

'Crypto bull market is underway,' Tom Lee says as Bitmine nears 5% Ethereum supply target with 27,562 ETH buy

Tom Lee's Bitmine bought another 27,562 ETH last week, lifting its treasury to nearly 5.98 million ether (about 4.9% of supply) and putting it 98% of the way to its "Alchemy of 5%" target.

• "We believe a crypto bull market is underway," Lee said, crediting a rotation from AI back into crypto, and noting that ETH has outperformed other macro assets this quarter.
• Lee expects institutions, who he argues are underweight in crypto this year, to increase exposure in Q4, potentially adding further upside to the gains seen since June 30.
• Bitmine now stakes around 85% of its total holdings, with projected annual staking revenue of $357 million.
• The firm remains the largest public ether treasury, ahead of Sharplink and The Ether Machine.

X sues UK duo over alleged $277K crypto account payout fraud

X said it has sued two UK residents in London, alleging they defrauded its Creator Revenue Sharing program of £207,384 ($277,000) by manipulating engagement across multiple crypto-focused accounts.

• The suit named Vivek Kumar Sen and Zamyang Sherpa alongside several unidentified accomplices, alleging that they controlled accounts posting near-identical content within minutes of each other.
• X said the accounts used overlapping financial and identifying details, and is seeking to recover the payouts it made plus at least £75,000 ($100,000) in investigation and prevention costs.
• The platform suspended the accounts in August over alleged "coordinated revenue-sharing fraud and platform manipulation," though the claims haven't been tested in court.

In the next 24 hours

• ECB President Christine Lagarde will speak at 12 p.m. ET on Tuesday. U.S. FOMC members John Williams and Thomas Barkin speak at 3:05 p.m. and 6 p.m., respectively.
• ETHTokyo continues. Freedom Tech DC and Digital Asset Summit Toronto get underway.

Never miss a beat with The Block's daily digest of the most influential events happening across the digital asset ecosystem.