The Daily: Strategy's bitcoin holdings top 848,000 BTC, and more

Happy Monday! Bitcoin is trading above $85,800, while several digital asset treasury companies have added to their holdings in recent days.

In today's newsletter, Strategy adds another 334 bitcoin as its total holdings top 848,000 BTC, the U.S. Treasury withdraws its crypto mixing rule, an OKX-NYSE parent ICE joint venture seeks to launch a tokenized U.S. stock trading venue, and more.

Meanwhile, Strategy wasn't the only DAT buyer. Strive adds 2,000 bitcoin in its biggest purchase since June, Metaplanet reveals it sold 10,000 BTC in Q3 before buying back 11,000 BTC, Tom Lee's Bitmine adds 15,112 ETH, and Visa and CoinShares find growing crypto appetite among consumers and affluent investors.

P.S. Don't forget to check out The Latent, our sister website covering AI. Get The Latent Daily here and all other The Block newsletters here.

Strategy buys 334 bitcoin as holdings top 848,000 BTC

Strategy bought another 334 bitcoin for $28.7 million between Sept. 28 and Oct. 4, bringing its total holdings to an all-time high of 848,000 BTC.

• The company paid an average $85,838.80 per bitcoin for the latest purchase, funded by sales of its MSTR common stock and its USD Cash reserve.
• Strategy's bitcoin holdings are now worth around $73 billion, compared with a total acquisition cost of about $64 billion, implying roughly $9 billion in paper gains at current prices.
• The company sold 92,894 MSTR shares for about $15.7 million last week, with $18.8 billion of shares still available for issuance under its at-the-market program. Its USD Cash covered the remaining $13 million cost of the bitcoin purchase.
• Strategy also repurchased 1.77 million STRC preferred shares for around $176.3 million last week and used $142.5 million of its USD Reserve to fund preferred stock dividends and interest on outstanding debt.
• Strategy held $4.88 billion in its USD Reserve and $833.4 million in USD Cash as of Oct. 4. Its 848,000 BTC represents more than 4% of bitcoin's 21 million supply cap.

Treasury withdraws crypto mixing rule over concerns it could chill legitimate activity

FinCEN is withdrawing its 2023 proposal targeting international crypto mixing, citing concerns that its broad definition could have a "chilling effect on legitimate activity."

• The proposal would have designated international crypto mixing as a "primary money laundering concern" and required covered institutions to report mixing transactions, including wallet addresses, transaction hashes and IP addresses.
• FinCEN said commenters raised concerns that the expansive definition of mixing could chill legitimate activity and impose a large reporting burden. The agency said it still believes illicit actors use mixers and will continue monitoring such activity.
• FinCEN is also withdrawing a 2020 proposal that would have imposed identity verification, recordkeeping and reporting requirements on certain transactions involving self-hosted wallets. Neither proposal was finalized, so the withdrawals do not change financial institutions' existing obligations.

OKX, NYSE parent ICE joint venture seeks to launch tokenized US stock trading venue

OKXICE, the joint venture between OKX and NYSE parent Intercontinental Exchange, has notified the SEC that it intends to launch a tokenized securities trading venue under the agency's innovation exemption.

• The platform is designed to offer permissioned, onchain trading of U.S. tokenized stocks on X Layer, covering more than 60 U.S.-listed companies. Issuers will have 30 days to opt out.
• Planned stocks include Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Tesla, JPMorgan Chase, Coinbase, Robinhood, Circle and SpaceX, among others.
• The move follows the SEC's five-year innovation exemption issued last month, which allows certain venues to trade tokenized versions of U.S.-listed stocks without registering as exchanges.

CFTC proposes new federal framework for leveraged retail crypto trading

The CFTC launched a rulemaking process to create a federal regulatory framework for leveraged and margined retail crypto trading, including a new registration category for exchanges offering such products.

• The agency is considering a new "crypto asset market" category of CFTC-registered exchanges under proposed Regulation CTX and Regulation CAM.
• The framework would provide an alternative to state-licensed exchanges, with Regulation CTX and Regulation CAM establishing requirements for CFTC-registered exchanges offering crypto assets for trading.
• CFTC Chairman Michael Selig said the agency cannot require crypto assets to trade on CFTC-registered platforms without congressional action.

Umia raises $6.1 million at $18 million FDV to help crypto projects launch tokens

Umia raised $6.11 million through a seven-day auction of its UMIA token, selling 34.6% of the total supply at an $18 million fully diluted valuation.

• Around 45% of the money came from institutional investors, with Galaxy Ventures, Digital Currency Group, Draper Associates and others among ten participating funds. Nearly 700 individual bidders also took part.
• Umia plans to help projects launch tokens using a shared legal structure, onchain auctions and market-based governance. Its first external launch, Slop.cash, is expected later in the fourth quarter.

In the next 24 hours

• The U.S. August trade balance is due Tuesday. Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan is also scheduled to participate in a Global Perspectives event.
• Euro area September construction PMI and August retail sales data are due Tuesday. ECB officials Sharon Donnery, Claudia-Maria Buch, Piero Cipollone and Frank Elderson are also scheduled to speak.
• Hyperliquid (HYPE) is set for a notable token unlock, with $348.71 million scheduled to unlock.

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