Weekly Wrap: Bitcoin Hit By Coldcard Hack And Clarity Act Disappointment

Hut 8 Reports Poor Financial Results: Hut 8's (NASDAQ: $HUT) stock fell 5% after the Bitcoin miner and artificial intelligence (A.I.) data centre operator reported disappointing financial results. Hut 8 announced a second-quarter net loss of -$1.78 U.S. per share, which was worse than analyst's consensus expectation for a loss of -$0.52 U.S. Most of the quarterly loss was attributed to a $138.6 million U.S. unrealized loss on Hut 8's Bitcoin holdings.

Polymarket Seeks $20 Billion Valuation: Polymarket is seeking a $20 billion U.S. valuation in a new funding round. Media reports say that Polymarket is in early talks with prospective investors and looking to raise $1 billion U.S. at a $20 billion U.S. valuation. The new fundraising comes only a few months after the prediction market closed its previous funding round. Polymarket's main rival, Kalshi, was valued at $22 billion U.S. in May of this year.

First U.S. Bitcoin ETF To Close: A U.S. exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracked the spot price of Bitcoin is closing as inflows slow to a trickle. Cryptocurrency asset manager Hashdex said that it is closing and liquidating its $14.7 million U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF. It is the first U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF to shutdown since a dozen such funds sprang up in early 2024 after Wall Street regulators approved the tracking of BTC's price movements. Hashdex cited concerns over its Bitcoin ETF's liquidity and operating costs when announcing the closure.

Bitdeer Secures $4.7 Billion A.I. Data Centre Lease: Bitdeer Technologies (NASDAQ: $BTDR) has secured a $4.7 billion U.S. artificial intelligence (A.I.) data centre lease. Bitdeer, a Bitcoin miner turned data centre operator, announced that its Tydal Data Centre subsidiary has signed a 16-year lease agreement to provide 121 megawatts of computing capacity at its Norway campus. Media reports say the customer for Bitdeer's new A.I. lease is privately held startup Anthropic, although management at Bitdeer have not said publicly who the customer is.

Bitmine Accelerates Stock Buybacks: Bitmine Immersion Technologies (NYSE: $BMNR) has accelerated its stock buybacks even as it continues making weekly purchases of Ethereum (CRYPTO: $ETH). The company led by Chairman Tom Lee has increased its $4 billion U.S. share repurchase program, buying back 4.5 million BMNR shares over the past week. Bitmine has now repurchased more than 15 million of its own shares since July 1, which it says is the largest common stock buyback completed by any cryptocurrency treasury company.

Cathie Wood Buys Coinbase And Circle Stocks: Investor Cathie Wood bought $10 million U.S. worth of stock in cryptocurrency firms Coinbase Global (NASDAQ: $COIN) and Circle Internet Group (NYSE: $CRCL) over the past week. Wood's asset management firm, Ark Invest, bought 54,776 Coinbase shares worth $8 million U.S. Coinbase is now Ark Invest's sixth-largest holding within its flagship ARKK fund. At the same time, Wood's firm bought 23,070 Circle shares worth $1.4 million U.S. CRCL stock is now the ninth-largest holding in the ARKK fund.

BlackRock's Ethereum ETF To Undergo 1-For-3 Reverse Split: BlackRock (NYSE: $BLK) says it plans to implement a one-for-three reverse share split on its iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (NASDAQ: $ETHA) on Oct. 6. The reverse split will be used to increase the per-share net asset value of the ETF without changing the value of investors' holdings or the fund's assets. News of the reverse split comes as BlackRock's Ethereum ETF has seen its price fall 40% this year.

Bitcoin ETFs Attract $754 Million Of Capital: Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that track the spot price of Bitcoin attracted $754.69 million U.S. of capital over the past week. Data from SoSoValue shows that about a dozen spot Bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. had their best week since April of this year as inflows to the funds increased. Analysts say the inflows show a tentative recovery among institutional investors that are starting to reallocate capital to Bitcoin ETFs.