- STRC Volumes Reaccelerate Meaningfully: After concerns earlier this week around softer-than-expected STRC demand, today’s session represented a major reversal. STRC traded at or above par for most of the day and posted more than ~$1.5B in trading volume, by far the strongest showing of the current ex-dividend cycle. Assuming roughly 80% of that volume reflects ATM issuance, Strategy likely raised approximately ~$1.2B of incremental capital that is now in the process of being deployed into BTC.

- Hyperliquid-Coinbase-Circle Partnership Creates Earnings Step-Change: HYPE significantly outperformed today following the announcement that Coinbase and Circle will make USDC the canonical stablecoin on Hyperliquid. Under the arrangement, Coinbase will act as treasury deployer for USDC reserves and pass the vast majority of reserve yield economics through to the protocol. Functionally, this transforms Hyperliquid’s stablecoin balances into a recurring and materially less cyclical earnings stream tied to reserve income.
- Reserve Income Could Add ~$150M of Annualized Earnings: Based on current balances (~$5.1B USDC on Hyperliquid), reserve rates around ~3.6%, modest operating cost assumptions, and a ~90% revenue share, the partnership could generate close to ~$150M of incremental annualized reserve income for Hyperliquid tokenholders. Combined with trailing trading-related earnings, this implies nearly ~$1B of annualized earnings power and represents roughly an ~18% increase versus the prior run rate. In my view, today’s price reaction likely understates the significance of this development.

- Clarity Act Advances with Bipartisan Support: The Senate Banking Committee advanced the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act following a lengthy and contentious markup session that highlighted both bipartisan progress and lingering divisions around crypto regulation. Republican members, led by Senators Tim Scott and Cynthia Lummis, framed the bill as a long-awaited framework for digital asset market structure, stablecoins, DeFi, and AML oversight. The bill ultimately advanced on a bipartisan 15-9 vote, with Democrats Ruben Gallego and Angela Alsobrooks joining Republicans in support. Democrats broadly acknowledged the need for regulatory clarity but continued to raise concerns around illicit finance, consumer protection, DeFi carveouts, and ethics issues. Numerous amendments targeting AML, sanctions, banking risk, and ethics provisions were rejected, underscoring that meaningful disagreements remain ahead of a likely floor fight. My first read is that it remains difficult to fully price in legislative certainty based on today’s outcome, but I would still characterize the result as net positive. Polymarket odds have rebounded back toward 70%, and crypto financial services equities appear to be responding most favorably, particularly COIN, HOOD, and FIGR.
- Bottom Line: There were a lot of positives today. While there are certainly reasons to take some profits here (sell-the-news dynamics, BTC testing its 200-day moving average, equities looking increasingly extended), I am not rushing to make major adjustments in either direction. The likely ~$1.2B STRC-driven capital raise provides meaningful near-term support for staying long here.
Tickers in this video: BTC 1.68% HYPE 9.46% STRC COIN HOOD FIGR USDC
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