Wednesday July 16, 2025
The battle for Ethereum supremacy among institutional treasury funds is heating up. What started as a series of daily press releases and strategic ETH buys has now turned into a closely watched rivalry in the digital asset space.
On one side, Tom Lee’s camp is backing Bitmine Immersion $BMNR, a firm pushing aggressive acquisition strategies and touting its dominance in the next phase of crypto infrastructure. On the other, Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin is championing SharpLink Gaming $SBET, positioning the company as a future powerhouse in gaming and blockchain integration.
And now, the stakes just got higher. Legendary investor Peter Thiel is stepping into the arena with a 9% buy supporting $BMNR. His involvement signals more than just capital; it’s a vote of confidence that could shift market sentiment and ignite a new wave of institutional participation in Ethereum-centric ecosystems.
This isn’t just a contest over ETH holdings, it’s about shaping the future narrative of Ethereum’s role in gaming, infrastructure, and decentralized finance. Expect more headlines, more volatility, and more big names before this rivalry cools down.
◾ After an initial negative House vote, President Trump announced that 11 of the 12 lawmakers needed to pass the GENIUS Act have agreed to support the rule. (TruthSocial)
◾ Meta $META is considering making its Llama LLM closed-source. (NYTimes)
◾ Cantor Equity Partners $CEPO is considering a $3 billion+ purchase of 30,000 bitcoin from Blockstream Capital. (FT)
Government & NGO Actions
◾ The UK aims to modernize wholesale markets by streamlining processes, leveraging blockchain and AI, and strengthening global competitiveness. (Gov.uk)
◾ Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) warned that the CLARITY and GENIUS crypto bills could repeat past deregulation mistakes, enabling fraud and creating national security risks. (MSNBC)
Financial Notices & Public Company Releases
◾ Billionaire Peter Thiel acquired a 9.1% stake in Bitmine Immersion $BMNR through Founders Fund. (SecFiling)
◾ SharpLink Gaming $SBET bought 74,656 ether last week becoming the world’s largest corporate holder of ETH with 280,706 ETH ($888 million) (GlobeNewswire)
◾ JPMorgan $JPM CEO Jamie Dimon said the bank will engage in stablecoins, noting it can’t afford to sit out. (CNBC)
◾ Citigroup $C is exploring the launch of its own stablecoin. (Reuters)
◾ Upexi $UPXI completed a $50 million private placement. (Upexi)
◾ BTC Digital $BTCT sold $6 million in ordinary shares. (PRNewswire)
◾ BlueSky Digital Assets $BTC secured C$100,000 in additional funding to advance AI and online gaming projects. (Newsfile)
◾ Hyper Bit $HYPE signed a second definitive deal to acquire 0.7 bitcoin. (Newsfile)
◾ Marathon Digital $MARA led a $20 million investment into SEC-registered advisor Two Prime. (Mara)
◾ Hut 8 $HUT is rebranding as an “energy infrastructure platform” focused on power, digital infrastructure, and compute for next-gen use cases. (GlobeNewswire)
◾ AgriFORCE Growing Systems $AGRI reaffirmed plans to allocate 50% of net investment capital to a bitcoin treasury reserve. (GlobeNewswire)
◾ The NYSE Arca approved for listing and registration of the ProShares Ultra XRP ETF $ UXRP. (SecFiling)
Restructuring, Hacks, Losses & Legal News
◾ The DOJ and CFTC have concluded their investigation into Polymarket. (Bloomberg)
◾ Prosecutors opened Roman Storm’s trial by referring to Tornado Cash a “giant washing machine” for North Korea’s illicit crypto. (BusinessInsider)
◾ Reports indicate 200 laid-off employees at Candy Crush developer King may be replaced by AI tools they helped train. (MobileGamer)
AI Announcements
◾ Anthropic’s Claude AI is introducing a tool to help financial professionals make investment decisions, analyze markets, and conduct research. (CNBC)
◾ S&P Global $SPGI partnered with Anthropic to provide financial data to Claude. (PRNewswire)
◾ Google $GOOGL plans to invest $25 billion in data centers and AI infrastructure over the next two years. (CNBC)
Protocols, Applications & Business News
◾ Kraken is launching a derivatives exchange for US clients. (Kraken)
◾ The President of Uniswap is stepping down. (X)
◾ Ripple has applied for an electronic money license in Luxembourg. (LedgerInsights)
Metaverse & Gaming Briefings & Activations
◾ Roblox $RBLX launched a licensing platform featuring IP like Squid Game, Stranger Things, and Twilight. (Roblox)
◾ ByteDance is developing mixed reality goggles. (TheInformation)