Early Riders | Open Range Weekly | 02.08.26
Bitcoin was down (8%) this week to a market capitalization of $1.42T.
Early Riders Media
This week's podcast featured venture capitalist Cam Doody from Brickyard, who discussed the paradox of Bitcoin's recent price action despite positive tailwinds. The team also explored why gold has surged while Bitcoin lagged, the long-term implications of major banks like Morgan Stanley building wallet infrastructure, and how the debasement trade went mainstream but with the wrong asset.
You can find all our episodes on our podcast website as well as listen on YouTube, Apple, and Spotify.
Industry & Institutional Updates
Tether invested $100 million in Anchorage Digital at a $4.2 billion valuation after selecting the digital asset bank (Anchorage Digital) to issue USA₮, which is a U.S.-regulated dollar-backed stablecoin.
Latin America's largest digital bank Nubank, secured OCC approval, allowing the firm to provide deposit accounts, credit cards, lending, and digital asset custody in the United States.
BlackRock's spot bitcoin ETF hit a $10 billion daily volume record this week due to volatility in the asset.
Bithumb accidentally sent 2,000 bitcoin to hundreds of users totalling a nearly $44 billion loss, instead of sending the planned 2,000 KRW totaling $1.70 during a promotional event error, triggering a temporary price crash on the exchange.
Tether scaled back fundraising ambitions from $15-20 billion to as little as $5 billion after investors pushed back on its nearly $500 billion valuation target.
Regulatory Updates
Canada's investment regulator announced a new custody framework tightening the rules on how digital assets are held.
The U.S. took control of over $400 million in bitcoin seized from Helix, which is a widely used mixing service on the darknet after Larry Dean Harmon, a Helix operator, was convicted for money laundering.
Tennessee introduced a strategic bitcoin reserve bill, which would give the state access to allocate up to 10% of its strategic reserves to bitcoin.
What We're Watching
Tether invested $100 million in Anchorage Digital at a $4.2 billion valuation, deepening the strategic alliance between the world's largest stablecoin issuer and America's first federally chartered digital asset bank. The investment follows Tether's selection of Anchorage Digital as the issuer for USA₮, which is its U.S.-regulated and dollar-backed stablecoin that is designed for institutions and the public sector.
Founded in 2017, Anchorage Digital operates under a federal bank charter granted by the OCC and provides custody, trading, staking, governance, settlement, and stablecoin issuance services. Concurrent with Tether's investment, Anchorage Digital launched its first-ever employee tender offer at the same $4.2 billion valuation, providing liquidity to long-tenured team members while preserving the company's capital structure and independence.
Chart of the Week
US Spot bitcoin ETFs held 1.36 million bitcoin as of October 10, 2025.
This week, the price is down nearly 44%, but the total holdings are only down ~90 thousand bitcoin, a decline of just 6.6%.
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