Early Riders | Open Range Weekly | 8.24.25
Sovereigns are testing acquisition and access frameworks, including Philippines proposal to accumulate 10,000 BTC and Brazil's upcoming hearing on a $19B reserve, pointing to prior adoption of competing nations and plans for legislative adoption by others. Bitcoin treasury companies, government pension funds, and banks all continue to ramp up their Bitcoin exposure. At the same time, payments infrastructure continued to develop with international payments through the Lightning Network, as BitBit facilitated user tipping through X.
Bitcoin Update
Bitcoin fell just over 3% on the week, driven by spot ETF outflows, uncertainty around monetary policy with the recent Jackson Hole Federal Reserve meetings, and softness in Bitcoin treasury company performance.
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Industry & Institutional Updates
Metaplanet Inc. purchased an additional 775 BTC for approximately $94 million, bringing its total holdings to 18,888 BTC, valued at around $1.95 billion, and positioning it as the seventh largest public Bitcoin holder globally.
Strategy acquired 430 Bitcoin for $51.4 million, bringing its total holdings to approximately 629,376 BTC, now exceeding 3% of the global supply
X now supports Bitcoin tipping via BitBit’s self-custodial social wallet enabling users to send tips directly to X usernames via a Chrome extension, with mobile and stablecoin support expected soon.
SoFi is set to become the first U.S. bank to integrate Bitcoin’s Lightning Network and Universal Money Addresses (UMA) for international remittances, enabling 24/7, low-cost, real-time transfers via Bitcoin rails.
Ming Shing Group Holdings, a Nasdaq-listed Hong Kong construction firm, has agreed to acquire 4,250 BTC (~US $483 million) via a complex structure of convertible promissory notes and share warrants, potentially making it Hong Kong’s largest public corporate Bitcoin treasury
Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global (NBIM) has expanded indirect exposure by 192% y/y to ≈7,161 BTC equivalents via proxies like Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), Metaplanet, and Coinbase.
Wells Fargo sharply increased its Bitcoin ETF exposure in Q2 2025, boosting its holdings to around $160 million, up from $26 million the previous quarter via allocations in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and several other spot Bitcoin ETFs.
Galaxy Digital has secured a $1.4 billion debt financing facility to retrofit and expand its Helios datacenter in West Texas for AI and high-performance computing operations under a long-term lease agreement with CoreWeave.
Regulatory Updates
Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Act (HB 421): would direct the Philippines Central Bank to buy 10,000 Bitcoin over 5 years, hold them for at least 20 years, implement quarterly proof-of-reserves, and restrict any sales to retiring government debt.
Brazil will hold its first hearing on August 20, 2025, to discuss a proposal for a $19 billion Bitcoin Strategic Reserve aimed at diversifying treasury holdings, hedging economic risks, and managed jointly by the Central Bank and Finance Ministry with regular performance reviews.
Thailand is launching an 18-month regulatory pilot program called TouristDigiPay that will enable foreign visitors to convert cryptocurrencies into Thai baht to spend locally through QR-based e-wallets and card systems for greater convenience and tourism stimulation.
New York Assemblymember Phil Steck has introduced legislation proposing a 0.2% excise tax on cryptocurrency transactions across the state, aiming to generate an estimated $158 million annually.
Pennsylvania lawmakers introduced House Bill 1812 on August 20, which would prohibit public officials and their immediate family members from holding, trading, or promoting digital assets exceeding $1,000 during their term and for one year afterward.
Chart of the Week
New hires remains well below 2015-2019 norms, putting the Federal Reserve in a difficult position as they continue to wrestle with above target inflation, a cooling job market, and the government manages historically high interest rate expenses.
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