Bitcoin and the broader digital asset market rallied this week following a U.S. Treasury initiative that expanded long-dated bond buybacks, a liquidity measure framed as distinct from quantitative easing. Bitcoin rose more than 23% to approach $79,000, while Ether climbed above $2,400, as investors reassessed the implications of sustained government liquidity support for risk assets.
Standard Chartered’s Geoff Kendrick projected Bitcoin could reach $100,000 by year-end, citing the Treasury’s plan to at least double buyback operations for 10- to 20-year and 20- to 30-year coupons. Kendrick noted that Bitcoin tends to benefit from government liquidity interventions and its fixed supply structure, while identifying $65,500 as a key technical level. The expanded buyback program is scheduled to run from Sept. 9 through Nov. 4. Bitcoin’s price jumped more than 6% to nearly $69,000 following the announcement, its highest level since early June.
Metaplanet, a Tokyo-based firm, is expanding its Bitcoin treasury strategy to the U.S. through a deal with Nasdaq-listed Super League Enterprise. Metaplanet will contribute 2,100 Bitcoin, valued at roughly $145 million, and $2.5 million in cash to Super League, which will be renamed Superplanet. The Bitcoin represents less than 5% of Metaplanet’s 43,000 Bitcoin holdings and comes from its existing treasury. The transaction grants Superplanet access to U.S. capital markets while enabling Metaplanet to raise funds in Japan. Super League’s shares surged over 50% on the news. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter, subject to shareholder approval and customary conditions.
Cypherpunk Technologies has entered the Zcash mining sector with a $33.33 million equity acquisition from Winklevoss Capital, securing control of roughly 18% of the network’s hashrate. The mining operation, already operational at U.S. facilities, produces about 4.2 GSol/s. Cypherpunk also holds 323,394 Zcash tokens, representing approximately 1.9% of the circulating supply, with a target of 5% ownership. The firm has highlighted Zcash mining as offering more attractive economics than Bitcoin mining or AI data center workloads, though profitability remains contingent on Zcash’s price, network hashrate, mining difficulty, and operating costs. Zcash’s price surged more than 1,300% over the past 12 months before correcting. The network implemented its Ironwood upgrade on July 28 to address a potential counterfeit ZEC flaw, though no exploitation was detected.
Regulatory developments are also shaping market structure. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is soliciting public comment on futures contracts tied to AI computing capacity, a move that could influence the launch timeline for emerging compute-based derivatives. Bloomberg reported that the CFTC submitted a request for comment to the White House Office of Management and Budget. CME Group plans to launch two AI compute futures contracts on Oct. 5, pending regulatory approval, with Silicon Data providing the benchmarks. Estimates from TD Lombard, Goldman Sachs, and Bridgewater Associates suggest AI infrastructure spending could reach 2% to 2.5% of U.S. GDP this year. The review process may extend the timeline for planned products from CME and Intercontinental Exchange, which remain subject to regulatory approval.
