Bitcoin’s late‑August rally, estimated at roughly 23%, revived mining equities, with some stocks jumping as much as 67%. The surge reversed a recent trend where miners shifted focus toward AI‑related infrastructure. BlocksBridge Consulting noted that miners such as Canaan, American Bitcoin and Cango outperformed AI‑linked firms, posting gains between 41% and 67% versus 21% for CoreWeave and lower for other high‑performance‑computing players.
BlocksBridge cited three drivers for the rally: expanded U.S. Treasury liquidity supporting share buybacks, renewed regulatory optimism after a White House crypto meeting, and a short‑squeeze that liquidated more than $1.6 bn of positions.
Amid the rally, publicly traded miners Strive and Strategy expanded their corporate treasuries. Strive bought 1,800 BTC for about $143 million between Aug. 24‑28, raising its holdings to 23,156 BTC and making it the fifth‑largest corporate Bitcoin holder. The average price paid, including fees, was $79,431 per BTC, after a prior week purchase of 1,110 BTC at $73,409 each. Strategy acquired 4,603 BTC at an average of $80,318, pushing its total above 845,000 BTC after four sales since May.
The purchases coincided with a broader digital‑asset recovery that began on Aug. 19, following the U.S. Treasury’s announcement to double certain long‑term bond buybacks.
In parallel, a consortium of 21 major financial institutions—including Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Citi—announced plans to launch a U.S. dollar‑denominated stablecoin in the first half of 2027, with a euro version to follow. The venture aims to serve wholesale, institutional and retail markets for cross‑border payments and digital‑asset settlement, complying with the U.S. GENIUS Act and the EU’s MiCA regulation. The effort builds on a 2023 initiative by ten banks exploring a 1:1 reserve‑backed digital currency on public blockchains.
Meanwhile, Bitmine extended its Ether‑buying streak to 65 consecutive weeks, adding 53,501 ETH last week. The latest purchase brought Bitmine’s total to more than 5.9 million ETH, valued at roughly $14.8 bn at an ETH price of $2,511, representing about 4.9% of Ethereum’s 120.7 million circulating supply and edging toward its 5% target. Despite the accumulation, the firm faces approximately $5.1 bn in unrealised losses on its ETH holdings, reflecting continued buying through the market downturn that began in late 2022.
Bitmine chairman Tom Lee highlighted Ether, Bitcoin and Solana as the three best‑performing major assets since June 30, suggesting the outperformance could encourage institutions to increase crypto exposure.
The combined developments underscore a renewed focus on direct cryptocurrency exposure among miners and traditional financial institutions, even as the sector balances the high costs of AI data‑center expansion and regulatory scrutiny.
