Here’s What You Missed in Crypto This Week

As bitcoin, ethereum and other cryptocurrencies get increasing attention from investors, Wall Street and its traditional banks continue to adjust to the shift. Catch up on this week’s top stories highlighting the intersection of these old guard and new school areas of finance with this recap compiled by The Fly.

BLOCK BUILDING OWN BITCOIN MINING SYSTEM: In a blog post on Tuesday, Block (SQ) said it has finished the development of its own 3nm bitcoin mining chip and is now in the process of working through the design with a “leading global semiconductor foundry.” Block also unveiled plans to broaden out the scope of its mining project to include system design. “We’ve spent a significant amount of time talking to a wide variety of bitcoin miners to identify the challenges faced by mining operators,” Block said. “Building on these insights and pursuant to our goal of supporting mining decentralization, we plan to offer both a standalone mining chip as well as a full mining system of our own design.” (read more)

CBOE REALIGNS DIGITAL ASSET BUSINESS: Cboe Global Markets (CBOE) announced Thursday plans to refocus its digital asset business to leverage its core strengths in derivatives, technology and product innovation while realizing operating efficiencies for both Cboe and its clients. These changes are being made as part of Cboe’s strategic review, taking into consideration the lack of regulatory clarity in the digital space, and are aligned with Cboe’s longer term strategy. Cboe plans to transition and fully integrate its digital asset derivatives, currently offered by Cboe Digital, into its existing Global Derivatives and Clearing businesses. Additionally, the company plans to wind down operations of the Cboe Digital Spot Market, the company’s spot digital asset trading platform, in Q3, subject to regulatory review. John Palmer, President of Cboe Digital, will become Head of U.S. Derivatives Market Development, under the leadership of Cathy Clay, EVP, Head of Global Derivatives. Cboe plans to transition its cash-settled bitcoin and ether futures contracts, currently available for trading on the Cboe Digital Exchange to the Cboe Futures Exchange in 1H25, pending regulatory review and certain corporate approvals. This move will consolidate all Cboe U.S. futures products, including digital asset futures, onto one exchange. By transitioning digital asset derivatives to CFE, this product set will benefit from the holistic support of the Cboe Global Derivatives business, including global derivatives sales and distribution, product development, market structure and investor education expertise. The company anticipates that the wind down of the Cboe Digital Spot Market operations will have an immaterial impact on Cboe’s net revenue in 2024. The company estimates that expense savings will be in the range of $2M to $4M in 2024, with savings expected to be in the $11M to $15M range on a normalized annual basis. (read more)

MARATHON INCREASES FY24 HASH RATE TARGET: Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA) announced Thursday that the company is increasing its hash rate target for fiscal year 2024 from 35-37 EH/s to 50 EH/s. Marathon began 2024 with approximately 24.7 EH/s energized and had been planning to grow its hash rate by approximately 46% to 35-37 EH/s by the end of the year. Based on current machine orders and available capacity following its recent acquisitions, Marathon now expects to grow its operations to approximately 50 EH/s by the end of 2024. The new target represents approximately 100% growth in hash rate during 2024 and is fully funded based on Marathon’s current liquidity position. Fred Thiel, Marathon’s chairman and CEO, said, “With our current liquidity position, this growth target is also fully funded and there is no need for us to raise additional capital to achieve our objective. By deploying state of the art equipment and our own proprietary technology, we also believe that we can improve our fleet efficiency and approach 21 joules per terahash as we grow to 50 exahash.” (read more)

SOPRIS CAPITAL INVESTS IN BITCOIN DEPOT: Bitcoin Depot (BTM) announced Thursday a strategic investment from Sopris Capital. As part of the investment, Sopris Capital has purchased 2,906,976 Class A common shares and is now one of the company`s largest independent shareholders. “We’re excited to welcome Sopris Capital as a strategic investor to help accelerate our growth,” said Bitcoin Depot CEO Brandon Mintz. “With their extensive network of valuable relationships and experience in the cryptocurrency space, Sopris Capital is a fantastic fit for us. Most importantly, they understand our mission and our value proposition.” In March, Sopris Capital purchased 50 kiosks to become a partner in Bitcoin Depot`s Franchise Program. (read more)

BITFARMS INITIATED WITH OUTPERFORM: On Thursday, Northland initiated coverage of Bitfarms (BITF) with an Outperform rating and $4 price target. The vertically integrated, energy efficient, high capacity, and low-cost bitcoin mining company owns and operates server farms and has made some significant investments as of late to acquire additional miners and build out the infrastructure required to grow computing power, the analyst said. The firm likes that Bitfarms is “aggressively” ramping capacity and efficiency in 2024 and highlights its “impressive” revenue growth, margins and valuation. (read more)

CRYPTO STOCK PLAYS: Publicly traded companies in the space include Bit Digital (BTBT), Coinbase (COIN), Core Scientific (CORZ), Greenidge Generation (GREE), Marathon Digital, MicroStrategy (MSTR), Riot Platforms (RIOT), Stronghold Digital Mining (SDIG) and TeraWulf (WULF).

PRICE ACTION: As of time of writing, bitcoin rose roughly 1% this week to $64,424 in U.S. dollars, according to CoinDesk.