Crypto Stocks Barometer | Strive Spends $330 Million to Buy Over 4,000 BTC; Bitmine Just 0.1% Away from "5% ETH" Target (October 20)

Editor's Note: In last week's Crypto-Stock Trend Indicator, we warned of a market downturn and emphasized the recent bets by capital institutions on U.S. Treasuries. Over the past week, despite a modest rebound in recent days, U.S. equities and the capital markets of Japan and South Korea have remained in decline, making defensive investment strategies clearly more suitable for the current market environment.

The market developments worth noting recently mainly include the following four:

First, Nasdaq recently proposed new rules under which listed companies whose market capitalization falls below $5 million for 30 consecutive days would face immediate trading suspension and delisting procedures, aimed at cracking down on "pump-and-dump" and other manipulative practices in the overseas small-cap market. The proposal has drawn opposition from U.S. small businesses, which worry that the new rules could also sweep in companies with normal operations but highly volatile share prices, affecting their financing and business development. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last month paused pushing the proposal forward and decided to seek further public comment. Currently, more than 190 Nasdaq-listed companies have a market capitalization of no more than $5 million, and nearly half of them are headquartered in the United States.

Second, total crypto market deposits have grown to more than $10 billion, and the scale of crypto "vaults" is expanding. Total deposits in crypto "vaults" have increased from $4 billion at the beginning of last year to more than $10 billion. Fintech companies, digital asset treasury management firms, and hedge funds are the main depositors in such "vaults." The "vaults" operate through smart contracts on DeFi platforms, with "managers" responsible for selecting lending strategies, setting risk limits, and collecting fees. Their yields typically range from 3% to 10%, and higher-risk strategies may bring returns of 20% or more, but depositors also face collateral risk, liquidity risk, and smart contract risk.

Third, two financial services trademarks received notices of allowance, and a MrBeast-affiliated company covers cryptocurrency trading services. Beast Holdings, LLC filed trademark applications for "MRBEAST FINANCIAL" and "BEAST FINANCIAL" on October 13, 2025, covering services including mobile banking applications, cash advances and microloans, credit card and debit card services, investment advice and management, as well as cryptocurrency trading, payment processing, and cryptocurrency exchange through decentralized trading platforms. Both trademarks were published in the official gazette on August 11, 2026, and received notices of allowance on October 6; both are currently in the "intent-to-use" stage and have not yet been formally registered. In January this year, Beast Industries received an investment of approximately $200 million from BitMine, and Tom Lee said he would explore combining DeFi with MrBeast's young user base. Beast Industries CEO Jeff Housenbold previously said the company plans to incorporate decentralized finance elements into its upcoming financial services platform.

Fourth, nine listed companies formally objected to their shares being issued in tokenized form on a proposed platform backed by OKX and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). ICE is the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The companies involved include Cerebras Systems, AppLovin, Applied Digital, Rocket Lab, CoreWeave, Verizon Communications, Applied Optoelectronics, Broadcom, and UnitedHealth Group. The announcement did not disclose the specific reasons for each company's objection.

Overall, on the one hand, in order to prevent small-cap, highly volatile stocks from being subjected to market manipulation, Nasdaq has had to take countermeasures at the regulatory level, but this has instead triggered a backlash from listed companies; on the other hand, the scale of funds the crypto market absorbs from institutions is still increasing, but these funds are generally there to earn yields rather than flow into the market. As for specific stock tokenization, it currently appears difficult to advance smoothly in the way the SEC envisions, since it touches the interests of listed company interest groups and exacerbates the risks and volatility of the relevant stock targets. MrBeast's entry looks more like a response to Trump's call and a way to test the waters for BitMine. As for specific targets, compared with crypto-concept stocks, mining companies that also carry AI concepts may be more worth watching.

For more crypto-stock market information, please visit MSX.COM. (Odaily note: The content of this article does not constitute investment advice and is for learning and exchange only.)

Weekly Updates on Crypto-Stock Listed Companies

Representative BTC Treasury Listed Companies

Listed companies net bought $360 million of Bitcoin last week, with Strive contributing more than 90%

According to SoSoValue data, as of 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time on October 19, 2026, the total net weekly purchases of Bitcoin by global listed companies (excluding mining companies) last week amounted to $360 million, an increase of 1,500% compared with two weeks earlier.

Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) last week bought 267 Bitcoin at a price of $82,900, spending approximately $22.1 million, bringing its total holdings to 848,517 coins.

Japanese listed company Metaplanet did not purchase Bitcoin last week.

In addition, three other companies announced last week that they had purchased Bitcoin or disclosed their Bitcoin holdings. Asset management company Strive announced on October 19 that it spent approximately $330 million last week to buy 4,045 Bitcoin at a price of $81,734, bringing its total holdings to approximately 36,818 coins; U.K. Bitcoin treasury company The Smarter Web Company announced on October 19 that it invested $6.93 million to buy 83 Bitcoin at a price of $83,542, bringing its total holdings to 2,830 coins; Ethereum asset company Bitmine announced on October 19 that it had purchased 1 Bitcoin without disclosing the specific purchase amount, bringing its total holdings to 215 coins.

As of press time, global listed companies in the statistics (excluding mining companies) collectively hold a total of 1,161,643 Bitcoin, with a current market value of approximately $95.41 billion, accounting for 5.8% of Bitcoin's circulating market capitalization.

Metaplanet receives shareholder meeting approval to control Super League Enterprise

Metaplanet founder and CEO Simon Gerovich announced that the transaction between Metaplanet and Nasdaq-listed company Super League Enterprise (ticker: SLE) has been approved by the company's shareholder meeting. Metaplanet will inject 2,100 Bitcoin and $2.5 million in cash into SLE, with a total value of approximately $134.6 million, in exchange for controlling stake. As consideration for the transaction, Metaplanet will receive approximately 44.86 million newly issued shares of SLE common stock, preferred stock, and warrants, with the common stock issued at $3 per share. After the transaction is completed, Metaplanet will hold approximately 95.7% of SLE's issued common stock and become its controlling shareholder. After the transaction is completed, SLE will serve as Metaplanet's U.S.-listed Bitcoin treasury platform, helping it access U.S. capital markets and expand its financing capabilities. Combined with Metaplanet Securities established in Japan, the transaction will enable Metaplanet to form complementary platforms in the two major capital markets of the United States and Japan, and further advance its business layout in areas such as Bitcoin treasury, financial services, financial products, and asset management.

Representative ETH Treasury Listed Companies

Holding 6.0415 million ETH, Bitmine increased its holdings by 12,535 ETH over the past week

Bitmine increased its holdings by 12,535 ETH over the past week. As of 15:00 Eastern Time on October 18, 2026, Bitmine held 6.0415 million ETH and 215 Bitcoin, and had invested $180 million in Beast Industries and $74 million in Eightco Holdings (NASDAQ: ORBS), with cash and marketable securities totaling $582 million. Its ETH holdings account for 4.9% of the total ETH supply.

Representative SOL Treasury Listed Companies

Total holdings reach approximately 2.5903 million SOL and SOL equivalents, DFDV increased its holdings by 3,983 SOL last week

SOL treasury company DeFi Development Corp. (Nasdaq ticker: DFDV) announced today that its treasury balance increased by 3,983 SOL over the past week, bringing its total holdings to approximately 2.5903 million SOL and SOL equivalents.

SkyAI liquidates all SOL and launches a repurchase plan of up to $201.3 million, holding $223.8 million in cash

Solana treasury company SkyAI (formerly Sharps Technology) has sold all of its Solana assets, with holdings falling from more than 2 million SOL in September to zero on October 16. Currently, the company holds $223.8 million in cash and has launched a repurchase plan totaling up to $201.3 million, at a repurchase price of $3 per share or per warrant.

Representative Altcoin Treasury Listed Companies

Holdings valued at $78.3 million, Chainlink Reserve has cumulatively purchased 6.29 million LINK

According to Onchain Lens monitoring, Chainlink Reserve purchased and received 89,200 LINK on October 15, worth $1.11 million. Over the past 30 days, it has cumulatively purchased 431,900 LINK, worth $5.41 million; it has cumulatively spent $70.76 million to purchase 6.29 million LINK; it currently holds 6.29 million LINK, worth $78.3 million.

BNB treasury company BNC appoints former YZi Labs investment partner Alex Odagiu as CEO

BNB Standard Corporation (BNC) announced the appointment of Alex Odagiu as its new CEO. Alex Odagiu joined YZi Labs in September 2021, was promoted to investment partner in September 2025, was appointed interim president and director of BNC in June 2026, and officially became CEO on October 19, 2026; he has resigned from all positions at YZi Labs.