The Daily: Dormant bitcoin whale wakes up after $5K to $50M move, Avalanche Foundation eyes $1B raise for AVAX treasury firms, and more

The following article is adapted from The Block’s newsletter, The Daily, which comes out on weekday afternoons.

Happy Thursday! U.S. CPI data came in as expected this morning at 2.9% year-over-year, while jobless claims rose to their highest level since 2021 as traders fully price in three rate cuts by year-end.

In today’s newsletter, an OG bitcoin whale wakes up for the first time in 13 years after their stash goes from $5K to $50 million. Plus, Avalanche Foundation aims to raise $1 billion for AVAX treasury firms, BitMine adds $200 million worth of ETH, and more.

Meanwhile, the SEC delayed decisions on staking for Ethereum ETFs, alongside new XRP and Solana funds.

Let’s get started.

P.S. Don’t forget to check out The Funding, a biweekly rundown of crypto VC trends. It’s a great read — and just like The Daily, it’s free to subscribe!

Dormant bitcoin whale holding over $50 million in BTC wakes up for first time in 13 years

A dormant bitcoin wallet holding approximately 445 BTC worth over $50 million woke up to move funds for the first time in nearly 13 years on Thursday morning.

• The OG whale transferred 132 BTC to a new address and sent 5 BTC to a Kraken deposit address, per Arkham labeling.
• The wallet’s last activity was in November 2012, when its balance was valued at only $5,437, blockchain monitoring platform Onchain Lens noted.
• At today’s price of more than $114,000, the wallet’s value has risen over 9,300 times since the funds were last moved at a bitcoin price of just $12.22.
• The motive for the sudden move and owner of the funds remain unknown, though the small exchange transfer hints at selling.
• The original wallet still holds roughly 308 BTC, valued at over $35 million, according to onchain data.
• Whale activity has surged in recent months, with other Satoshi-era wallets moving millions of dollars in BTC and some rotating into ETH.

Avalanche Foundation eyes $1 billion to set up AVAX treasury firms in US

Avalanche Foundation, the non-profit group behind the Layer 1 blockchain, is in advanced talks to raise $1 billion across two U.S. deals to launch AVAX treasury companies, the FT reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.

• One deal, led by Hivemind Capital and advised by Anthony Scaramucci, seeks up to $500 million through a private investment in a Nasdaq-listed firm by late September.
• A second $500 million raise via a Dragonfly-backed SPAC aims to close in October, with both vehicles set to buy AVAX at a discount from the foundation.
• The move comes amid rising momentum for altcoin-based corporate treasuries, with Avalanche also powering tokenization pilots by BlackRock and Apollo.

BitMine adds $200 million worth of ETH to treasury via BitGo

BitMine added another 46,255 ETH worth around $200 million to its treasury via BitGo wallets, according to Onchain Lens.

• The purchase brings BitMine’s total holdings to over 2.1 million ETH valued at $9.4 billion, as it pushes toward a target of owning 5% of Ethereum’s circulating supply.
• Onchain Lens linked the transfers to BitMine through forensic analysis, though the treasury company has not publicly confirmed the acquisition as yet.
• Earlier this week, BitMine announced a strategic investment of $20 million into Eightco to support that firm’s plan to adopt World’s WLD as its primary treasury asset.

JPMorgan says S&P 500 rejection of Strategy is a ‘blow to crypto treasuries’

JPMorgan analysts called the S&P 500 committee’s recent snub of Strategy for inclusion in the index a “blow to crypto treasuries,” signaling caution toward companies that function as bitcoin funds.

• Index membership has been a key driver for Strategy’s stock, allowing bitcoin exposure to filter into major benchmarks such as the Nasdaq 100, MSCI USA, MSCI World, and the Russell 2000.
• The S&P 500 exclusion suggests that this indirect channel into institutional and retail portfolios “may be reaching its limits,” the analysts wrote, while other index providers could reconsider their approach.
• Investor fatigue is also mounting as equity issuance slows, risk premia rise, and capital shifts toward crypto firms with operating businesses, like exchanges and miners, they added.

Scroll DAO to pause governance for redesign after leadership exits

Scroll DAO, the decentralized autonomous organization behind the Ethereum Layer 2 scaling project, is halting its governance mechanism after recent leadership resignations, with Scroll co-founder Haichen Shen citing the need for a redesign.

• Scroll DAO delegate “Olimpio” said pending proposals like treasury management remain in limbo with no clear path forward.
• Scroll Head of Growth Raza Zaidi framed the move as a temporary pause rather than a permanent stop or dismantling of governance, though concerns over centralization linger.

In the next 24 hours

• UK GDP data are released at 2 a.m. ET on Friday.
• Moca Network is set for a token unlock.
• Boston Blockchain Week continues as ETHBoston gets underway.

Never miss a beat with The Block’s daily digest of the most influential events happening across the digital asset ecosystem.

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