The Daily: Metaplanet surpasses Tesla in BTC holdings, Bit Digital gives up on Bitcoin mining for Ethereum treasury play, and more

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

Happy Thursday! The U.S. Dollar Index’s decline to its lowest level since March 2022 is creating a powerful tailwind for digital assets, reinforcing bitcoin’s appeal as an alternative store of value, according to analysts.

In today’s newsletter, Metaplanet surpasses Tesla with 12,345 BTC in holdings, Bit Digital winds down its Bitcoin mining operations to focus on its ETH treasury play, World Liberty Financial plans to make its WLFI token tradeable soon, and more.

Let’s get started.

Metaplanet surpasses Tesla in bitcoin holdings

Metaplanet has purchased an additional 1,234 BTC for around $132.7 million, bought at an average price of $107,557 per bitcoin.

• The Tokyo-listed firm now holds 12,345 BTC — worth around $1.3 billion — overtaking Tesla’s 11,509 BTC stash and becoming the seventh largest holder among public companies globally.
• Michael Saylor’s Strategy continues to top the list with total holdings of 592,345 BTC ($63 billion) following its acquisition of another 245 BTC last week.
• Metaplanet’s latest acquisition comes just one day after it raised $515 million through a stock issuance to help fund its bitcoin treasury strategy.
• Metaplanet aims to secure 1% of bitcoin’s total 21 million supply as part of its bold “555 million plan” by the end of 2027.
• The company’s stock has fallen more than 16% over the past five days but remains up 303% year-to-date, according to TradingView.

Bit Digital gives up on Bitcoin mining for Ethereum treasury play

Bit Digital is winding down its Bitcoin mining operations and high-performance computing subsidiary to become a pure-play Ethereum staking and treasury company.

• The firm will convert its 417.6 BTC ($44.7 million) into ETH and use proceeds from a stock sale and HPC spinout to fund additional ETH purchases.
• Bit Digital held 24,434 ETH as of the end of Q1 and claims to operate one of the largest institutional Ethereum staking infrastructures.
• Despite the surge in corporate bitcoin treasury initiatives in recent months, Bit Digital’s move marks a rare pivot toward ETH as a core treasury asset, following similar firms like Joe Lubin’s SharpLink.

New York judge denies request from SEC and Ripple to lift injunction

Judge Analisa Torres denied a joint request from the SEC and Ripple to dissolve a permanent injunction and significantly reduce Ripple’s fine.

• Torres criticized both parties for failing to justify the reversal, stating “none of this has changed” since her original ruling over a year ago.
• The decision keeps Ripple on the hook for a $125 million penalty tied to past institutional XRP sales deemed securities under investment contract law.
• Ripple Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty said the company must now choose whether to dismiss its appeal or continue fighting the ruling in court.

World Liberty Financial says it will make WLFI token tradeable in near future

World Liberty Financial said it’s working to make its WLFI token transferable as soon as possible, responding to growing demand.

• WLFI grants holders voting rights and the ability to propose governance changes to the DeFi project, but holders are currently restricted from transferring the tokens.
• Ahead of the news, co-founder Zak Folkman said public firms are showing “a lot of interest” in adding WLFI to their corporate treasuries.
• The Trump family-backed project also plans to release the first audit of its USD1 stablecoin, which is backed by short-term U.S. Treasurys and cash equivalents.
• Meanwhile, United Arab Emirates-based Aqua1, a crypto-focused fund, said Thursday it purchased $100 million worth of WLFI tokens.

Tether CEO predicts a trillion AI agents will use BTC and USDT within 15 years

Speaking on The Block’s Big Brain podcast, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino predicted one trillion AI agents will use BTC and USDT for transactions within 15 years, citing the need for permissionless self-custodial wallets over traditional banking.

• Ardoino said machine-to-machine commerce will drive huge demand for blockchain-based settlement, with USDT already the leading digital asset by transaction volume.
• The stablecoin issuer has expanded aggressively into the sector, unveiling Tether AI in May to support decentralized agent networks.

In the next 24 hours

• U.S. PCE data are out at 8:30 a.m. ET on Friday.
• U.S. FOMC member John Williams will speak at 7:30 a.m. U.S. Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook follows at 9:15 a.m.
• Moca Network is set for a token unlock.

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

© 2025 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.