The Daily: Nasdaq scrutinizes companies raising funds to buy crypto, $53M dormant BTC wallet wakes up, and more

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

Happy Thursday! Bitcoin ETFs are back to soaking up supply, notching two straight days of $300 million inflows, dwarfing miner issuance. Meanwhile, Ethereum ETFs continue to bleed despite record validator demand, and U.S. rate-cut odds spike to nearly 94% on weak jobs data.

In today’s newsletter, Nasdaq tightens scrutiny of companies raising cash to buy crypto, a dormant bitcoin wallet holding $53 million in BTC wakes up for the first time in nearly 13 years, bitcoin held by public companies passes 1 million BTC, and more.

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!

Nasdaq tightens scrutiny of companies raising cash to buy crypto

Nasdaq is tightening oversight of companies raising funds to buy crypto, requiring shareholder votes for some deals and pushing for expanded disclosures, The Information reported.

• The exchange may suspend or delist firms that fail to comply, according to anonymous insiders cited by the publication, sparking a sharp selloff in several digital asset treasuries (DATs) after the news.
• Some 154 U.S.-listed companies have announced plans to raise nearly $100 billion for crypto treasury initiatives since January, a surge from the $34 billion raised by 10 companies before 2025, according to Architect Partners data.
• Stricter rules could slow deals and add uncertainty as firms scramble to secure capital during favorable market windows.
• Most issuers are Nasdaq-listed, with Strategy and BitMine standing as the two largest digital asset treasury companies, accumulating bitcoin and ether, respectively.

From $4,400 to $53 million: Dormant bitcoin wallet wakes up for first time in nearly 13 years

A dormant bitcoin wallet holding around 479 BTC, now worth $53 million, woke up for the first time in almost 13 years on Thursday morning.

• The address executed five outbound transactions totaling 81.25 BTC ($9 million) over several hours, according to data from blockchain explorer Mempool.
• The owner last sent coins out of the address in November 2012, when bitcoin was trading for just $11 and the wallet’s balance was worth just $4,400, monitoring platform Whale Alert first noted on X.
• Funds were shifted from a legacy “16fXT” address to more modern native SegWit “bc1q” addresses, though the wallet’s owner and the reason for the transfers remain unknown.
• At current prices of around $110,000, the bitcoin transferred has risen 10,000x in value since 2012.
• The original wallet still retains about 398 BTC ($44 million), as OG bitcoin whales continue ramping up activity amid a series of new all-time highs for the foremost cryptocurrency this year.

Bitcoin held by public companies passes 1 million BTC

Public companies now collectively hold more than 1 million BTC worth around $110 billion, according to BitcoinTreasuries data, with 169 entities currently making up the ranks.

• Michael Saylor’s Strategy pioneered the bitcoin treasury play, inspiring firms like Metaplanet, Semler Scientific, Trump Media, and GameStop to follow suit.
• “Despite today’s milestone, a number of indicators suggest institutional bitcoin adoption remains in its infancy,” BitcoinTreasuries President Pete Rizzo said.
• “For context, most major bitcoin treasury firms have only started to deploy strategies aimed at long-term accumulation, meaning a large portion of raised capital remains yet to be deployed.”

Stripe and Paradigm introduce payments-focused blockchain Tempo

Stripe and Paradigm unveiled Tempo on Thursday, a payments-focused blockchain positioned as a high-scale Layer 1 network for real-world financial services applications.

• Currently in private testnet, Tempo follows Stripe’s $1.1 billion purchase of stablecoin infrastructure firm Bridge and its more recent acquisition of crypto wallet startup Privy.
• Early partners testing Tempo include Anthropic, Deutsche Bank, DoorDash, Nubank, OpenAI, Revolut, and Shopify, according to Stripe CEO Patrick Collison.
• Paradigm co-founder and Managing Partner Matt Huang leads Tempo’s team, as previously reported, which aims to serve as a purpose-built infrastructure for stablecoins, payments, and tokenized deposits.

Hackers use Ethereum smart contracts to conceal malware in code libraries

Hackers hid malware in two npm packages by embedding command-and-control instructions inside Ethereum smart contracts — a first-of-its-kind tactic flagged by ReversingLabs.

• The malicious packages, “colortoolsv2” and “mimelib2,” fetched payload locations from onchain contracts, complicating detection before being taken down.
• Researchers tied the scheme to a broader campaign using fake crypto-themed GitHub repositories to trick developers into adding compromised dependencies.

In the next 24 hours

• Eurozone GDP data are due at 5 a.m. ET on Friday. U.S. nonfarm payrolls follow at 8:30 a.m.
• Immutable, Moca Network, and Ethena are set for token unlocks.
• Taipei Blockchain Week and ETHWarsaw continue. The Bitcoin Indonesia Conference gets underway.

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