Crypto's Institutional Surge: ETFs, Treasuries, and AI Power Plays

Happy Monday, TM Family!

Welcome to the Token Metrics Research | Daily newsletter, where we cover key market movements, regulatory updates, and early alpha for our readers and investors. 

Let's dive in! 

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Now let's get back to the top stories of the day.

As we navigate the maturing crypto markets in late 2025, regulatory tailwinds continue to shape institutional access to digital assets. VanEck's filing for the first Lido staked Ether ETF stands out as a pivotal development, directly tracking stETH from the Lido protocol and offering compliant, tax-efficient staking exposure without the need for onchain management.

This comes on the heels of the SEC's clearer stance under Chair Paul Atkins, affirming that liquid staking activities, when properly structured, do not constitute securities transactions, paving the way for broader adoption of Ethereum's proof-of-stake mechanics.

Lido, with over $34B in TVL and $2B in generated rewards, exemplifies how decentralized infrastructure can meet institutional standards, potentially unlocking billions in fresh capital flows into ETH staking.

Complementing this U.S. progress, BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin ETP debuted on the London Stock Exchange, marking the UK's retail embrace of crypto products after the FCA lifted its longstanding ban.

With initial trading volumes modest but symbolic, this aligns with Europe's more progressive listings and signals a global convergence toward regulated crypto vehicles.

For investors, these moves reduce barriers to yield-generating assets like staked ETH (currently around 4-5% APY) and BTC exposure, but watch for SEC review timelines amid pending DOGE and SOL ETF delays.

In a market where Ethereum's institutional narrative strengthens, bolstered by its neutral, scalable chain, expect these products to accelerate the shift from spot to yield-focused strategies, potentially pressuring unstaked ETH liquidity while boosting overall network security.

The corporate treasury meta in crypto is evolving rapidly, with blue-chip firms treating digital assets as core balance sheet staples rather than speculative bets.

Bitmine Immersion, under Chairman Tom Lee's guidance, exemplifies this with its aggressive ETH accumulation: over 203,800 ETH ($820M) bought last week alone, pushing total holdings to 3.24 million ETH (2.7% of circulating supply) valued at over $13B, alongside modest BTC and cash reserves.

Lee frames this as opportunistic buying amid recent deleveraging events, positioning ETH as a "supercycle" asset for institutional adoption due to its neutrality and scalability, aiming ultimately for 5% of supply control.

This isn't isolated; Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) added 168 BTC ($18.8M) last week, bringing its hoard to 640,418 BTC ($71B), funded via innovative perpetual preferred stocks like STRF and STRD.

Michael Saylor highlights the yield gap here, STRF at 9.1% for safer profiles versus STRD's 12.7% for higher risk, underscoring how these instruments enable sustained BTC buys while maintaining capital structure resilience even in 90% drawdowns.

Meanwhile, Polychain Capital's $110M PIPE into Berachain via Greenlane Holdings kickstarts a BERA-focused treasury strategy, blending public equity with onchain reserves to leverage Berachain's Proof-of-Liquidity model.

For our readers managing portfolios, these moves signal a maturing treasury playbook: ETH for growth potential, BTC for store-of-value dominance, and emerging L1s like Berachain for DeFi innovation.

Valuations remain attractive post-correction, but monitor dilution risks from ongoing equity raises, Bitmine trades at a slight NAV premium, while Strategy's shares lag BTC's YTD performance despite $23.7B in unrealized gains.

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Now, let's continue with the top stories of the day.

The intersection of crypto and AI is heating up, with miners and protocols reallocating resources to capture the compute surge.

CleanSpark's pivot stands out: the Bitcoin miner is expanding into AI data centers, hiring ex-Humain exec Jeffrey Thomas to lead large-scale facilities for enterprise clients, leveraging its Georgia power assets and vertical integration for "giga-campus" builds.

This mirrors a broader miner trend, think Bitfarms or Galaxy, where AI valuations (up to $8M/MW) dwarf mining's $3M/MW, potentially unlocking massive reratings as firms diversify beyond BTC halvings and volatility.

On the fundraising front, Tempo's $500M Series A at a $5B valuation, led by Greenoaks and Thrive with Sequoia and Ribbit, positions it as a payments-optimized blockchain bridging fintech and crypto rails, incubated by Stripe and Paradigm, it's less DeFi-focused and more on compliant, high-throughput transactions.

OpenSea's Q1 2026 SEA token launch adds NFT flavor, allocating 50% to community with staking tied to listings and 50% revenue to buybacks, evolving the platform into a cross-chain onchain trading hub amid $2.6B monthly volume.

These developments highlight infrastructure as crypto's next frontier: AI for compute efficiency, payments for real-world adoption, and NFTs for user-owned economies.

Investors should eye Tempo's Stripe synergies (post-Bridge acquisition) and OpenSea's shift from pure NFTs, but beware overvaluation risks in a crowded VC landscape with $16B Q3 inflows.

Markets are rebounding with Bitcoin reclaiming $110K+ (up 3.7% in 24 hours), dragging ETH, SOL, XRP, and others 3-5% higher amid correlations to record Japanese shares and softer U.S. tariffs under Trump.

This follows an 18% correction from $126K highs, now entering a reaccumulation phase per analysts: institutional demand holds firm, with corporates upping BTC holdings 8.4% monthly to 4M coins, buoyed by Fed easing bets (two cuts eyed by year-end) despite dollar strength and thin liquidity.

Onchain, long-term holders (6-12 months) are the main sell-side force, realizing $1.7B daily profits and $430M losses in capitulation, revived supply hit $2.9B/day, but RVT ratio dips signal bull prep as coins move actively.

Chainlink's 14% surge underscores whale conviction: 30 new wallets scooped $116M LINK since the crash, bolstering its oracle dominance (62% market share, $62B TVS) via RWA pilots with Swift and DTCC.

Citi's report amplifies this, forecasting stablecoins to $1.9-4T by 2030 as crypto's growth engine, USDT/USDC lead as EM store-of-value tools, minimally disrupting banks but pressuring lending like 1980s MMFs.

For natives, this paints a constructive setup: BTC dominance at 59.7%, alts in limbo, but bullish derivatives and macro tailwinds suggest rotation potential. Watch ETF outflows as contrarian buys, but internal holder dynamics could cap upside short-term, position for volatility with hedges on tariff risks.

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That's all for today. Let's talk tomorrow.