Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin Price Crashes to $109,000 Then Rebounds as Jerome Powell Stays Neutral on Future Cuts

Bitcoin’s price fell to $109,000 Wednesday afternoon after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled that additional rate cuts may not follow in December. Since then, Bitcoin price has leveled near $111,000.

The drop came shortly after the central bank reduced its benchmark interest rate by 0.25 percentage points to a target range of 3.75%–4%.

The cut — the Fed’s second of 2025 after a move in September — ended a long stretch of rate holds. The policy shift is intended to lower borrowing costs and support economic activity. But Powell’s comments that further cuts are not guaranteed this year sparked selling across risk assets.

Before the announcement, Bitcoin traded near $116,000 on Monday and briefly dipped below $111,000 early Tuesday. The price briefly bounced on the news before sliding again as Powell spoke. Bitcoin is currently trading near $111,200, according to Bitcoin Magazine Pro data.

During the press conference, as Jerome Powell said that December’s rate cuts aren’t guaranteed, Bitcoin’s price immediately reacted — plunging to $109,000 in a sharp red candle before quickly recovering. The broader crypto market reacted similarly. 

Powell said that inflation excluding the impact of tariffs is “not so far” from the central bank’s 2% target, but emphasized that policymakers have “not made a decision about December.” Powell noted that officials held “strongly differing views” during today’s meeting. 

Following his remarks, markets sharply trimmed expectations for another rate cut this year. Fed funds futures now price a 71% chance of a December cut, down from about 90% earlier in the day, according to CME data and on prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket.

The two-year Treasury yield jumped 9 basis points as traders reassessed the Fed’s near-term trajectory.

Historically, Bitcoin has reacted sharply to monetary-policy changes. After the Fed’s emergency cuts in March 2020, Bitcoin plunged nearly 39% before recovering. When the Fed cut in September 2025, market reaction was limited — suggesting expectations were already priced in.

Bitcoin price as Fed signals end of Quantitative Tightening

Powell also said the central bank is approaching the end of its Quantitative Tightening program, confirming the Fed expects to stop QT by December. This involves letting some holdings of Treasuries and mortgage securities run off the balance sheet as they mature, rather than reinvesting the principal.

QT reduces liquidity by shrinking the Fed’s balance sheet through allowing government bonds to mature without reinvestment or by selling them into the market. 

The process has been underway since 2022, removing nearly $1 trillion in securities as part of efforts to fight inflation.

JUST IN: Federal Reserve announces it will stop shrinking it's balance sheet on December 1 pic.twitter.com/1SYilnW1cA

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) October 29, 2025

Ending QT would stop that drain on liquidity — a shift many analysts believe could eventually support flows into risk assets, including Bitcoin. 

Powell warned, however, that policy will remain dependent on economic data, adding further uncertainty to market expectations.

This post Bitcoin Price Crashes to $109,000 Then Rebounds as Jerome Powell Stays Neutral on Future Cuts first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

Federal Reserve Cuts Interest Rates by 25 Basis Points, Ends Quantitative Tightening

The Federal Reserve cuts its benchmark interest rate by 0.25% today to 3.75%-4% The last time the Federal Reserve cut rates was in September 2025.

The cut in September was their first rate cut of the year, following a period of rate holds.  

In general, the Fed lowers borrowing costs for consumers and businesses, aiming to stimulate spending and investment. At the same time, some feel that a rate cut signals underlying economic weakness.

Yesterday, Bitcoin was trading at $116,000 yesterday but since slumped down to under $111,000 earlier today. Bitcoin’s price slightly jumped to the high $111,000s as the news came out. It is currently trading at $111,470.

Historically, bitcoin responds to monetary‑policy shifts. For example, after the Fed’s emergency cuts in March 2020, Bitcoin plunged nearly 39 % before rebounding strongly. 

More recently, when the Fed cut rates in September 2025, Bitcoin’s reaction was muted, suggesting markets may have priced in the move.

Federal Reserve to stop Quantitative Tightening 

Chair Powell also said that the central bank is approaching the end of its Quantitative Tightening (QT) program, a move that could provide a boost to risk assets, including bitcoin. The Fed said they will stop QT by December, according to reports. 

While Powell has previously flagged that the Fed is nearing this stage, uncertainty from the ongoing government shutdown complicated the outlook. With QT concluding, markets should respond positively.

JUST IN: Federal Reserve announces it will stop shrinking it's balance sheet on December 1 pic.twitter.com/1SYilnW1cA

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) October 29, 2025

Quantitative Tightening is the Federal Reserve’s tool for shrinking its balance sheet and reducing liquidity in financial markets. It operates in contrast to Quantitative Easing (QE), which expands the Fed’s balance sheet to stimulate economic activity. 

QT typically involves selling government bonds or allowing them to mature without reinvestment, actions that increase bond supply, push yields higher, and raise borrowing costs for consumers and businesses. 

Higher interest rates generally reduce spending and borrowing, helping control inflation and prevent the economy from overheating.

A related process, tapering, slows the pace of QE asset purchases but does not actively shrink the balance sheet. 

The Fed notably implemented QT in 2022, letting nearly $1 trillion in securities mature to curb inflation after prior QE programs had massively expanded the balance sheet. While effective at cooling inflation, QT carries risks, including market volatility and potential economic instability.

The end of QT halts the draining of liquidity from the market, which could free up capital to flow into risk-sensitive assets, like bitcoin and other crypto.

This post Federal Reserve Cuts Interest Rates by 25 Basis Points, Ends Quantitative Tightening first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

MSTR’s Michael Saylor Predicts Bitcoin Will Hit $150,000 by Year-End, Expects $1 Million Within 8 Years

At Money 20/20 in Las Vegas, Michael Saylor gave a familiar, bullish sentiment for Bitcoin, predicting it could hit $150,000 by the end of 2025 and potentially reach $1 million within the next four to eight years. 

Speaking to CNBC, Saylor outlined both the industry-wide shifts in digital assets and the evolving investment products his company is offering, framing them as key drivers for institutional adoption.

Saylor highlighted a milestone for Strategy: the company recently received its first credit rating from S&P — B-minus — making it the first Bitcoin-focused treasury company to be rated.

“It’s a very auspicious start because it represents institutional adoption of Bitcoin-backed credit,” he said, noting that this rating opens the door to hundreds of billions, if not trillions, of dollars in capital that previously would not invest in unrated instruments.

Strategy for different investor profiles

Strategy has a 70% chance of joining the S&P 500 before year-end, according to 10X Research. Its upcoming Q3 2025 earnings, expected Thursday, could show a $3.8 billion gain from fair-value Bitcoin accounting.

Saylor also detailed Strategy’s suite of digital credit instruments, designed to appeal to varying risk appetites. 

Strike, Strife, Stride, and Stretch offer combinations of principal protection, dividends, and yields from roughly 8% to 12.5%, each tailored to different investor profiles — from those seeking amplified Bitcoin exposure to conservative investors needing low-volatility returns. 

Uniquely, these instruments generate tax-free dividends structured as a return of capital, giving investors an effective yield comparable to 16–20% on a tax-equivalent basis. “A treasury company built on Bitcoin is the most tax-efficient fixed income generator in the world,” Saylor said.

Saylor also underscored the growing acceptance of Bitcoin within traditional finance. Major U.S. banks, including JP Morgan, Bank of America, and BNY Mellon, are now beginning to offer loans collateralized by Bitcoin, while some are moving toward custodying Bitcoin outright. 

“The train has left the station,” Saylor said. “Everybody’s moving forward.” 

He argued that the evolving infrastructure, supported by pro-crypto policies from the White House, Treasury, SEC, and CFTC, has created “probably the best 12 months in the history of the industry.”

Saylor sees Bitcoin at $150,000 by EOY

Looking at the broader digital economy, Saylor emphasized the dual role of Bitcoin and digital assets. Bitcoin serves as a long-term store of value — digital capital — while stablecoins and other tokenized currencies act as medium-of-exchange instruments in an increasingly AI-driven financial landscape. 

Regarding market trends, Saylor acknowledged the volatility in Bitcoin has moderated as the industry matures, offering more derivatives and hedging instruments. 

Analysts covering Strategy and the Bitcoin sector, he said, largely expect the cryptocurrency to reach $150,000 by year-end, with longer-term potential for $1 million per coin. 

Over the next two decades, Saylor forecasts Bitcoin could appreciate by roughly 30% annually.

This post MSTR’s Michael Saylor Predicts Bitcoin Will Hit $150,000 by Year-End, Expects $1 Million Within 8 Years first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

Tether Is Buying Bitcoin’s Revolution, How Devastating Will The Consequences Be?

At a Glance

• The GENIUS Act in the U.S. gave private stablecoin issuers a legal framework while stalling a government issued CBDC.
• Tether, issuer of USDT, earned record profits and became one of the largest private holders of U.S. Treasuries.
• The company’s cooperation with regulators and law-enforcement shows how stablecoins function as compliance rails, not as alternatives to them.
• Many Bitcoin advocates now align with Tether’s ecosystem, unintentionally helping extend the fiat system they claim to resist.

Bitcoin’s Quiet Compromise

When the GENIUS Act became law on 18 July 2025, the crypto industry celebrated it as the end of regulatory uncertainty. The Act requires licensed stablecoin issuers to hold liquid reserves such as cash and U.S. Treasuries, publish monthly disclosures, and submit to federal or state supervision. At the same time, Congress shelved a federal central bank digital currency.

Supporters saw this as a victory for innovation, but critics called it a quiet federalization of private money. The United States no longer needs to issue its own digital dollar. It has simply delegated that function to private issuers operating under oversight. For Bitcoiners, whose movement was built around sound, decentralised money, that shift should have triggered alarm bells.

Tether’s Private Empire

The biggest beneficiary of this new framework is Tether Limited, whose USDT token dominates global stablecoin supply. In its Q2 2025 attestation, Tether Limited reported a net profit of approximately $4.9 billion and total exposure to U.S. Treasuries exceeding $127 billion. Treasury bills and reverse repo holdings. Its balance sheet showed nearly $120 billion in Treasuries, making Tether one of the world’s largest private holders of U.S. government debt.

Custody of those assets rests with Cantor Fitzgerald, the Wall Street firm led by Howard Lutnick. Lutnick has publicly defended the soundness of Tether’s reserves, confirming Cantor’s role as custodian while emphasizing that it holds no equity stake in the company. 

The connection is now more delicate: Lutnick was later nominated for a senior White House economic position overseeing elements of trade and financial regulation. That appointment places a federal policymaker in proximity to one of the largest private holders of U.S. government debt and the key custodian for a company whose dollar backed token depends on the U.S. Treasuries for profit. The optics are uncomfortable. What began as a business relationship now blurs into a potential conflict of interest, embedding Tether in Wall Street’s plumbing and within the political apparatus that governs it.

In effect, Tether has become a private central bank: issuing dollar liabilities, earning seigniorage, and distributing liquidity through the crypto economy, all while piggy backing on U.S. sovereign debt. Its profit per employee rivals the most profitable institutions in finance.

Surveillance by Proxy

Stablecoins promise fast, borderless payments; however, their architecture depends on compliance. Since December 2023, Tether has maintained a proactive wallet-freezing policy for addresses sanctioned by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control. The company says it has frozen billions in tokens linked to illicit activity and now works directly with the U.S. Secret Service and FBI. 

This is not inherently sinister, it’s what regulators demand, but it means enforcement now operates within the money itself. The control lever no longer sits solely with banks, it resides in the smart contract of the token issuer.

As Tether expands USDT onto Bitcoin adjacent networks such as Liquid and the RGB protocol, the same compliance logic will travel with it. The more Bitcoin infrastructure hosts these tokens, the more identity, KYC, and whitelisting mechanisms will appear around Bitcoin wallets and payment channels. The network that once prided itself on neutrality risks becoming a conduit for surveillance grade rails.

The Political Economy of the Digital Dollar

The GENIUS Act’s passage also realigned the politics of digital currency. Its sponsors framed it as an anti-CBDC measure, arguing that private stablecoins preserve choice and limit government power. However, the result is nearly identical to what a central bank digital currency would achieve: programmable, trackable dollars, only administered by corporations instead of the Fed. Some analysts have called this the birth of a “CBDC by proxy.”

The policy also meshes neatly with fiscal priorities. Every USDT minted represents demand for short dated Treasuries, effectively financing the same government that stablecoin advocates claim to bypass. Tether’s profits flow from the interest rate paid on those securities, an invisible subsidy from public debt to private issuers.

By situating stablecoins within the traditional bond market, the U.S. has created a dollar based feedback loop: bitcoin demand supports Treasury issuance, and Treasury yields support bitcoin profitability. In that loop, decentralization is incidental.

Co-opting the Bitcoin Narrative

Within the Bitcoin community, opposition to altcoins remains strong, but sponsorships, event partnerships, and integrations show how quickly principle bends toward funding. Bitcoin conferences increasingly feature Tether executives and supporters on stage, often framed as “bridges” to adoption. 

A familiar refrain has emerged among those bitcoiners who take money from Tether,  ‘if stablecoins are inevitable, it’s better they be run by Bitcoiners’. Another popular defence is that Tether provides a lifeline for people in countries locked out of the dollar system or suffering from hyperinflation and collapsing economies. This is an emotionally persuasive narrative.  These convenient mantras turn compromise into virtue, allowing Bitcoiners to take sponsorships and funding from the same system they once swore to oppose.

That logic may offer comfort to some, but erodes clarity. USDT on Bitcoin does not make Bitcoin more sovereign; it makes the dollar more omnipresent. When Bitcoin developers or advocates align with Tether for sponsorship or exposure, they lend moral legitimacy to a system that thrives on fiat’s dominance. The irony is that Bitcoin’s fiercest defenders are now helping entrench the very structure it was built to escape.

Follow the Money

Tether’s scale gives it power in markets and in messaging. With billions in annual profits and deep links to Wall Street custodians, it can sponsor conferences, fund research, and influence narratives across the digital asset world. Its executives appear frequently at policy forums to present stablecoins as allies of innovation and freedom. Each appearance helps normalise the idea that regulated, dollar denominated tokens represent progress for Bitcoin.

But the money tells a different story. Each stablecoin transaction that settles in USDT extends the dollar system’s reach and perpetuates the weaponization of money. Every layer of compliance embeds surveillance deeper into the blockchain economy. And every Bitcoiner who accepts that trade off helps build a network where decentralization endures mostly as branding.

Bitcoin doesn’t need a conspiracy against it; it only needs its followers to forget what made it different. The GENIUS Act, the rise of Tether, and the regulatory preference for private rails all point to a future where digital cash exists, but never without permission. The Trojan horse is not Tether, it’s the belief that working with it preserves freedom.

In the end, too many Bitcoiners remain exactly where Tether wants them, still tethered to the system they are trying to escape.

This is a guest post by Plain Memo. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.

This post Tether Is Buying Bitcoin’s Revolution, How Devastating Will The Consequences Be? first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Plain Memo.

Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin Holds Its Breath as Fed Looks to Cut Rates

Bitcoin price’s recent rally yesterday ran into resistance just above $116,000, settling under $113,000 at the time of writing, as traders weigh broader macroeconomic signals ahead of today’s Federal Reserve announcement. 

The cryptocurrency market’s total capitalization has retreated 1.4% over the past 24 hours to $3.81 trillion, according to Bitcoin Magazine Pro data, even as U.S. equities continue to reach fresh highs.

Attention, both in the bitcoin and broader markets, is squarely on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) rate decision coming later today, widely expected to deliver a 25-basis-point cut to the benchmark interest rate. 

Cooler-than-expected consumer price inflation last week and a slowing labor market have fueled expectations for this reduction, with markets seeming to be pricing in nearly two more cuts by year-end. 

Lower interest rates historically boost risk appetite, including demand for bitcoin, by reducing yields on cash and bonds and increasing liquidity in financial markets.

However, the immediate impact of today’s rate cut may be muted, as it may be already priced in. 

Investors will be scrutinizing Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s press conference for guidance on the future trajectory of monetary policy. 

A key question remains whether the Fed will signal an end to its Quantitative Tightening program, a dovish move that could inject further upside momentum into risk assets. Powell has previously indicated that the Fed is nearing this stage, though uncertainty from the ongoing government shutdown could cloud the outlook. If Quantitative Tightening ends, bitcoin should react positively.

Complicating matters, the U.S. labor market exhibits signs of weakness despite low unemployment, with average job search durations remaining historically long and hiring activity subdued. 

Inflation remains above the Fed’s 2% target, partly due to lingering tariffs. 

Institutional Bitcoin demand

Institutional demand for bitcoin remains supportive. BTC ETFs have recorded consistent net inflows, with $202.4 million added on Tuesday alone, reflecting growing confidence in the asset among professional investors. 

On the technical side, bitcoin continues to hold above a rising trendline dating back to May, with immediate resistance at $114,500 and support at $112,000.

A break above the former could target $120,000, while a slip below the latter may see a pullback toward $106,500.

As the Fed’s decision approaches, bitcoin remains at the crossroads of macroeconomic policy, technical positioning, and investor sentiment. 

At the time of writing, bitcoin is trading at $111,200.

This post Bitcoin Holds Its Breath as Fed Looks to Cut Rates first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

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Germany Proposes National Bitcoin Reserve, Views Bitcoin as ‘State-Free’ Money

Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has introduced a proposal to create a national Bitcoin reserve. 

The initiative marks a potential turning point for Europe’s largest economy, which only a year ago was criticized for liquidating billions in seized Bitcoin holdings.

The motion, which needs to be approved, would make Germany the first major European nation to integrate Bitcoin directly into its national reserves, signaling a growing shift in Europe toward viewing Bitcoin not as a speculative asset, but as a sovereign reserve instrument. 

AfD’s vision for a Bitcoin as “state-free money”

The AfD’s motion, submitted last week, calls on the federal government to begin accumulating Bitcoin as part of its long-term reserve strategy. 

The proposal argues that the EU’s MiCA framework was designed for centrally issued tokens and should not apply to Bitcoin, which has no issuer or central authority. 

It urges the government to avoid regulatory burdens on non-custodial wallet providers and Lightning node operators, maintain Germany’s tax exemption on Bitcoin held for more than a year, and ensure that private mining or Lightning activity is not classified as commercial. 

The AfD frames Bitcoin as “state-free money” that protects individual freedom in contrast to the planned digital euro, which it warns could enable surveillance and control.

JUST IN: Germany’s second-largest party, AfD, introduced a motion to build a #Bitcoin reserve. pic.twitter.com/TeM4yUoIVe

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) October 29, 2025

In the proposal’s Section I, point 5, the AfD criticizes the German government for failing to recognize Bitcoin’s strategic potential, specifically noting that Berlin has not considered holding Bitcoin as part of its national reserves. 

Later in the explanatory section, the document expands on this idea, describing Bitcoin as “Outside Money” and suggesting that, in times of global monetary and geopolitical instability, it could serve as a “potential, easily transferable asset within state currency reserves.”

The motion marks the first formal attempt in Germany’s legislature to position Bitcoin as a strategic national asset.

Germany: From seller to ‘hodler’

The proposal comes less than a year after the German government completed one of the largest state-level Bitcoin selloffs in history.

Between June and July 2024, German authorities sold nearly 50,000 BTC — originally seized from the operators of the piracy site Movie2k.to — worth about $3 billion at the time. 

The selloff triggered a market correction of roughly 18% and drew heavy criticism from the Bitcoin community, which argued that Germany squandered a chance to hold a scarce, appreciating asset.

By mid-July 2024, blockchain data confirmed that wallets linked to the German government were empty, after sending the final tranches of Bitcoin to exchanges and market makers.

A European race for Bitcoin sovereignty

Germany’s move follows closely on the heels of France, where the center-right Union of the Right and Centre (UDR) party, led by lawmaker Éric Ciotti, introduced an ambitious bill to create a “National Bitcoin Strategic Reserve.”

The French proposal targets 2% of Bitcoin’s supply — approximately 420,000 BTC — over a seven-to-eight-year period. It would fund accumulation through surplus energy-powered Bitcoin mining, reallocation of savings programs, and even partial tax payments in Bitcoin.

While both France’s and Germany’s initiatives face significant political hurdles, the timing underscores a recognition in Europe that Bitcoin could serve as a tool for financial sovereignty.

If the momentum continues, Europe could soon find itself not debating whether to hold Bitcoin — but who will hold it first.

This post Germany Proposes National Bitcoin Reserve, Views Bitcoin as ‘State-Free’ Money first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

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From Stealth to Scale: Fedi Unveils Multi-Sig Guardians for Federated Bitcoin E-Cash Mints

Fedi, the Bitcoin company building on top of the open source Fedimint protocol — a privacy-centric bitcoin payments method using Chaumian e-cash — is emerging from a period of quiet development to announce a new groundbreaking feature. Set for release today, this new capability within the Fedi app aims to make the creation of multi-signature e-cash mints easy, private, and secure for communities worldwide with just a few clicks, aligning with cypherpunk principles of decentralization and user sovereignty.

Built into their increasingly popular Android and iOS apps, the new release allows users to easily create a new Fedimint federation with the help of G-bot, a friendly chatbot interface. Mint founders need to pay a basic service fee, add some basic information in minutes for the mint, and wait a few hours. 

The G-bot then finds trusted anonymous Guardians to help form the user’s mint federation. This process decentralizes the custody of the mint’s bitcoin reserves — needed to operate an e-cash mint. It also helps prevent collusion as mint operators are anonymous from each other and would need to reveal themselves publicly to be able to find other key holders to collude. 

This Fedimint protocol is fundamentally built on privacy, a cornerstone of Bitcoin and the cypherpunk movement. “The first line of the Cypherpunk Manifesto is that privacy is necessary for an open society in the electronic age. It’s not nice to have. It’s not convenient. It’s necessary.” Obi Nwosu, CEO of Fedi, told Bitcoin Magazine in an exclusive interview. He added a cautionary warning about the future, which the world would be wise to avoid: “Bitcoin without privacy is our worst nightmare. It’s 1984 coin, it’s the panopticoin.” 

Founded in 2022, Fedi has been quietly working to deliver the promises of private digital cash to the world, based on one of the most promising technologies designed for that purpose, David Chaum’s 1982 Chaumian e-cash. This form of digital money almost made it into every copy of Windows 1995, proof of its scalability and efficiency, but ironically failed due to its centralization, as Chaum and Gates reportedly could not reach a final agreement on the deal. 

Fast forward 30 years, and the Bitcoin community has taken on the challenge of bringing private digital cash to the world, leveraging new possibilities unlocked by the Bitcoin network, which may solve the fundamental trade-off of Chaumian e-cash, the need to trust a single counterparty mint that issues and redeems the e-cash bills for the underlying currency. 

It is interesting to note that Bitcoin was designed as a solution to the fundamental trade-offs of e-cash. While e-cash relies on a trusted server to approve transactions that are properly funded, it can do so without knowing any personal user information, since the system is fundamentally built on cryptography and not identity. It nevertheless requires a trusted server, which can in theory emit more e-cash bills than it has reserves for, a form of the ‘double spending problem’ Satoshi Nakamoto sought to address in his Bitcoin white paper. 

Centralized e-cash mints can also be more easily harassed by hostile governments, as the pre-Bitcoin history of digital cash shows. Bitcoin decentralized the mint by distributing the accounting process the mint does with the invention of the Bitcoin node, anyone that runs a node has a copy of all bitcoin transactions and can independently verify the accounting integrity of the system, thus solving the ‘double spending problem’. 

The downside of Bitcoin’s approach is that it leaves a public record of all transactions, which is not great for privacy, and has hard theoretical limits in terms of how many transactions it can process per second — it is not very scalable — two limits which the e-cash systems do not have. 

The downsides of centralized cryptocurrency platforms are something that Nwosu has deep professional experience with; he was the founder and CEO of Coinfloor, a centralized cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2014. The exchange was the “First ‘Publicly Auditable’ Bitcoin Exchange” according to a 2014 Coindesk, through an innovative auditing process called proof of reserves. Recalling back on his experience with the matter, Nwosu said, “Being solvent is a very big thing for me as well as being able to prove that cryptographically, if possible”. That experience and his concern over a future without private digital cash are clear motivations for why he co-founded Fedi. 

Creating scalable, decentralized, private digital cash, however, is not easy, neither technically nor politically. To solve this fundamental problem of finance and computer science, many in the Bitcoin community have been looking for ways to combine the benefits of Bitcoin and Chaumian e-cash in order to solve — or at least mitigate — the downsides of both systems. The Fedimint protocol’s most important innovation in this field is the development of federated e-cash mints, leveraging the security of Bitcoin’s native smart contract capabilities, especially multi-signature transactions. 

Bitcoin’s multi-signature script enables something new in finance, a transaction that can only be executed if more than one party agrees to sign. Banks may have shared accounts across multiple parties, but those are rules enforced by lawyers, who need to comply with local laws, ultimately giving final say to the local government. Bitcoin, by contrast, defends the integrity of a multi-signature with the full weight of its international proof of work network, making these agreements as good as gold and unlocking a new kind of federated financial institution. The Liquid Network, as well as Bitcoin’s Lightning Network, exists only thanks to this multi-signature technology.

Fedimint takes multi-signature to the next level, making the members unknown to each other through the G-bot, protecting users of that mint from the collusion of the guardians while also adding redundancy to the custody of mint bitcoin reserves, which makes hacks more difficult. Fedimint also protects Guardians from accidental loss of keys, as a threshold of Guardians can restore the stability of a federation, say 3 out of 4 signers, in case one loses their keys or gets compromised, on the topic Nwosu said “the bigger risk isn’t collusion but users forgetting passwords, which federations mitigate since the system continues if one guardian fails.”

Ultimately, Nwosu expects there to be “tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of federations, each with a different set of users using it.” These mints connect to each other using the Bitcoin standard and its various payment rails such as onchain Bitcoin and the Lightning Network “offering cryptographic privacy within each federation. Even when sending between federations via Lightning, privacy remains high because users are interchangeable within pools. No single point of trust or failure.” 

One common critique of e-cash systems, even post Bitcoin, is regarding self-custody. Critics argue that e-cash, even in a federated network, is nevertheless a custodial trusted system of money, and on this topic, Nwosu had a particularly powerful insight: “If you have self-custody and no privacy, you don’t have self-sovereignty because someone knows exactly what you’re doing and can confiscate your money at any point.” Because e-cash does not leave an on-chain footprint, it can be fundamentally more private than any blockchain. 

This post From Stealth to Scale: Fedi Unveils Multi-Sig Guardians for Federated Bitcoin E-Cash Mints first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Juan Galt.

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Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin Knots Has Been Nothing More Than A Denial-of-Service Attack On Bitcoin

In computing, a denial-of-service attack (DoS attack; UK: /dɒs/ doss US: /dɑːs/ daas^[1]) is a cyberattack in which the perpetrator seeks to make a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users by temporarily or indefinitely disrupting services of a host connected to a network. -The Wikipedia definition of denial-of-service attack. 

This is a very basic concept. Someone makes use of their own resources to disrupt the functioning of other machines on a network. 

DoS attacks have been an issue for as long as the internet existed. One of the commonly argued “first Distributed Denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks” was against the Internet Service Provider (ISP) Panix in the mid-90s. There were of course many prior technical examples on older internet services, but this was one of, if not the, first major examples of such an attack on the modern World Wide Web. 

This attack had numerous computers start to initiate a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) connection with the ISPs servers, but never finishing the handshake protocol that finalized the connection. This consumes the server’s resources for managing network connections and prevents honest users from accessing the internet through the ISP’s servers. 

Ever since this “initial” DDoS attack, they have been as common on the internet as storms are in nature, a regular occurrence that massive pieces of internet infrastructure have been built to defend against. 

The Blockchain

The blockchain is one of the core components of Bitcoin, and a required dependency for Bitcoin’s functionality as a distributed ledger. I am sure many people in this space would call so-called “spam” transactions a DoS attack on the Bitcoin blockchain. In order to call it that, you would have to define the “service” that the blockchain is offering as a system, and explain how spam transactions are denying that service to others in a way not intended by the design of the system. 

I’d wager a bet that most people who believe spam is a DoS attack would say something like “the service the blockchain offers is processing financial transactions, and spam takes space away from people trying to do that.” The problem is, that is not specifically the service the blockchain offers. 

The service it actually offers is the confirmation of any consensus valid transaction through a real-time auction that periodically settles whenever a miner finds a block. If your transaction is consensus valid, and you have bid a high enough fee for a miner to include your transaction in a block, you are using the service the blockchain provides exactly as designed. 

This was a conscious design decision made over years during the “Block Size Wars” and finalized in the activation of Segregated Witness and the rejection of the Segwit2x blocksize increase through a hard fork pushed by major companies at the time.  The blockchain would function by prioritizing the highest bidding fee transactions, and users would be free to compete in that auction. This is how blockspace would be allocated, with a global restriction to protect verifiability and a free market pricing mechanism. 

Nothing about a transaction some arbitrarily define as “spam” winning in this open auction is a DoS of the blockchain. It is a user making use of that resource in the way they are supposed to, participating in the auction with everyone else. 

The Relay Network

Many, if not most, Bitcoin nodes offer transaction relay as a service to the rest of the network. If you broadcast your transactions to your peers on the network, they will forward them on to their peers, and so on. Because the peering logic deciding which nodes to peer with maintains wide connectivity, this service allows transactions to propagate across the network very quickly, and specifically allows them to propagate to all mining nodes. 

Another service is block relay, propagating valid blocks as they are found in the same manner. This has been highly optimized over the years, to the point where most of the time an entire block is never actually relayed, just a shorthand “sketch” of the blockheader and the transactions included in it so you can reconstruct them from your own mempool. In other words, optimizations in block relay depend on a transaction relay functioning properly and propagating all valid and likely to be mined transactions. 

When nodes do not have transactions in a block already in their mempool, they must request them from neighboring nodes, taking more time to validate the block in the process. They also explicitly forward those transactions along with the block sketch to other peers in case they are missing them, wasting bandwidth. The more nodes filtering transactions they classify as spam, the longer it takes blocks including those filtered transactions to propagate across the network. 

Transaction filtering actively seeks to disrupt both of these services, in the case of transaction relay failing miserably to prevent them from propagating to miners, and in the case of block propagation having a marginal but noticeable performance degradation the more nodes on the network are filtering transactions. 

These node policies have the explicit purpose of degrading the network service of propagating transactions to miners and the rest of the network, and view the degradation of block propagation as a penalty to miners who choose to include valid transactions they are filtering. They seek to create a degradation of service as a goal, and view the degradation of another service resulting from that attempt as a positive. 

This actually is a DoS attack, in that it actually is degrading a network service contrary to the design of the system. 

Where From Here?

The entire saga of Knotz vs. Core, or “Spammers” vs. “Filterers”, has been nothing more than a miserably ineffective and failed DoS attack on the Bitcoin network. Filters do absolutely nothing to prevent filtered transactions from being included in blocks. The goal of disrupting transaction propagation to miners has had no success whatsoever, and the degradation of block relay has been marginal enough to not be a disincentive to miners. 

I see this as a huge demonstration of Bitcoin’s robustness and resilience against attempted censorship and disruption on the level of the Bitcoin Network itself. 

So now what?

A BIP by an anonymous author has been put forward to enact a temporary softfork that would expire after roughly a year making numerous ways to include “spam” in Bitcoin transactions consensus invalid through that time period. After realizing the DoS attack on the peer-to-peer network has been a total failure, filter supporters have moved to consensus changes, as many of them were told would be necessary over two years ago. 

Will this actually solve the problem? No, it won’t. It will simply force people who wish to submit “spam” to this forked network, if they actually follow through on implementing it, to use fake ScriptPubKeys to encode their data in unspendable outputs that will bloat the UTXO set. 

So even if this fork was met with resounding support, activated successfully, and did not result in a chainsplit, it would still not achieve the stated goal and leave “spammers” no option but to “spam” in the most damaging way to the network possible.

This post Bitcoin Knots Has Been Nothing More Than A Denial-of-Service Attack On Bitcoin first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Shinobi.

Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin Price Crashes to $112,000 Ahead of Fed Decision, Markets Eye U.S.-China Talks

Bitcoin price continued its semi-green week for a bit today trading above $115,000 today and briefly reaching $116,077. Since then, bitcoin’s price has dumped to the mid $112,000s, according to Bitcoin Magazine Pro data.

This bitcoin price movement comes as traders weigh the Federal Reserve’s upcoming interest-rate decision and renewed optimism in the U.S.-China trade relations.

Data from Bitcoin Magazine Pro showed a 1.6% daily gain for BTC before the dump in late afternoon.

Despite historical trends of Bitcoin pulling back ahead of major U.S. economic events, the cryptocurrency held steady ahead of Wednesday’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, where a 25-basis-point rate cut is widely expected.

Traders remain divided on near-term price targets. Some believe the market may be bottoming and an uptrend could follow for the rest of the week, while others believe $117,000 as a potential pre-Fed local top before BTC revisits the CME futures gap near $111,000.

The broader macro backdrop also supported risk-on assets. Gold fell to under $4,000 per ounce, its lowest since Oct. 6, helping fuel gains in Bitcoin and altcoins.

Bitcoin price enters tight range

Bitcoin’s price has entered one of its tightest trading ranges in history, moving between $106,000 and $123,000 for over four months. This extended calm has driven volatility to record lows on six-month metrics — levels that have historically preceded major directional moves. The weekly Bollinger Band Width, a key volatility indicator, has reached its lowest reading ever, suggesting that a large expansion in volatility could be imminent.

In past cycles, similar compression periods have led to price surges exceeding 65% within 100 days. 

Applying those historical patterns implies a potential target of $170,000–$180,000 by 2026 if Bitcoin follows a comparable trajectory. However, these low-volatility phases can persist for months before breaking out, meaning Bitcoin may continue trading sideways into early 2026.

Corporate crypto buying

Corporate and institutional crypto activity is also making headlines. Japanese hotelier-turned-Bitcoin treasury Metaplanet Inc. announced a $500 million share buyback, while Cathie Wood and Ark Invest increased its holdings in Block Inc. by $30.9 million across three ETFs.

Wood, known for her $1.5 million Bitcoin prediction, is one of the most bullish investors in crypto. Through ARK Invest, she has consistently invested millions in major crypto-related stocks. 

Her firm held positions in Circle Internet Group, Coinbase, Robinhood, and Bitmine Immersion Technologies. 

Recently, ARK expanded its crypto exposure by purchasing about $31 million worth of Block Inc. shares. The ARK Innovation ETF bought 210,916 shares, the ARK Next Generation Internet ETF added 59,827 shares, and the ARK Fintech Innovation ETF acquired 114,842 shares.

This post Bitcoin Price Crashes to $112,000 Ahead of Fed Decision, Markets Eye U.S.-China Talks first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

House Democrat Targets President Trump With Bill to Ban Lawmakers From Owning Crypto

U.S. Congressman Ro Khanna (D-CA) is introducing legislation that would prohibit the U.S. President, members of Congress, and their immediate families from owning, trading, or creating cryptocurrencies while in office, according to MSNBC reporting.

Khanna’s bill would mark the first major attempt to separate digital assets from political power. 

Early details indicate the measure will bar elected officials and their families from holding or issuing cryptocurrencies and from accepting foreign-backed crypto investments. 

The California lawmaker said the initiative aims to rebuild public trust and prevent policymakers from profiting off the very technologies they regulate.

Trump’s Changpeng Zhao pardon 

The proposal follows President Donald Trump’s pardon of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao and seeks to eliminate what Khanna calls “blatant corruption” at the intersection of politics and crypto.

“The pardon of Zhao is corrupt,” Khanna said on MSNBC. “You’ve got a foreign billionaire engaged in money laundering and financing terrorism, who supports the president’s son’s cryptocurrency firm, and then the president pardons him. This is corruption in plain sight.”

Zhao, the co-founder and former CEO of Binance, served four months in prison after pleading guilty to violating U.S. banking laws. 

His company was accused of allowing illicit money flows linked to child exploitation, drug trafficking, and terrorism. Soon after Zhao’s financial backing of World Liberty Financial — the crypto project founded by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump — was revealed, Trump granted him a pardon. 

Khanna’s proposal directly targets that entanglement. By banning crypto ownership and trading among officials, he hopes to draw a clear boundary between public service and private gain. 

The measure mirrors previous calls to ban stock trading by lawmakers and follows Senator Adam Schiff’s COIN Act, which specifically sought to limit the Trump family’s crypto activities.

Insider trading in Congress

Lawmakers have long and repeatedly introduced legislation in hopes to curb insider trading among members of Congress.

The STOCK Act, passed in 2012 with broad bipartisan support, was designed to require members to disclose stock trades within 30 days and penalize those who used insider information for personal gain. 

Earlier this year, The Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments (PELOSI) Act (S.1498) was proposed in the U.S. Senate by Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO). 

The bill addresses concerns about conflicts of interest and potential insider trading among Members of Congress by prohibiting them and their spouses from holding, purchasing, or selling most individual stocks, security futures, commodities, and similar financial instruments while in office. 

This post House Democrat Targets President Trump With Bill to Ban Lawmakers From Owning Crypto first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin Miner TeraWulf (WULF) Stock Jumps 25% on Positive AI News 

Shares of TeraWulf (NASDAQ: WULF) jumped more than 25% Tuesday morning after the company announced a pivot to AI. 

TeraWulf, one of the largest publicly traded bitcoin miners, is accelerating its shift into artificial intelligence infrastructure through a new joint venture with AI cloud provider Fluidstack. 

The companies plan to build 168 megawatts (MW) of high-performance computing capacity at TeraWulf’s Abernathy, Texas, campus under a 25-year hosting agreement valued at roughly $9.5 billion in contracted revenue.

TeraWulf will hold a 51% stake in the venture and retain exclusive rights to participate in Fluidstack’s next ~168 MW project on similar terms. Construction is expected to be completed in the second half of 2026, with the total project costing $8 million to $10 million per MW, the company announced. 

To support project financing, Google has committed to back about $1.3 billion of Fluidstack’s long-term lease obligations, improving the credit profile of the joint venture’s debt structure.

No equity issuance or warrants were included as part of the deal.

The announcement expands TeraWulf’s contracted high-performance compute pipeline to more than 510 MW and supports an updated growth strategy targeting 250 MW to 500 MW of new contracted capacity annually. 

The company, best known for its bitcoin mining operations, has increasingly leaned into AI-focused data center development amid a market shift toward GPU-based compute demand.

“Securing more than 510 MW of critical IT load in the past 10 months provides a direct proof-point of our growth strategy,” CEO Paul Prager said.

Alongside the expansion, TeraWulf reported preliminary third-quarter revenue of $48 million to $52 million — up roughly 84% from a year earlier — and adjusted EBITDA of $15 million to $19 million.

Bitcoin miners are pivoting to AI

Leading Bitcoin mining companies are switching over to AI on top of their mining efforts. Firms like Marathon Digital, Riot Platforms, and CleanSpark are seeing strong stock gains but are also pivoting toward Artificial Intelligence and High-Performance Computing (HPC), leveraging their large-scale energy and data infrastructure. 

This transition positions miners as emerging technology players beyond cryptocurrency, attracting investor interest.

Other companies, including Core Scientific, Bitdeer, and Hut 8, are following suit — Bitcoin miners are becoming key contributors to the AI-driven digital economy while maintaining exposure to Bitcoin.

According to their website, TeraWulf is a U.S.-based digital asset technology company that owns and operates sustainable data centers for high-performance computing (HPC) and bitcoin mining. 

This post Bitcoin Miner TeraWulf (WULF) Stock Jumps 25% on Positive AI News  first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

France Proposes National Bitcoin Reserve, Wants to Buy 2% of Bitcoin Supply

A pro-crypto bill will be tabled today in the French Parliament by the center-right Union of the Right and Centre (UDR) party, led by lawmaker Éric Ciotti, marking the first time such a comprehensive legislative proposal on cryptocurrency has been introduced in France. 

The initiative calls for a national Bitcoin Strategic Reserve and aims to position the cryptocurrency as a form of “digital gold” to strengthen financial sovereignty.

The proposed legislation, which is far from approved, would see France aim to acquire up to 2% of Bitcoin’s total supply — roughly 420,000 BTC — over the next seven to eight years, according to the legislation and according to journalist Gregory Raymond.

To manage the reserve, the bill envisions the creation of a Public Administrative Establishment (EPA), similar in structure to France’s gold and foreign-currency holdings.

Funding for the Bitcoin reserve would come from multiple sources. Surplus nuclear and hydroelectric energy would power public Bitcoin mining operations, with adapted taxation for miners to encourage domestic participation.

BREAKING: French politician Éric Ciotti introduced a bill to adapt “the new monetary order by embracing Bitcoin and crypto.” pic.twitter.com/fS7ILfhPq3

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) October 28, 2025

Back in July, French lawmakers submitted a proposal to convert surplus electricity into economic value through Bitcoin mining. The bill outlined a five-year experimental program allowing energy producers to use excess power — particularly from nuclear and renewable sources — for mining. 

The July initiative aimed to tackle France’s recurring issue of energy overproduction, as producers were often forced to sell surplus electricity at a loss due to limited storage. The proposal described this as an “unacceptable economic and energy loss.” 

This new bill would also allow France to retain crypto seized during legal proceedings, and a quarter of funds collected via popular savings schemes, such as the Livret A and LDDS, would be allocated to daily Bitcoin purchases — approximately 15 million euros per day, or 55,000 BTC per year. 

Pending constitutional approval, citizens could also pay certain taxes in Bitcoin.

France explores stablecoins for payments

The bill also emphasizes the use of euro-denominated stablecoins for everyday payments, recognizing them as a credible alternative to traditional payment networks. 

Transactions under €200 would be exempt from taxation and social contributions, and payment of taxes in euro stablecoins would be allowed. 

The proposal explicitly opposes a European Central Bank-controlled digital euro, arguing that a centralized CBDC could threaten financial freedoms and personal privacy.

To support industry development, the legislation proposes adapting electricity taxation for mining through a progressive excise duty and flexible tariffs for data centers. It also encourages institutional adoption of Bitcoin and other crypto-assets via Exchange Traded Notes (ETNs) and calls for revisions to European prudential rules, which currently impose high risk-weightings on certain crypto-assets, limiting the use of crypto as collateral for “Lombard” loans.

Despite its ambitious scope, the bill faces steep political hurdles. The UDR holds only 16 of 577 seats in the National Assembly, making adoption unlikely without broader support.

This post France Proposes National Bitcoin Reserve, Wants to Buy 2% of Bitcoin Supply first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

SoFi to Launch Bitcoin and Crypto Trading, Eyes Record Year 

SoFi Technologies (NASDAQ: SOFI) raised its full-year profit forecast on Tuesday after reporting record third-quarter results that beat Wall Street expectations, driven by fee revenue and more user growth across its financial products.

CEO Anthony Noto said the company remains on track to launch crypto trading by the end of the year, with plans to roll out its own SoFi USD stablecoin in the first half of 2026 — marking its biggest step yet into the digital asset economy.

SoFi said adjusted revenue climbed 38% year-over-year to $950 million, surpassing analyst estimates of $886.6 million.

This move echoes that of banking giant Morgan Stanley. Earlier this quarter, Morgan Stanley announced plans for crypto trading for retail clients on its E*Trade platform, partnering with Zerohash for liquidity, custody, and settlement. 

Adjusted profit for SoFi more than doubled to $0.11 per share in the three months ended September 30, topping expectations of $0.08 per share. Shares of SoFi rose 3.8% in pre-market trading following the announcement, according to Reuters reporting. 

JUST IN: Fintech giant SoFi to launch #Bitcoin and crypto trading this year. pic.twitter.com/TlnAMa0IFW

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) October 28, 2025

SoFi’s pivot to Bitcoin

Founded as a student loan refinancing startup, SoFi has evolved into a full-scale financial services platform offering products ranging from IPO investing to credit cards and high-yield savings accounts. 

The company now boasts a market capitalization of roughly $36 billion, cementing its position among the leading players in the fintech sector.

Earlier this year in June, SoFi announced that it had reintroduced spot crypto trading and launched plans for a blockchain-based global remittance service after halting crypto services in 2023 due to regulatory constraints. 

The company said SoFi members would again be able to buy, sell, and hold cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin within its platform. 

In addition to reinstating crypto trading, SoFi revealed a new self-serve international money transfer feature, expected to go live soon.

The service would let SoFi Money users send funds across dozens of countries directly from the SoFi app, with transfers conducted over secure blockchain networks. 

Recipients would receive local currency instantly, with full fee and exchange-rate transparency provided upfront and 24/7 access to transactions.

Back in June, CEO Anthony Noto said SoFi viewed blockchain and crypto as central to the future of financial services, emphasizing the company’s goal of offering members more control and flexibility across their financial lives. 

This post SoFi to Launch Bitcoin and Crypto Trading, Eyes Record Year  first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin Price Volatility Hits Record Lows

Bitcoin price is once again testing the patience of traders, moving within one of the tightest percentile price ranges in its history. For more than four months, BTC has traded between roughly $106,000 and $123,000. This period of quiet has pushed volatility to its lowest level ever recorded on six-month metrics. Each time in the past that volatility has fallen to similar depths, it has been followed by a major trending move.

Bitcoin Price Volatility Compression

The current lull stands out even compared to previous phases of consolidation in this cycle. Despite occasional liquidations and sharp wicks, the broader price structure has barely shifted since June. One of the most telling metrics is the weekly Bollinger Band Width — the indicator has now reached its lowest weekly reading ever. In every past instance that Bitcoin’s bands have squeezed to this degree, bitcoin price volatility expansion followed shortly after.

When Bitcoin Price Volatility Returns

Periods of ultra-low volatility have never lasted long. In this cycle alone, there have already been five examples where similar consolidations ended with significant moves exceeding 65% gains within 100 days. Averaging those historical fractals to today’s setup would imply a potential bitcoin price target between $170,000 and $180,000 by 2026 if the next expansion phase mirrors prior behavior.

However, bitcoin price volatility compression does not guarantee immediate upside. Previous examples have shown that these low-volatility periods can extend for several months before a breakout occurs. Bitcoin could continue to trade sideways through late Q1 2026, oscillating within the current range before direction is decided.

Macro Catalysts for Bitcoin Price Volatility

Several macro factors could serve as a catalyst for renewed bitcoin price volatility. The Federal Reserve is expected to announce another rate cut, which markets currently price at near-certainty. Gold’s recent reversal after setting new highs also hints at potential capital rotation. If even a small fraction of that capital migrates toward Bitcoin amid falling rates and renewed risk appetite, the effect could amplify any breakout once volatility expands.

Conclusion: The Next Big Bitcoin Price Move

Volatility naturally declines as Bitcoin matures from a multi-billion to a multi-trillion-dollar asset, but the cyclical nature of expansion and contraction remains. The current compression phase has lasted unusually long, and historically such conditions have preceded powerful multi-month trends.

The final months of 2025 and early 2026 may test this pattern once again. With bitcoin price volatility metrics at record lows, macro conditions turning supportive, and market sentiment subdued, Bitcoin appears poised on the edge of its next major move.

For a more in-depth look into this topic, watch our most recent YouTube video here: Bitcoin Is About To Surprise Everyone.

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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Always do your own research before making any investment decisions.

This post Bitcoin Price Volatility Hits Record Lows first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Matt Crosby.

Bitcoin Magazine

Human Rights Foundation Grants 1 Billion Satoshis to 20 Freedom Tech Projects Worldwide

The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) has announced a new wave of funding through its Bitcoin Development Fund (BDF), distributing 1 billion satoshis to 20 projects around the world. 

The grants, awarded to developers, educators, and activists spanning Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Europe, aim to strengthen Bitcoin’s role as a tool for human freedom and resistance to financial repression.

HRF has a mission to empower the more than 5.9 million people living under authoritarian regimes through open-source technologies that enable private communication, censorship-resistant finance, and decentralized coordination. 

Since launching the Bitcoin Development Fund in 2020, HRF has provided more than $9.6 million in Bitcoin to 319 projects across 62 countries. 

The foundation’s approach merges human rights advocacy with technical development, supporting builders who are creating practical tools for dissidents, journalists, and ordinary citizens in repressive environments.

“Bitcoin is more than just a monetary innovation,” HRF said in a statement. “It’s a survival mechanism for billions of people living without political or economic freedom.”

This round of grants supports projects advancing everything from core Bitcoin development and mining decentralization to regional education and financial autonomy programs. Each reflects a piece of a larger puzzle: a global freedom technology ecosystem built on Bitcoin’s permissionless infrastructure.

Human Rights Foundation Grant Recipients

Nymius: Bitcoin’s transparent ledger is essential to its design, but it also exposes dissidents to surveillance from authoritarian states seeking to monitor transactions and networks. Silent Payments enables individuals to receive Bitcoin through unique, one-time addresses derived from a static public key, but its effectiveness depends on wallet adoption. Nymius, a Bitcoin Dev Kit (BDK) contributor, will integrate Silent Payments into the BDK. With this grant, dozens of wallets and applications built with the BDK will be able to offer users greater financial privacy.

Daniela Brozzoni: Bitcoin nodes (computers running the Bitcoin software) reveal user metadata when connecting with one another. This opens the door for regimes or hackers to track or isolate activists and dissidents running Bitcoin nodes. Daniela Brozzoni is a Bitcoin Core developer who has been researching this vulnerability and publishing mitigation proposals to counter the tactics. With this grant, she will gather community feedback and implement fixes to make the network safer.

Build on Bitcoin (BOB) Buidlers Residency: Every day, users often find freedom technologies difficult to use, which limits their accessibility and impact. BOB Buidlers Residency in Bangkok has supported three cohorts of free and open-source developers to advance Bitcoin’s privacy, decentralization, and mining. With HRF’s funding, a fourth cohort of four developers will improve usability across Bitcoin, Lightning, nostr, and ecash, making freedom tech more accessible to those who need it most.

2140 Foundation: Bitcoin developers, especially those in autocratic countries, often struggle with burnout, isolation, and a lack of incentives to complete long-term projects. The 2140 Foundation, founded by open-source developers Josie Baker and Ruben Somsen, is a co-working space in Amsterdam that provides mentorship, collaboration, and employment to global contributors advancing Bitcoin’s long-term security, resilience, and scalability. With HRF funding, the foundation will support the work of  developers from authoritarian states to strengthen Bitcoin as a human rights tool.

Cashu for Community Sovereignty: In many parts of Latin America, governments restrict financial flows by blocking payments, freezing accounts, and, at times, disrupting internet access. Cashu for Community Sovereignty, founded by Forte11, addresses this with ecash, which enables quick and private payments that even work offline. The initiative will train 10 communities in authoritarian environments to deploy Cashu mints and Lightning Network nodes. With this funding, communities facing repression will develop a stronger infrastructure for financial freedom.

Bhartiya Bitcoin: As India advances a central bank digital currency (CBDC) and financially represses political opposition, Bitcoin offers a path to financial freedom. However, education is often inaccessible to non-English speakers. Bhartiya Bitcoin produces free, culturally relevant Bitcoin content in Hindi, Marwari, Sindhi, and Assamese. With HRF support, Bhartiya Bitcoin will expand into Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, and Malayalam to make Bitcoin more accessible to the more than 1.4 billion people living under increasingly autocratic rule in India.

Bitcoin Education for Lebanon’s Liberty & Empowerment (BELLE): In Lebanon, a collapsing currency, banking restrictions, and asset confiscations have stripped people of financial stability. The Lebanese Institute for Market Studies is launching BELLE, a project to teach political activists and youth to use Bitcoin to preserve their purchasing power. With HRF support, BELLE will provide Arabic-language workshops, educational videos, and media outreach to strengthen individuals’ ability to resist financial repression and secure their financial futures.

Bitcoin Arusha: Tanzania’s government restricts the use of foreign currency and limits dissidents’ banking access, while the local currency depreciates, leaving many citizens trapped in a cycle of poverty. To alleviate this, Bitcoin Arusha provides culturally rooted, Swahili-language Bitcoin education in northern Tanzania through music, dance, and events. HRF support will strengthen Bitcoin Arusha’s resilience and empower communities through economic opportunities.

Bitcoin for Fairness: Human rights defenders and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) often lack the knowledge to use Bitcoin to bypass repressive financial restrictions. Bitcoin for Fairness (BFF) is an educational initiative that disseminates Bitcoin knowledge to the global majority. In 2026, BFF will focus its initiatives in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Zambia – countries scarred by currency crises and periods of one-party rule – and deliver workshops, micro-seed funding, mentorship, and educator training. With HRF funding, BFF will empower activists and civic organizations in Southern Africa with censorship-resistant, permissionless financial tools.

Exile Hub: Burma’s military junta uses financial repression, exile, and imprisonment to crush peaceful resistance. Exile Hub’s Bitcoin for Exiles initiative will pilot a Bitcoin-based financial autonomy program designed to meet the needs of Burma’s democratic movement. With HRF support, the program will offer training, privacy-focused toolkits, and workshops to equip dissidents within Burma and in exile with the tools to survive, organize, and resist the junta’s financial repression.

Pluto Mining: Today, most Bitcoin mining hardware relies on closed-source software that can expose user data and create dependence on third parties. Pluto Mining is the first open-source mining fleet management platform that gives miners control over their operations without third-party dependence. With HRF support, Pluto will empower individuals in repressive environments to mine Bitcoin privately, independently, and securely, further decentralizing the Bitcoin network.

WantClue: Bitcoin mining is dominated by industrial operations that use proprietary hardware and software. Over time, this could put Bitcoin’s decentralization and accessibility at risk. Bitaxe counters this trend by providing an affordable and open-source miner for individuals. WantClue maintains the Bitaxe firmware and produces educational content that makes mining more accessible to dissidents and individuals in closed societies. With HRF support, WantClue will strengthen mining decentralization and expand access to self-sovereign financial infrastructure for those under repression.

Peter Tyonum: Developers in adverse political and economic environments need accessible and secure wallet software infrastructure to build freedom tools. Developer Peter Tyonum contributes to the BDK, which abstracts wallet software into usable plug-and-play components and makes it easier for developers to create censorship-resistant tools. With this grant, Tyonum will continue to help developers worldwide create accessible, permissionless Bitcoin applications.

BitScript: An inclusive developer base is essential to Bitcoin’s long-term decentralization. BitScript, a free, open-source Bitcoin developer education program, trains developers in authoritarian and inflationary environments across Latin America and Africa to build protocol-level freedom technologies. Global development helps ensure that Bitcoin serves as a lifeline for people facing repression. HRF’s grant will help BitScript democratize protocol knowledge to ensure the network reflects global needs.

Code Orange Dev School: Many regions lack the technical education to build, maintain, and use Bitcoin. To address this, the Code Orange Dev School in Indonesia teaches developers and individuals across Asia to contribute to open-source Bitcoin projects, run nodes, and use privacy-enhancing tools like ecash, fedimint, and nostr. HRF’s support will help equip communities with tools to resist authoritarianism.

Demo Lab: As authoritarian governments in Latin America tighten their grip on financial and political power, there is an urgent need for civic and financial education. Demo Lab’s Freedom Academy introduces Bitcoin as a tool for financial independence and teaches practical skills for saving and transacting securely. Through this grant, the Freedom Academy will prepare the next generation of Latin Americans to defend democracy and achieve economic sovereignty.

Nostr under Autocracy: In Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro’s brutal dictatorship restricts traditional communication channels, prevents journalists from exposing the regime’s brutality, and financially suppresses civil society. Nostr under Autocracy, led by democracy activist Jesús González, will train Venezuelan activists and human rights defenders to use the open-source nostr protocol for private, censorship-resistant communication and payments. With HRF support, this project will help Venezuelan dissidents speak freely online and build movements to resist Maduro’s digital and financial repression.

KernelKind: Dictators restrict communication, manipulate online content, and restrict dissidents’ financial access to silence dissent. Notedeck is a Nostr browser created by Damus that makes it easier to build censorship-resistant apps with integrated Bitcoin payments. Its first app, Columns, introduces modular feeds and a marketplace for user-controlled algorithms, while Dmail will enable private, decentralized messaging with email interoperability. With this grant, Notedeck will continue to merge censorship-resistant communication with financial freedom and foster an ecosystem of apps for dissident communications and transactions.

Eric Holguin: Many people living under authoritarian regimes face censorship, Internet shutdowns, and frozen bank accounts that cut them off from communication and commerce. Nostr developer Eric Holguin is working to build censorship-resistant apps with integrated Bitcoin payments by contributing to Damus and Nostr projects that empower individuals to communicate and transact without centralized control. With this grant, he will continue expanding free speech and financial freedom tools for people resisting repression worldwide.

Craig Warmke and Troy Cross: As authoritarian regimes expand financial surveillance and roll out central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), many people remain dangerously unaware of their risks to individual liberties. Transactional Freedom, a forthcoming book co-written by philosophers Craig Warmke and Troy Cross, makes the moral and legal case for recognizing a universal and constitutional right to transact. With HRF support, Warmke and Cross will examine financial repression in authoritarian regimes and its impact on human rights, activism, and financial freedom.

Together, these 20 grantees form a diverse coalition of builders, thinkers, and educators working to fortify Bitcoin’s role as a global freedom network. While their methods vary — from protocol research to street-level education — their shared mission is clear: to ensure that financial and informational freedom remain accessible to everyone, everywhere.

This post Human Rights Foundation Grants 1 Billion Satoshis to 20 Freedom Tech Projects Worldwide first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

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Bitcoin Price Jumps to $115,000 As Analyst Says It May Never Fall Below $100K Again

Bitcoin price surged to $115,000 on Monday, rising more than 1% in 24 hours, as optimism over easing U.S.–China trade tensions and renewed investor appetite for risk assets lifted global markets. 

According to Geoffrey Kendrick, Head of Digital Asset Research at Standard Chartered Bank, Bitcoin price may “never fall below $100,000 again” if this week’s macro tailwinds continue.

In a note to clients, Kendrick said that improving trade relations between Washington and Beijing have flipped last week’s market fear into “hope.” 

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s weekend statement that restrictions on China’s rare earth exports could be postponed for a year, combined with reports that Beijing plans to buy large quantities of U.S. soybeans, sparked a relief rally across equities, commodities, and crypto.

China, U.S trade deals and FOMC rate cuts

The agreement, expected to be finalized after the upcoming Trump–Xi summit in South Korea, has renewed risk appetite and pushed the bitcoin-to-gold ratio back above pre-October 10 levels — the date when 100% tariff threats sent markets tumbling.

Kendrick pointed to fresh inflows into spot bitcoin ETFs as another key signal of strength. Over $2 billion exited U.S. gold ETFs late last week, and if even half of that re-enters bitcoin funds, he said, it would mark a major vote of confidence. 

The analyst also highlighted macro tailwinds, including expectations for a 25-basis-point rate cut at Wednesday’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting — a move widely seen as bullish for bitcoin. 

Meanwhile, investors are watching a packed earnings calendar from both tech and crypto heavyweights. Microsoft, Meta, and Google are set to report on Wednesday, followed by Apple, Amazon, Coinbase, and Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) later in the week.

“If this week goes well — bitcoin may never fall below $100,000 again,” Kendrick said.

Bitcoin price outlook

While bulls have made modest progress with Bitcoin, stronger resistance remains overhead at $117,600 and $122,000, leaving bears largely in control. 

If Bitcoin manages to surpass $122,000, professionals note the next target could be the upper boundary of a broadening wedge pattern at $128,000.

Support levels remain critical for maintaining bullish momentum. The key short-term support at $106,900 held throughout last week, helping stabilize the market. 

Falling below this level could open the path toward the $105,000–$102,000 support zone, which has already been tested twice, with a third test raising the likelihood of a breakdown. 

Beyond that, $96,000 represents a crucial long-term support level for the broader bull market, acting as a do-or-die floor if prices decline further.

As of press time, bitcoin was trading at $115,041, up 1.22% over the past 24 hours.

This post Bitcoin Price Jumps to $115,000 As Analyst Says It May Never Fall Below $100K Again first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

Strategy (MSTR) Earns S&P ‘B-’ Rating, Marking a Major Milestone for Bitcoin-Backed Credit

For the first time in financial history, a major credit rating agency has formally evaluated a company built on a bitcoin-backed credit model. In news covered by Bitcoin Magazine, the S&P Global Ratings has assigned Strategy Inc (MSTR) a ‘B-’ Issuer Credit Rating with a Stable outlook, recognizing not just the company, but the emergence of Bitcoin as collateral inside the credit system. This marks a watershed moment for corporate finance. Bitcoin-backed credit is no longer theoretical. It is now a rated financial reality.

Why This Moment Matters

Until now, Bitcoin had been accepted by equity markets, ETFs, and corporate treasury conversations — but credit markets remained untouched. Credit markets are where legitimacy is ultimately decided because they determine who can borrow, at what cost, and against which assets.

By rating Strategy Inc, S&P has implicitly acknowledged:

• Bitcoin can underpin structured debt and preferred equity.
• A bitcoin-backed credit strategy can be modeled, rated, and priced using traditional frameworks.
• Bitcoin is shifting from speculative asset to recognized collateral within corporate capital structures.

This is not a marketing milestone — it is a structural one. Bitcoin has entered the language of risk-adjusted return, yield, and covenants.

How S&P Interpreted Strategy’s Bitcoin-Backed Capital Model

The rating is speculative grade, but the Stable outlook is critical. It signals S&P’s belief that Strategy can continue to service obligations and access capital markets without selling its Bitcoin reserves — a foundational principle of bitcoin-backed credit.

S&P’s analysis mentions several possible weaknesses:

• High concentration of assets in Bitcoin
• Low U.S. dollar liquidity and negative risk-adjusted capital under S&P’s methodology
• Currency mismatch: long Bitcoin, short U.S. dollar debt obligations
• Limited operating cash flow outside software revenue

However, they also credited Strategy with unique structural strengths:

• No near-term debt maturities before 2027–2028
• Proven access to capital markets — both equity and debt
• A capital stack purpose-built to accumulate Bitcoin without diluting shareholders
• Active liability management via convertible debt and preferred stock instruments

In short, S&P is signaling that bitcoin-backed credit can function — if managed with discipline.

Implications for the S&P 500 and Institutional Legitimacy

Strategy Inc met the S&P 500 inclusion criteria in profitability and market capitalization but was passed over in 2024, widely believed to be due to its Bitcoin-heavy balance sheet. That decision now appears less defensible.

With a formal credit rating, the company shifts from “unrated anomaly” to “rated issuer.” For institutional capital, that distinction matters.

• Index committees can now reference a risk rating — not just a narrative.
• Treasury teams and insurers can benchmark exposure to bitcoin-backed credit against traditional corporate debt.
• This increases (not guarantees) the probability of future index inclusion and passive capital flows.

Bitcoin entering equity indices begins with Bitcoin entering the credit models behind them.

Bitcoin-Backed Credit: The Ideal State of Treasury Strategy

This rating does more than validate Strategy — it validates the architecture of bitcoin-backed credit as the superior evolution of corporate treasury management.

Phase 1 was equity-funded Bitcoin accumulation — high growth but shareholder dilution.
Phase 2 introduced convertible debt and preferred equity — allowing companies to acquire Bitcoin through capital markets rather than operating earnings.
Phase 3, now underway, is full institutional recognition of bitcoin-backed credit — rated, benchmarked, and capable of scaling.

This is the endgame:

• Use capital markets to borrow in fiat
• Use proceeds to acquire Bitcoin
• Service liabilities without selling reserves
• Increase Bitcoin-per-share over time, without issuing new common stock

With S&P formally rating Strategy’s issuer credit, this model moves from innovation to infrastructure.

Why Corporate Finance Leaders Need to Pay Attention

This rating does not compel companies to adopt Bitcoin. But it removes the claim that Bitcoin cannot be integrated into traditional credit systems.

From now on:

• Bitcoin can be factored into risk-weighted capital models and treasury policy.
• Credit and liquidity committees must understand how bitcoin-backed credit affects financing costs, refinancing risk, and balance sheet leverage.
• Investors can now compare Bitcoin-based capital structures against other high-yield or hybrid debt strategies.
• Boards can no longer dismiss Bitcoin as “unratable” or “unclassified.”

A New Chapter for Corporate Finance and Capital Markets

What makes this moment different isn’t that another institution “acknowledged” Bitcoin. That’s happened before with ETFs, GAAP accounting changes, and treasury allocations.

What’s different is where the recognition has now occurred: Not in equity markets. Not in payment networks. But in credit — the foundation of corporate finance and monetary systems.

When a credit rating agency like S&P evaluates a company built on Bitcoin, it does three things that have never happened before:

• It forces Bitcoin into risk models normally reserved for banks, sovereigns, and investment-grade corporations.
• It legitimizes bitcoin-backed credit as a structure that can be analyzed, refinanced, and scaled — not dismissed as speculative.
• It signals to other corporates and lenders that they must now understand Bitcoin not as an investment, but as collateral.

This rating does not mean the model is risk-free. It means the model is real enough to underwrite, stress test, and lend against.

That is the real inflection point — not that S&P approved of Bitcoin, but that they were forced to measure it.

Disclaimer: This content was written on behalf of Bitcoin For Corporations. This article is intended solely for informational purposes and should not be interpreted as an invitation or solicitation to acquire, purchase or subscribe for securities.

This post Strategy (MSTR) Earns S&P ‘B-’ Rating, Marking a Major Milestone for Bitcoin-Backed Credit first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Nick Ward.

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Bitcoin Closes at $114,530 Amid FOMC Volatility: Bulls Eye $117,600 Resistance

Bitcoin Price Weekly Outlook

Bitcoin’s price action was rather subdued last week, keeping traders guessing whether or not we would see another large drop in price entering the weekend. Price held above the lows, however, slowly plodding a little bit higher to close out the week at $114,530. Bulls should not be overly disappointed with this price action, as they did reclaim the $112,200 resistance level, and are now closing in on conquering the next resistance level at $115,500. The bears are still sitting comfortably in control, though, with stronger resistance levels hanging overhead that the bulls have yet to challenge. This may be an interesting and volatile week ahead, with the FOMC meeting on Wednesday and a slough of large companies reporting third-quarter earnings.

Key Support and Resistance Levels Now

Nothing has materially changed from last week’s resistance levels as the bulls have made little progress. Heavy resistance is still sitting at $117,600 and $122,000 above there, so the bears aren’t feeling any real pressure yet. If by chance this week gets above $122,000, we will look to the upper boundary of our broadening wedge pattern at $128,000.

Holding above the prior week’s low is a positive sign for the bulls, while they managed to maintain price above the key short-term support of $106,900 last week as well. This level must hold going forward, as closing below $106,900 opens the door back down to the $105,000 to $102,000 support zone that has already been tested twice. A third test of this support zone would be more likely to break it than to hold it. $96,000 is the long-term bull market support below here, a do-or-die support level if the price were to slide down and test it.

Outlook For This Week

Expect significant volatility this week, especially on Wednesday, as we have the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision and ensuing Powell speech, followed by major earnings reports from Microsoft, Meta, and Google after market close. Bulls will look to hold $109,000 as a floor into this week, as doing so would position them to maintain upward momentum. Looking at the Momentum Reversal Indicator, we are currently sitting on an 8-count entering Monday. This is a warning candle that we may see momentum begin to fade. Tuesday should bring the 9-count at which point we should expect at least a pause on upward momentum and a 1 to 4 day correction in price. So if bulls can push price up to the 0.618 Fibonacci Retracement at $117,600 by Monday night or Tuesday morning, we should expect to see a rejection ther,e and we can re-assess after Wednesday’s FOMC and earnings reports play out.

Market mood: Bearish – While the bulls gained some ground last week, the bears remain stoic and strong. The bulls must push the price past $122,000 to take back control.

The next few weeks
If bulls can manage to survive through this week, there are still some potential headwinds on the horizon. The US-China tariff dispute may or may not be resolved by the end of next week; a negative outcome will likely send all markets lower. Additionally, the US courts’ ruling on the legality of Trump’s tariffs is expected by November 5th. If these tariffs are reinstated, we should expect markets to head lower to price this impact in.

Terminology Guide:

Bulls/Bullish: Buyers or investors expecting the price to go higher.

Bears/Bearish: Sellers or investors expecting the price to go lower.

Support or support level: A level at which the price should hold for the asset, at least initially. The more touches on support, the weaker it gets and the more likely it is to fail to hold the price.

Resistance or resistance level: Opposite of support.  The level that is likely to reject the price, at least initially. The more touches at resistance, the weaker it gets and the more likely it is to fail to hold back the price.

Fibonacci Retracements and Extensions: Ratios based on what is known as the golden ratio, a universal ratio pertaining to growth and decay cycles in nature. The golden ratio is based on the constants Phi (1.618) and phi (0.618).

Broadening Wedge: A chart pattern consisting of an upper trend line acting as resistance and a lower trend line acting as support. These trend lines must diverge away from each other in order to validate the pattern. This pattern is a result of expanding price volatility, typically resulting in higher highs and lower lows.

Momentum Reversal Indicator (MRI): A proprietary indicator created by Tone Vays. The MRI indicator tracks buyer and seller momentum and exhaustion, providing signals to indicate when to expect momentum to fade and accelerate.

This post Bitcoin Closes at $114,530 Amid FOMC Volatility: Bulls Eye $117,600 Resistance first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Ethan Greene - Feral Analysis and Juan Galt.

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S&P Assigns ‘B-’ Rating to Strategy (MSTR), Citing Bitcoin Exposure and Liquidity Risk

S&P Global Ratings assigned a ‘B-’ issuer credit rating to bitcoin-juggernaut Strategy, reflecting the company’s heavy concentration in bitcoin and limited dollar liquidity. The outlook is stable.

S&P said the rating reflects Strategy’s “high bitcoin concentration, narrow business focus, weak risk-adjusted capitalization, and low U.S. dollar liquidity.” The company reported $8.1 billion in pre-tax earnings in the first half of 2025, almost entirely from appreciation in the value of its bitcoin holdings.

The firm said in their release that while Strategy’s balance sheet is dominated by bitcoin, its management has prudently staggered debt maturities and maintained flexibility by financing primarily with equity.

In other words, this rating means Strategy can meet debt obligations for now but faces significant default risk if market conditions worsen.

Strategy — now effectively a bitcoin treasury company — raises capital through equity and debt issuances to purchase and hold bitcoin. Its securities give investors varying exposure to bitcoin across its capital structure. 

Just today, founder and former CEO Michael Saylor announced a purchase of 390 BTC between October 20 and October 26, spending approximately $43.4 million at an average price of $111,053 per Bitcoin. The firm still operates a small AI-powered analytics business, though it remains roughly breakeven.

JUST IN: S&P Global Ratings has rated a #Bitcoin treasury company for the first time — Michael Saylor’s Strategy pic.twitter.com/oP4j5UIJlj

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) October 27, 2025

A Strategy first

This S&P rating is the first-ever rating of a Bitcoin Treasury Company by a major credit rating agency.

According to S&P, Strategy’s risk-adjusted capital ratio was significantly negative as of June 30, 2025, because the agency deducts bitcoin assets from equity in its calculation. 

Strategy reported $8.1 billion in pre-tax earnings in the first half of 2025. Operating cash flow during the period was negative $37 million.

The agency cited several key risks, including a currency mismatch between Strategy’s bitcoin-denominated assets and dollar-denominated obligations such as interest, debt principal, and preferred dividends. 

S&P also pointed to cybersecurity risks given the company’s reliance on custodians to safeguard its bitcoin.

Strategy holds bitcoin valued at roughly $70 billion, against $8 billion in convertible debt, much of which matures beginning in 2028. Annual preferred dividends total about $640 million, which the company plans to fund through additional stock and preferred equity issuance.

While Strategy’s access to capital markets remains a core strength, S&P warned that a sharp decline in bitcoin prices or loss of investor confidence could impede its ability to refinance debt or pay dividends, potentially leading to bitcoin sales “at severely depressed prices.”

S&P said the rating could be downgraded if access to markets weakens or debt management risks rise. An upgrade is unlikely unless the company improves its U.S. dollar liquidity or reduces reliance on convertible debt.

Strategy’s trillion-dollar endgame

Earlier this year, Michael Saylor laid out an ambitious plan to reshape global finance through Bitcoin.

In an interview with Bitcoin Magazine, Saylor described an “endgame” in which Strategy accumulates a trillion-dollar bitcoin balance sheet, growing 20–30% annually, and uses it as the foundation for a new global credit system.

At the core of his vision is scale: with enough BTC on corporate balance sheets, the long-term appreciation of Bitcoin — historically around 21% annually — would supercharge the capital base.

On top of that, Saylor sees an opportunity to issue bitcoin-backed credit at yields significantly higher than traditional fiat-based debt, potentially two to four percentage points above corporate or sovereign rates.

He argued that over-collateralization could make this system safer than even AAA-rated debt, while simultaneously fueling broader financial growth.

Saylor’s vision extends beyond credit markets. As Bitcoin becomes embedded in corporations, banks, insurers, and sovereign wealth funds, public equity indexes could gradually become indirect bitcoin vehicles.

This, he says, would benefit equity markets and corporate balance sheets while introducing higher yields and greater transparency into financial products.

The implications are broad: savings accounts could yield 8–10% instead of near-zero, money market funds could be denominated in bitcoin, and insurance products could be reimagined around bitcoin collateral.

This post S&P Assigns ‘B-’ Rating to Strategy (MSTR), Citing Bitcoin Exposure and Liquidity Risk first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

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IBM Launches “Digital Asset Haven” to Help Banks and Governments Enter into Crypto 

IBM announced a platform designed to help financial institutions, governments, and large corporations securely manage their crypto and blockchain-based assets, like bitcoin. 

The platform, developed in collaboration with crypto wallet provider Dfns, combines IBM’s infrastructure and security expertise with Dfns’ institutional-grade custody and wallet technology.

At its core, Digital Asset Haven wants to simplify what has long been a tricky and complex landscape for institutions. 

Many banks and governments have been cautious about crypto because it involves multiple blockchains, regulatory hurdles, and security risks. IBM’s platform wants to change this and consolidate these moving parts, offering a single solution.

The partnership with Dfns is central to the platform. Dfns has built more than 15 million wallets for over 250 clients, focusing on secure and compliant operations. 

By combining this with IBM’s high-assurance infrastructure, Digital Asset Haven is meant to provide institutions with the same reliability and governance standards that traditional financial systems offer. 

That includes multi-party approvals, policy-driven governance, and support for cold storage, where crypto keys are kept offline for maximum security.

IBM’s support for 40 blockchains

The platform also supports more than 40 blockchains, both public and private, giving institutions flexibility to engage with a wide range of digital assets, from traditional cryptocurrencies to emerging stablecoins and tokenized assets.

It integrates third-party services for identity verification, anti-money laundering checks, and yield generation, and offers developer-friendly APIs to enable further customization and innovation.

“This is more than custody,” said Clarisse Hagège, CEO of Dfns. “We’ve built a platform that orchestrates the full digital asset ecosystem, moving digital assets from pilot programs to production at a global scale.” 

Tom McPherson, General Manager of IBM Z and LinuxONE, emphasized that the platform brings IBM’s signature resilience and data governance to the emerging digital asset space, helping institutions explore new products without compromising on security or compliance.

The launch comes at a time when regulated digital assets are gaining momentum. 

Stablecoins, for example, have become increasingly used in payments following the U.S. adoption of legislation earlier this year, and major banks are exploring blockchain-based money transfers. 

This post IBM Launches “Digital Asset Haven” to Help Banks and Governments Enter into Crypto  first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.