Weekly Summary: Focus on Strategic Digital Asset Treasuries, Green Minerals Launches $1.2B BTC Treasury
In this edition, strategic digital asset treasuries take centre stage as Norwegian deep-sea mining company Green Minerals plans to buy $1.2 billion in Bitcoin, and Anthony Pompliano raised $750M.
Strategic Digital Asset Treasuries Take Centre Stage
When Michael Saylor set out to build a company focused on buying and holding Bitcoin, which at the time was one of the most volatile assets one could opt for a long-term investment, some would have thought he was crazy.
His company, MicroStrategy, Inc. (NASDAQ: MSTR) shares were as volatile as the crypto industry in general, with even prominent investors like Warren Buffett dismissing it for a lack of intrinsic value.
Fast-forward a few years down the line, and Bitcoin has finally caught the interest of the mainstream with more traditional companies flocking in to tie some of their cash to Bitcoin. Green Minerals’ executive chairman Ståle Rodahl, called it a valuable hedging instrument against inflation and fiat debasement when his company announced plans to buy $1.2 billion in BTC as part of its strategic digital asset treasury.
Green Minerals’ announcement came shortly before Anthony Pompliano’s ProCap BTC revealed plans to go public via a SPAC acquisition with Nasdaq-listed Columbus Circle Capital, in the process raising $750 million, which will go towards establishing a public bitcoin treasury.
Nano Labs, also traded on Nasdaq, is raising $500 million via a convertible note sale to establish a digital asset treasury focused on BNB.
Norwegian Deep Sea Mining Firm Green Minerals Launches $1.2B Bitcoin Treasury Strategy
After Monday’s announcement, the company revealed on Wednesday that it has already acquired 4 bitcoins (BTC) for a total consideration of approximately 4.25 million Norwegian kroner (approximately $420,000).
The company said it will introduce a new KPI BTC/share to provide shareholders with clear insights into the digital asset value attributable to each share..
Green Minerals’ executive chairman Ståle Rodahl, sees Bitcoin as a hedging instrument against inflation and fiat debasement.
Executive Chairman Ståle Rodahl of Green Minerals said in a statement: “Bitcoin’s decentralised, non-inflationary properties make it an attractive alternative to traditional fiat. By integrating a Bitcoin Treasury Strategy, we are not only mitigating fiat risks but also reaffirming our commitment to financial innovation and the sustainable creation of long-term value.”
Anthony Pompliano’s ProCap Bitcoin Firm Goes Public via SPAC with Columbus Circle Capital
The two entities also raised $751.5 million, comprised of $516.5 million in equity and $235 million in convertible notes.
The fundraising attracted participation from Magnetar Capital, Woodline Partners LP, Anson Funds, RK Capital, Off the Chain Capital, Parafi, Blockchain.com, Arrington Capital, BSQ Capital Partners, and FalconX.
The two companies have formed a new entity, ProCap Financial, focused on establishing a public Bitcoin treasury with up to $1 billion in BTC.
The new company aims to use its bitcoin balance sheet to generate revenue and profit through a variety of strategies.
Anthony Pompliano, who will lead ProCap Financial, said in a statement: “ProCap Financial represents our solution to the increasing demand for bitcoin-native financial services among sophisticated investors. Our objective is to develop a platform that will not only acquire bitcoin for our balance sheet, but will also implement risk-mitigated solutions to generate revenue and profits from our bitcoin holdings.”
Nano Labs Planning $500M Convertible Notes Sale to Fund BNB Treasury
The zero-coupon convertible promissory notes mature within 360 days and can be converted into Class A common shares for $20.00 each.
There is no interest charge on the principal amount, which is payable on the maturity date.
In the initial phase, Nano Labs plans to acquire $1 billion worth of BNB via convertible notes and private placements.
The placement agreement is part of the company’s long-term strategy of holding 5% to 10% of BNB’s total circulating supply.
💵Crypto Fundraising News
Prediction Market Startup Kalshi Raises $185M Series C Led by Paradigm
Kalshi co-founder and CEO Tarek Mansour said part of the new capital would go towards scaling up the startup’s technology team so it can integrate with more brokers.
The fundraising effort also attracted participation from Multicoin Capital, Neo and Sequoia, with Peng Zhao, CEO of Citadel Securities, joining as an angel investor.
The funding brings the total raised to $415 million, valuing the U.S.-regulated prediction market startup at $2 billion.
“People choose to work at Kalshi not because of the money we’ve raised, but because of our ambition: build the most important financial market on the planet,” Mansour shared via a post on the X platform. “Today, we celebrate our team and community who have taken prediction markets mainstream and made Kalshi one of the fastest-growing companies in America.”
Galaxy Anchors $175M Funding for Its First Venture Fund
The firm initially planned to raise $150 million, but was oversubscribed as it seeks to expand its investments in crypto startups.
The company started raising the funds in 2024, announcing an initial close of $113 million last July.
The names of participating investors have not been disclosed, but general partner Mike Giampapa said there were institutional investors and family offices.
Galaxy will serve as a limited partner in the fund, whilst also owning a general partner stake.
Canton Network Secures $135M Strategic Round Led by DRW Venture Capital and Tradeweb
The fundraising effort also attracted participation from notable companies, including BNP Paribas, Circle Ventures, Citadel Securities, DTCC, Virtu Financial, Paxos and others.
Built by Digital Asset Holdings, Canton is a privacy-focused blockchain for the tokenisation of real-world assets.
The company plans to use the fresh capital to expand RWA support on Canton, which currently includes bonds, MMFs, commodities, repos, mortgages, life insurance and annuities.
Last year, Canton Network tested out its tokenisation platform with the likes of Goldman Sachs and BNY Mellon.
Fully Homomorphic Encryption Crypto Startup Zama Secures $57M Series B Round
The fundraising was co-led by leading Web3 venture capital firms Blockchange Ventures and Pantera Capital.
The fundraising pushed the total raised by Zama to over $150 million and values the FHE blockchain pioneer at over $1 billion, according to reports on Wednesday.
Fully homomorphic encryption secures sensitive data even when being used, making the technology highly applicable in blockchain and AI apps.
The company plans to use the fresh capital to accelerate the mainnet launch and efforts towards ecosystem adoption and research.
A16z and Menlo Ventures Co-Lead $40M Series A for AI Startup OpenRouter
The company plans to use the fresh capital to accelerate product development, bring new types of models to the platform, and expand enterprise support.
The funding also attracted participation from Sequoia Capital and several angel investors.
The AI product development and ranking platform claims more than one million developers have used OpenRouter’s API since its launch two years ago.
Annual run-rate inference spend on OpenRouter increased from $10M in October last year to $100M in May, according to a press release seen by NFTgators.
Alex Atallah, co-founder and CEO of OpenRouter, said in a statement: “Inference is the fastest-growing cost for forward-looking companies, and it’s often coming from 4 or more different models. The sophisticated companies have run into these problems already and built some sort of in-house gateway. But they’re realising that making LLM’s “just work” isn’t an easy problem. They’re ripping out home-grown solutions and bringing in OpenRouter so they can focus on their domain-specific problems, and not on LLM integration.”
🔊More News
Crypto Exchange Kraken Debuts Payments App Krak to Rival PayPal, Venmo and CashApp
The peer-to-peer payments app enables users to send and receive money in both crypto and fiat currency across more than 100 countries.
The app provides users with a dedicated spend account, allowing them to send and request payments across 300 assets.
The move expands Kraken’s scope of business beyond trading services.
“Crypto transfers will be made using blockchain technology, while Kraken will make cash transfers internally without using external banking infrastructure,” the company said in the announcement on Thursday.
Mastercard Ramps Up Crypto Payments Integration with New Multi-Partnership Deals
The global payment services provider has sealed a deal with the blockchain interoperability protocol Chainlink on the heels of its partnership with MoonPay and Kraken.
Mastercard also announced partnerships with Fiserv, PayPal and Paxos’ Global Dollar Network as part of the Mastercard Move and the Mastercard Multi-Token Network.
The company will now support FIUSD through Mastercard products and services, including on/off-ramping, merchant settlement, and stablecoin-powered card issuance.
The partnerships enable the company to expand how 3.5 billion cards around the world can engage with crypto.
Crypto Exchange OKX Eyes US Public Listing After Relaunching in the Country
The report comes amid surging interest among crypto companies to list publicly in as the market prepares for a crypto-friendly regulatory framework.
It follows OKX’s recent relaunch in the country in April, which also saw the crypto company hire Roshan Robert as U.S. CEO.
OKX follows multiple companies that have also revealed plans to list on the U.S. stock exchange, including Kraken and Gemini.
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