Morning Minute is a daily newsletter written by Tyler Warner. The analysis and opinions expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Decrypt.

Today's top news:

• Crypto majors rebound 1-3% as bonds cool; BTC at $77.9k
• BTC ETF inflows flip positive with $100M; ETH ETFs break a 3-week inflow streak
• Kraken parent Payward pushes IPO to Q2 2027 at the earliest
• Binance records $1B in stablecoin inflows in August, reversing its 2026 trend
• PONS soars 40% and enters the top 100 coins by market cap

Strategy CEO Says Selling the Bottom Was the Correct Move

Strategy sold 6,916 BTC across four tranches from late June through mid-August at a weighted average near $62,200. Last week, the company bought 4,603 BTC at an average price of $80,318. CEO Phong Le, appearing on Bloomberg Crypto on Wednesday, said both decisions were the right call. The roughly $18,000-per-coin gap between the sale and repurchase prices is what drew criticism, making Le's defense notable as one of the few times the company has publicly justified selling rather than accumulating.

His argument is that Bitcoin's price was not the driving input. The company sold to fund STRC dividends at a time when issuing shares had become expensive, and it is buying again now because MSTR trades at a premium. That premium — MSTR trading above the value of its Bitcoin holdings — has long been the engine of the company's strategy, letting it issue equity and preferreds to buy more BTC than its balance sheet alone would allow. During the two-month pause, Strategy took assets to $72 billion, built roughly $7 billion in dollar reserves, and cut net debt from about $7 billion to zero. A stronger balance sheet makes equity cheaper to issue, which in turn makes buying Bitcoin with it viable.

Le also pushed back on the scale of the story. The sale represented under 1% of holdings, which have grown 25% to 30% this year, and the company now holds 845,050 BTC worth roughly $65.4 billion — the largest corporate Bitcoin treasury. He went further, arguing that a one-way accumulator is not a full operating company, and that buying and selling Bitcoin, equity, and preferreds is what makes one. He described Strategy as a two-way capital management company.

The key mechanism is STRC, the variable-rate preferred that Strategy adjusts to keep near its $100 stated value. When it slipped below par in June, that funding route closed and Bitcoin became the company's only option in attempting a repeg — which, as of yet, has not occurred. Whether STRC returns to par is therefore the clearest signal to watch for whether the funding flywheel reopens. Warner's assessment: Le is right that it was a financing decision, but he is also describing a company whose Bitcoin purchases depend on its stock premium, which itself depends on Bitcoin — a difficult three-body problem to manage, and one where the company has opted to give MSTR equity holders the worst deal. Whether the moves pay off in a bull market remains to be seen.

Macro, Crypto and Markets

• Crypto majors were green, up 2-3%: BTC +1.3% at $77.9k, ETH +1% at $2,400, SOL +2% at $101, and HYPE even at $82.
• Top alt movers included PONS (+36%), ARB (+25%), and LIT (+10%).
• Oil rose 3% to $93; gold gained 2% to $4,470.
• Stock futures were flat as bond yields cooled; DOW +0.1%, Nasdaq -0.2%.
• Glassnode said Bitcoin stays range-bound until it absorbs the $83,000 to $86,000 band, where roughly 1.05 million coins held by long-term holders sit near breakeven, with $62,000 to $65,000 as the floor.
• Kraken parent Payward pushed its IPO to the second quarter of 2027 at the earliest, extending a freeze that began in March after a November 2025 confidential filing.
• Binance recorded over $1B in stablecoin inflows in August, reversing a trend that had seen a $6B+ exodus earlier in 2026.
• HYPE entered a US crypto index ETF for the first time, joining Hashdex's NCIQ at a 3.4% weighting as the fund's fifth-largest holding behind Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and Solana.
• New Jersey asked the Supreme Court to rule on whether states can police prediction markets' sports contracts, the first such petition after the Third and Ninth Circuits split on the question.
• Two Thai businessmen sued Tether over a $42.4 million USDT freeze they say came at a Homeland Security agent's informal request, more than three months before any seizure warrant was issued.

Corporate Treasuries & ETFs

The Bitcoin ETFs saw $101M in net inflows on Wednesday; the ETH ETFs saw $48M in outflows, breaking a 3-week green streak.

Meme Coin Tracker

Meme leaders were green up 2-4%: DOGE +3%, SHIB +2%, PEPE +2%, PENGU even, TRUMP +2%, and SPX -3%. Robinhood chain leaders were strongly green as Pons soared: PONS +43%, Cashcat +1%, AI +25%, Index +72%, and Microduck +25%, with Nudes, Peptides, and Hotdog among other big runners. Solana was led by Useless +50% and TripleT +30%; Ansem was even at $240M.

Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker

Robinhood Chain did $4M in chain revenue for the first time, while DEX volumes ($1.8B) and RWA chain value ($100M) hit new all-time highs. Pons hit new ATHs in daily trading volume ($544M) and daily revenue ($1.1M) while adding $880k to its buyback fund. Pump.fun did $1.8M in daily revenue, while Hyperliquid did $1.73M.

What Is Happening in NFTs?

NFT leaders were mostly flat: Punks -1% at 31.5 ETH, BAYC -1% at 7.45 ETH, and Pudgy +1% at 3.9 ETH. Argonauts (+35%), Identity MD (+40%), and Chain Mancers (+20%) led the top movers.