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.

GM!

Today’s top news:

• Crypto majors and alts are very red; BTC -2.7% at $63.4k; HYPE -9% at $54
• Saylor raises $525M in cash, buys STRC over BTC
• Coinbase leans into meme coins with new “Launches” feature
• Fomo app notches new ATH in weekly revenue and fees
• FWA opens platform up to wrapped ERC20s, starting with PNKSTR

Strategy Chooses Cash, STRC Over BTC

Strategy went a fifth straight week without buying Bitcoin, its longest pause in two years, while padding its cash reserve by $525 million instead. The company’s cash reserves now stand at $3.75 billion, enough to cover 2.1 years of the $1.76 billion in preferred dividends and debt interest Strategy owes annually.

Between July 20 and July 26, the company sold 5.4 million MSTR shares through its at-the-market program to raise cash. During the same period, its Bitcoin holdings remained unchanged at 843,775 BTC, untouched since the 520-coin purchase on June 22. Strategy also repurchased $25 million of its own STRC preferred stock, marking its first purchase under the $1 billion authorization approved by the board on June 29.

STRC has traded below its $100 par value since mid-May and reached record lows earlier this month, leading Strategy to use shareholder-funded cash to support the preferred stock whose decline has been weighing on the broader structure. That means Saylor is now selling MSTR shares 80% below their all-time high to buy STRC, which is about 12% below its peg, instead of buying Bitcoin. With earnings scheduled for Thursday, investors are likely to get a clearer read on how Strategy is balancing Bitcoin accumulation, liquidity, and preferred-stock support inside the same capital structure.

For five weeks, Saylor has been diluting common shareholders by selling MSTR to build cash and now to buy back preferred stock. Last week, Strategy also revised its internal metrics, introducing “net Bitcoin per share,” which strips out $22.2 billion in debt and preferred claims, and redefining mNAV so the stock now reads 1.02x, right at the line below which issuing shares to buy coins would actually reduce Bitcoin per share.

Strategy’s Bitcoin stack is now $8.5 billion underwater versus the $63.69 billion the company paid for it. Earnings are scheduled for Thursday, and Saylor is known to have tricks up his proverbial sleeves. Investors may learn more about his plan and next move later this week.

🌎 Macro Crypto and Markets

Crypto majors were sharply lower amid a memory stock selloff and a South Korean market slide. BTC fell 3% to $63.4k, ETH fell 4% to $1,875, SOL fell 4% to $73.1, and HYPE dropped 9% to $54.45.

There were no top movers.

Oil fell 2% to $81, while gold slipped 1% to $4,030.

Stock futures were mixed as memory stocks sold off while other names advanced on strong earnings. The Dow rose 0.7%, while the Nasdaq fell 0.9%.

The US Senate put off the CLARITY Act for now, using its limited pre-recess time on other priorities, effectively confirming that the crypto market-structure bill will miss its August window despite weeks of last-minute negotiation.

Circle bought nearly 1,000 blockchain patents from IBM, a defensive intellectual-property move as stablecoin competition from Open USD, Visa, and Stripe intensifies.

Kalshi and Polymarket won a pause against Minnesota’s prediction-market ban, a legal reprieve as the platforms continue fighting state-level challenges across the country.

Fanatics bought a regulated exchange to expand its prediction-markets business, bringing the $30 billion sports-merchandise company directly into the space alongside Kalshi and Polymarket.

Kraken parent Payward acquired Magic Labs' embedded wallet business, absorbing a platform that has created over 60 million wallets since 2018, while Magic rebrands to Newton Labs to focus on its onchain-finance authorization layer.

Corporate Treasuries & ETFs

The Bitcoin ETFs saw $12 million in net outflows on Monday, while the ETH ETFs saw $12 million in inflows.

Meme Coin Tracker

Meme leaders were sharply lower: DOGE -4%, SHIB -6%, PEPE -5%, PENGU -8%, TRUMP -6%, and BONK -5%.

On the Robinhood chain, there were no notable movers. Leaders PONS (-17%) and Cashcat (-13%) declined, while Stonkbroker was flat at $13 million.

Solana leaders included bulltom (+70x), Brotchen (+60%), and Cards (+12%). ANSEM fell 7% to $165 million, while EPIK rose 10% to $14 million.

💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker

Coinbase added a “Launches” tab to its DEX, allowing users to find and trade new Base and Solana tokens the moment they go live onchain.

The Fomo app recorded its highest week of revenue at $1.79 million and fees at $1.96 million.

Pons said it has already bought back and burned 22% of its PONS token.

Stablecoin chain Stable said transaction volume jumped more than 700% in two days, pushing some RPC mempools to capacity as it works to expand infrastructure. The network said it remains operational and continues producing blocks.

🚚 What is happening in NFTs?

NFT leaders were mixed. Punks rose 1% to 32.5 ETH, BAYC fell 1.5% to 8.45 ETH, Pudgy declined 2% to 4.07 ETH, and Hypurr fell 3% to 188 HYPE.

StonkBrokers, up 5% to 2 ETH, and Satari, up 58%, led the top movers.

FWA added new token packs, allowing assets such as Pokemon cards or tokenized stocks to be included in the prize pool, starting with wrapped ERC20s like PNKSTR tokens.