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.

Strategy Continues Bitcoin Sales, Builds Cash Position

Strategy — formerly MicroStrategy and the largest publicly traded corporate holder of Bitcoin — sold 1,690 BTC for $108.6 million last week, according to an 8-K filing submitted on Monday, reducing its holdings to 840,447 coins from 842,138 a week earlier.

The Bitcoin was sold at an average price of $64,262 — approximately $11,100 below the firm's $75,385 cost basis — meaning Michael Saylor's company once again sold Bitcoin at a loss. Strategy has not purchased any BTC since June, and its current holdings now sit 6,916 coins below the June peak. Proceeds from the sales were entirely directed toward buybacks of the company's preferred stock, STRC — perpetual preferred shares with a $100 par value and a 10% dividend — which rebounded to $95, narrowing the discount to par from deeper levels in prior weeks.

Separately, Strategy sold $653.1 million in MSTR common stock, more than double the previous week's figure. The company now holds $4.65 billion in cash reserves, up from $4 billion. According to Strategy, that reserve covers 2.7 years of what it calls "USD Duration" — roughly two and a half years of runway to meet $1.76 billion in annual preferred dividends and debt interest obligations without selling additional coins or issuing further shares. For context, those fixed obligations stem from a layered capital structure that now includes multiple tranches of convertible notes and the STRC dividend, making the cash buffer a key metric for investors assessing solvency risk.

We intend to make $STRC the iPhone of Digital Assets. — Michael Saylor (@saylor) August 10, 2026

MSTR stock has held up notably well despite months of sustained dilution and coin sales. Strategy has sold approximately $1.9 billion in common stock since July 1 while purchasing zero Bitcoin — a dynamic that, in theory, should have depressed the share price significantly. However, MSTR bottomed at $81.81 in late June and has since stabilized, rebounding 20% off its lows and holding around $100 per share.

With $4.65 billion in cash, STRC approaching par value, and MSTR stable, Saylor and Strategy appear to be in a stronger financial position than they have been for months. The company appears likely to continue selling BTC until STRC returns to par, at which point Strategy's posture could shift from headwind to tailwind. A key variable to monitor is whether BTC stabilizes or rallies — which would lift the mark-to-market value of Strategy's 840,447-coin treasury and narrow the unrealized loss relative to the firm's $75,385 blended cost basis.

Macro Crypto and Markets

Crypto majors traded slightly lower, led by HYPE on the upside. BTC was down 1% at $64,400; ETH fell 1% to $1,893; SOL declined 1% to $76; and HYPE gained 2% to $55.25.

Top altcoin movers included CRV (+9%), LIT (+9%), LINK (+5%), and MNT (+4%).

Oil rose 4% to $82, while gold gained 1% to reach $4,450. Stock futures were slightly positive, with the Dow up 0.1% and the Nasdaq up 0.5%.

BlackRock reduced the minimum BTC-to-IBIT in-kind conversion from $25 million to $1 million, making it easier for spot holders to convert holdings into the ETF. IBIT is the largest spot Bitcoin ETF by assets under management, and the lower threshold meaningfully broadens the addressable base of institutional and high-net-worth holders who can move BTC into the ETF wrapper without triggering taxable sales.

Vitalik Buterin stated that Ethereum is betting its future on quantum security and AI, publishing an updated "Strawmap" that places post-quantum cryptography, privacy, and AI-assisted formal verification at the center of the network's roadmap. Buterin argued that verifying the protocol's safety "is only feasible with modern AI tools."

Standard Chartered set a $200 Chainlink price target by 2030, representing a roughly 25x increase from the current price of around $8. The bank argued that tokenized assets reaching $4 trillion by 2028 and DeFi growing 37-fold would drive Chainlink's fees up approximately 25 times, noting that the network already secures over $110 billion and covers roughly 70% of oracle-dependent DeFi value. The call aligns with a broader Wall Street push into tokenization, with firms including BlackRock and Franklin Templeton already operating tokenized funds on public blockchains.

Tether's USDT supply contracted by $4 billion over the past 60 days. USDT is the largest stablecoin by market capitalization, and sustained contraction has historically coincided with reduced liquidity and deleveraging across crypto markets, though it can also reflect redemptions into fiat or rotation into other stablecoins.

Coinbase launched UK derivatives trading with up to 50x leverage, rolling out perpetual futures to eligible British retail traders.

Corporate Treasuries and ETFs

Bitcoin ETFs recorded net outflows of $145 million on Monday, ending a five-day inflow streak. ETH ETFs saw $15 million in outflows.

Tom Lee's BitMine purchased $14 million in Ethereum last week, adding 7,391 ETH to bring its total holdings to 5.8 million tokens.

Meme Coin Tracker

Meme coin leaders were mixed: DOGE +1%, SHIB -4%, PEPE flat, PENGU -2%, TRUMP +1%, and BONK -5%.

Robinhood chain tokens continued grinding upward by 10–20%. Cashcat rose 10% to a $163 million market cap, Stonkbroker gained 14% to $55 million, and HMM climbed 25% to $9 million. UP surged 400% to $6 million as the day's top mover.

On Solana, notable movers included TOAD (+20%), Alon (+200%), and Manlet (+20x). Stonk also jumped 33% to $11 million, briefly reaching a new all-time high of $15 million.

Token, Airdrop and Protocol Tracker

Pump.fun generated $10.03 million in weekly fees and burned an additional $5.02 million worth of $PUMP, surpassing Hyperliquid on 30-day revenue as ecosystem volume rebounded to $2.97 billion — its strongest week since January.

Fomo App launched clans, enabling users to trade in groups of up to 50 members.

Stonkfun integrated into the Fomo App, allowing users to see whether tokens were initiated via the Stonkfun launchpad.

NFT Market Update

NFT leaders were mostly flat: Crypto Punks declined 1% to 32 ETH, BAYC gained 2% to 8.17 ETH, and Pudgy fell 1% to 3.92 ETH. Stonkbrokers rose 3% to 13.4 ETH.

Among top movers, Cash Cats gained 27% and Monkeyhood surged 58%.

The FWA ecosystem saw two new project launches: MegaRip, which powers grouping of buys (spins), and FWAPHouse by 0xQuit, which allows pooling of deposits including NFTs and ETH. The FWA token reached a market cap of $29 million.

Stonkbrokers announced a partnership with veDex UP, which will power The Stonk Exchange and the Stonk Launcher. UP rose 400% to a $6 million market cap.