The following article is adapted from The Block’s newsletter, The Daily, which comes out on weekday afternoons.
Happy Thursday! Crypto traders woke up to another sea of red this morning as ether fell below $4,000, and analysts said bitcoin is stuck in a "market of maybes" as Wall Street inflows clash with Fed caution.
In today's newsletter, Cloudflare joins the stablecoin race, the U.S. Senate schedules a hearing on crypto taxation with testimony from Coinbase, Cipher Mining inks a Google-backed $3 billion AI hosting deal, and more.
Meanwhile, REX-Osprey becomes the first to launch a staking Ethereum ETF in the U.S. as BlackRock and Fidelity's products await the SEC's review.
Let's get started!
P.S. Don't forget to check out The Funding, a biweekly rundown of crypto VC trends. It's a great read — and just like The Daily, it's free to subscribe!
Cloudflare joins the stablecoin race with NET Dollar plans
Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince announced plans for the internet infrastructure firm to launch its own NET Dollar stablecoin, fully collateralized by the U.S. dollar.
- No exact date of launch was given, but the company said the stablecoin will be available soon.
- Cloudflare positioned NET Dollar as a tool for automated, machine-to-machine payments across networks and ecosystems globally amid the rise of AI agents.
- The move comes as stablecoin competition intensifies, with Bank of America, JPMorgan, Société Générale, and MetaMask also developing their own tokens in addition to Tether, Circle, and PayPal's existing offerings, among others.
- Citi analysts' base case forecast for stablecoin issuance by 2030 is now $1.9 trillion, or $4 trillion in a bull case scenario, up from around $282 billion today.
- Cloudflare powers an average of 78 million HTTP requests per second and operates data centers in over 330 cities worldwide.
US Senate sets hearing on crypto taxation
The U.S. Senate Finance Committee set an Oct. 1 hearing titled "Examining the Taxation of Digital Assets," with a panel of industry experts expected to provide testimony at the livestreamed event.
- Coinbase VP of Tax Lawrence Zlatkin is one of the crypto execs set to testify, alongside experts from Coin Center, ASKramer Law, and the American Institute of CPAs' Digital Assets Tax Task Force.
- The hearing follows Senator Cynthia Lummis' July bill to modernize crypto tax rules, which she says are outdated and restrictive, stifling innovation.
- The White House has also indicated support for de minimis exemptions that would exclude small crypto payments from taxation.
Current IRS rules require taxpayers to report all crypto transactions, even those with no capital gain or loss.
Bitcoin miner Cipher signs $3 billion Google-backed AI hosting deal
Bitcoin miner-turned-AI hosting provider Cipher has signed a 10-year, $3 billion AI hosting deal with Fluidstack, providing 168 MW of IT load capacity from its Barber Lake facility in Texas.
- Google will backstop $1.4 billion of Fluidstack's lease obligations as part of the deal in exchange for warrants equal to a 5.4% equity stake in Cipher.
- The agreement includes two further optional five-year renewals that could lift the total value to about $7 billion.
- Cipher also proposed an $800 million private offering of zero-coupon convertible senior notes on Thursday to help fund its data center expansion plans.
South Korea's Upbit to merge under internet giant Naver via stock swap
South Korean internet giant Naver plans a share swap through its financial arm to make Dunamu, the parent company of Upbit, a 100% subsidiary, according to local reports.
- The move would integrate the country's largest crypto exchange into Naver Financial's broader financial services ecosystem.
- Unlike a traditional merger, both entities will remain legally intact after the transaction.
- The move comes as South Korea pushes to formalize a won-pegged stablecoin framework and broader digital asset regulation by year-end.
Benchmark sees bullish outlook for Metaplanet despite stock decline
Benchmark reiterated its buy rating on bitcoin treasury company Metaplanet with a 2,400 Japanese yen 2026 target, despite the stock's 40% slide over the past month.
- The research and brokerage firm highlighted Metaplanet's ability to generate recurring income from bitcoin derivative strategies as a key differentiator from its competitors.
- Metaplanet boosted its holdings to 25,555 BTC earlier this week after completing its latest $632.5 million purchase, reclaiming its place as the fifth-largest public corporate holder.
In the next 24 hours
- U.S. PCE data are out at 8:30 a.m. ET on Friday.
- ECB President Christine Lagarde will speak at 5:30 a.m. U.S. FOMC members Thomas Barkin, Michelle Bowman, and Raphael Bostic will speak at 9 a.m., 1 p.m., and 6 p.m., respectively.
- Korea Blockchain Week continues in Seoul. Wyoming Blockchain Stampede continues in Laramie. ETHGlobal gets underway in New Delhi.
Never miss a beat with The Block's daily digest of the most influential events happening across the digital asset ecosystem.
