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- Strategy Cracks Below $100 as Bitcoin Dips Below Key Level
Strategy Cracks Below $100 as Bitcoin Dips Below Key Level
Plus: 🎯 Kalshi eyes a $40 billion raise | 🏠 Trump torches the CBDC ban
Hi! In today’s edition:
📉 Strategy's stock is back somewhere it hasn't been in over two years
🎯 Kalshi is making a move that could put serious distance between it and its biggest rival
🏠 A bill the crypto industry had been watching just got pulled from a signing ceremony at the last minute
Strategy Falls Below $100 for First Time Since 2024
Strategy (MSTR) shares fell as low as $92.28 Wednesday, their lowest price since March 2024, as bitcoin slid to a two-week low below $60,000. The stock is down roughly 20% over the past week and nearly 40% over the past month.
The move matters for more than MSTR common shareholders. The company's preferred shares, STRC, fell to a new record low below $80 on the day. Designed to trade near $100, STRC has become the market's pressure gauge for whether Strategy can service its $1.5 billion in annual dividend obligations without liquidating its bitcoin.
Bitcoin itself has declined more than 50% from its October all-time high above $126,000, now sitting roughly where it traded in March 2024 — the same moment MSTR last traded at these levels.
Kalshi Seeks $40 Billion Raise, Nearly Double Last Round
Kalshi is in talks to raise fresh capital at a $40 billion valuation, nearly double the $22 billion the prediction market platform secured in its previous round, according to a Financial Times report. A deal could close as soon as the third quarter of this year.
If completed, the raise would extend Kalshi's lead over rival Polymarket, which has been in talks to raise at a $15 billion valuation. Kalshi's previous round drew backing from Philippe Laffont's Coatue Management, Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and Morgan Stanley.
The fundraising comes as Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour disclosed the company is also weighing an eventual IPO, though he said one would not come before 2027.
Trump Kills CBDC Ban Signing, Wants Voting Bill First
President Trump abruptly canceled a signing ceremony Wednesday for the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, a sweeping bipartisan bill that passed the Senate 85-5 and the House 358-32. Tucked inside was a provision banning the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency through the end of 2030.
Trump posted on Truth Social that the ceremony was canceled until Congress passes the SAVE America Act, a voter identification bill that Republican leadership has said does not have enough votes to pass.
The move may also endanger the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. With Congress's summer recess roughly five weeks away, any legislative disruption could derail the crypto industry's primary policy goal before the Senate calendar runs out.
A Packed Thursday on Unchained 📦
First, at 10:20am ET, Vinny Lingham, Co-Founder and Chairman of Praxos Capital, sits down with Laura Shin to unpack the selloff — MSTR is 80% off its all-time high, STRC is at $80 (well below par), and Bitcoin dipped under $60K Wednesday — and whether the levered Bitcoin trade has finally met its reckoning.
Then at 11am ET, the world's largest derivatives exchange is suing its own regulator: Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos, Jessi Brooks, and Vy Le break down CME's lawsuit against the CFTC over whether crypto perpetuals are "swaps" or "futures" — and why the answer reshapes onshore derivatives. Plus tokenized NYSE stocks headed for 120M OKX users, and what AI's new ID checks mean for crypto.
And at 12pm ET, Steve Ehrlich interviews Carmen Li, Founder & CEO of Silicon Data and CEO of Compute Exchange, on Bits + Bips: The Interview. Compute is becoming a real commodity — with a price, a forward curve, and CME futures due in H2 2026 — while crypto has spent two years trading the AI thesis in messier ways, from H100 perps to SpaceX pre-IPO bets. What can each side learn from the other?
⚖️ Binance withdrew its MiCA application in Greece and will seek a license in another EU member state, days before a July 1 deadline requiring all crypto firms to hold authorization in at least one EU country or wind down operations across the bloc. CEO Richard Teng said the exchange remains committed to securing EU access, and Binance told European users their funds are safe while it pursues an alternative route.
⚖️ Kalshi sued Illinois and Governor Pritzker Wednesday over a new state law that would levy a 15% tax on gross receipts from sports-related prediction market wagers, set to take effect July 1. Kalshi argues Illinois has no right to tax contracts that fall under exclusive CFTC federal jurisdiction, and the suit follows a CFTC motion already filed seeking to block the law from taking effect.
⚖️ Four U.S. law enforcement groups warned Congress that Section 604 of the Clarity Act could create broad exemptions shielding individuals who facilitate illicit crypto activity from regulatory accountability. The National District Attorneys Association, the National Association of Assistant United States Attorneys, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, and the National Sheriffs' Association signed the joint letter to the DOJ and the White House, adding to a wave of opposition to the provision that also includes 82 Catholic leaders.
🔒 SecondFi, the Cardano wallet formerly known as Yoroi, confirmed three attacks drained roughly 16 million ADA ($2.4 million) from 374 wallets via a flaw in its proprietary wallet generation software, while the team rescued a further 129 million ADA before attackers could reach it. Blockchain security firm SlowMist estimates total losses could exceed $20 million pending an independent audit.
⚖️ Voyager investors filed an appeal with the Eleventh Circuit challenging a December 2025 federal court dismissal of their claims against Mark Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks over the promotion of Voyager's platform before the brokerage collapsed in 2022. Other named defendants including Rob Gronkowski reached a $2.4 million settlement in 2024.
🇬🇧 Nigel Farage defended an undisclosed £5 million ($6.7 million) gift he received from Tether stakeholder Christopher Harborne before his 2024 election, telling interviewers it was a purely private matter and that he could spend it "on Ferraris" if he wished. The Parliamentary Standards Commissioner is investigating whether the Reform UK leader was required to declare the gift, and Labour has accused him of dodging scrutiny.
🇰🇷 South Korean officials, alongside legal experts and industry leaders, met with the SEC's crypto task force Tuesday to discuss stablecoin regulation, tokenized securities, and cross-border coordination, with the joint memo noting that U.S. regulatory choices are expected to heavily shape South Korea's emerging digital asset framework. The meeting followed recent high-profile local setbacks including a $4.8 million tax agency wallet breach.
🟡 Ripple and SBI Group launched RLUSD in Japan after receiving regulatory approval from the Japan Financial Services Agency, making it available to both institutional and retail users through SBI VC Trade's VCTRADE platform. RLUSD has reached $1.7 billion in market capitalization since launching in late 2024, and the two companies have partnered on digital asset infrastructure across Japan since 2016.
🇯🇵 SBI Group launched JPYSC, Japan's first trust bank-backed yen stablecoin, with reserves managed by SBI Shinsei Trust Bank and distribution through SBI VC Trade. Unlike previously issued yen stablecoins, JPYSC is classified as an electronic payment instrument under Japan's Payment Services Act and carries no transaction or balance limits, though availability is currently restricted to SBI VC Trade accounts until tax treatment is clarified.
💸 Payward, the parent company of Kraken, led a Series A round in Onyx Odds that values the sports prediction market platform at $220 million less than two years after launch. As part of the deal, Onyx Odds will integrate with Payward's licensed U.S. derivatives infrastructure, giving it access to a CFTC-registered FCM and DCM without assembling its own vendor stack.
💸 Daya raised $2.4 million to build a stablecoin payment stack for African businesses, targeting the continent's reliance on correspondent banking infrastructure for cross-border transactions.
