Morning Minute: Another $700M+ Bitcoin TreasuryCo Is Born

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. Subscribe to the Morning Minute on Substack.

GM!

Today’s top news:

• Crypto majors red on the day, BTC dominance rebounds; BTC at $119k
• ETH ETFs see another top 5 day, outpace BTC 3.3:1 over past 5 sessions
• David Bailey’s Nakamoto completes merger to launch $700M+ BTC DAT
• Citigroup considers getting into crypto custody, eyes stables and BTC+ETH
• Yeet confirms 40% of its airdrop will go to community

💰 Another $700M+ Bitcoin TreasuryCo Is Born

They’ve got big funds to get started buying, and an even bigger vision.

📌 What Happened

Utah-based healthcare provider KindlyMD (NASDAQ: NAKA) has completed its merger with Bitcoin-native holding company Nakamoto Holdings.

David Bailey will take helm as CEO, and if you don’t know him, he is the co-founder and CEO of BTC Inc, the company behind Bitcoin Magazine and the annual Bitcoin Conference.

Quick TLDR on the merger:

• New mission: The company’s ticker is NAKA, pivoting from healthcare to an institutional-grade Bitcoin treasury play
• Big raise: Secured $540M via PIPE financing, with an additional $200M convertible note deal expected to close as soon as today
• Bold target: Aiming to accumulate 1 million BTC in treasury

And if they’re able to pull that off, they will likely become the biggest BTC holder in the world (Saylor and Strategy have ~629,000 BTC).

The market has loved the merger news, with NAKE up 100% on the week to $15.

🗣️ What They’re Saying

“Since I started my journey in Bitcoin 13 years ago, I’ve always believed Bitcoin would become the most valuable asset in human history”

“Honored to officially join KindlyMD as CEO and Chairman. Thank you for coming on this journey with me- together we will rebuild the world on the bitcoin standard. One Nakamoto = One million Bitcoin” – David Bailey, CEO of Nakamoto

🧠 Why It Matters

This “great Bitcoin arms race” has seemingly slowed as of late, or perhaps isn’t catching as much attention.

That’s likely because the “great ETH arms race” has stolen the headlines, with Tom Lee (BMNR) and Joe Lubin (SBET) racing to buy ETH at a much faster pace than Saylor bought Bitcoin.

And ETH in the spotlight has had its impacts.

The ETH ETFs have outpaced the BTC ETFs 11-1 over the past 15 sessions ($3.43B for ETH vs $2987M).

But headlines like this out of Nakamoto will likely bring some attention back to Bitcoin. And nothing gives more attention than new ATHs, which Nakamoto’s $740M in buy pressure should help drive towards.

Then the race will change to the “great BTC and ETH arms race,” benefitting holders even more (and there’s speculation that SOL may enter that race here too).

Let that race begin…

🌎 Macro Crypto and Memes

A few Crypto and Web3 headlines that caught my eye:

• Crypto majors were red on the day;BTC -2% at $119,100, ETH -2% at $4,630, XRP -3% at $3.10, SOL -4% at $194
• AERO (+7%), LEO (+4%), PENDLE (+2%) and HYPE (+2%) led top movers
• The ETH ETFs saw $639.6M in net inflows on Thursday, the 4th biggest day on record; ETH ETFs have now outpaced BTC ETFs $3.37B to $965M over the past 5 sessions
• Scott Bessent said that the US would not buy any Bitcoin for its Strategic Reserve, though he later walked back the comments and noted the US will find budget-neutral ways to acquire more Bitcoin
• Citigroup is considering offering crypto custody services, focused on stablecoins and those digital assets tied to ETFs (BTC, ETH)
• Google took an 8% stake in Bitcoin miner TeraWulf, leading to TeraWulf stock soaring
• Crypto project funding exceeded $6 B in July, largely driven by Digital Asset Treasury (DAT) companies raising post-IPO capital
• Dinari Global announced the launch of Dinari Financial Networks, ‘an omni-chain orderbook and L1 network” for tokenized equities, on Avalanche

In Corporate Treasuries

• David Bailey’s Nakamoto closed its merger with KindlyMD to launch their Bitcoin TreasuryCo, having raised $540M already and with plans to raise $200M tomorrow

In Memes

• Memecoin leaders are very red on the day; DOGE -3%, Shiba -5%, PEPE -6%, PENGU -6%, BONK -7%, TRUMP -3%, SPX -9%, and FARTCOIN -7%
• CRIME (+14x), AOL (+180%) and littleguy (+200%) were notable top movers; nub +28% and continues to rally
• Light debuted its new launchpad overnight (LIGHT +1% at $48M fdv)

💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker

Here’s a rundown of major token, protocol and airdrop news from the day:

🤖 AI x Crypto

Section dedicated to headlines in the AI sector of crypto:

• Overall market cap down 1% to $13.3B, leaders were red
• FARTCOIN (-7%), VIRTUAL (-6%), TIBBIR (-4%), ai16z (-10%) & AIXBT (-7%)
• BUZZ (+12%) and HEU (+10%) led top movers

🚚 What is happening in NFTs?

Here is the list of other notable headlines from the day in NFTs:

• ETH NFT leaders were mixed; Punks -2% at 49.5 ETH, Pudgy +1% at 13.7, BAYC -6% at 11.9 ETH
• MetaWinners (+47%) and Terraforms (+16%) were notable top movers
• An EtherRock sold for 135 ETH ($606,000)
• Abstract NFTs were mostly green, led by Bearish (+34%) and Dreamilio (+10%)
• Snowfro’s ‘LIFT’ auctions began yesterday and will end today at Noon ET, with the top 1,000 bids winning NFTs