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Nakamoto launches $5 billion ATM program to buy bitcoin

The company’s stock plummeted as investors digested the news on Wednesday.

Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy

Nakamoto, the bitcoin-native venture helmed by Trump crypto adviser David Bailey that recently completed its merger with KindlyMD, filed a “shelf” offering with the SEC to launch a $5 billion at-the-market program, primarily to buy more bitcoin as well as for working capital and potential acquisitions of businesses, assets, or technologies, according to the filing.

The company, which made its first bitcoin purchase as a public company last week, now holds 5,744 bitcoin.

Shares were down over 24% in early trading Wednesday, while bitcoin finally broke past the $112,000 mark.

“Excited to partner with TD Securities and 9 other leading financial institutions to execute a $5B ATM offering. It’ll take us a while to build the necessary liquidity to complete the program, but it’ll be a critical tool as we execute our strategy,” Bailey posted on X.

The other agents include Cantor, B. Riley Securities, Benchmark, Canaccord Genuity, Cohen & Company Capital Markets, Craig-Hallum, Needham & Company, and Yorkville Securities.

Fellow bitcoin treasury Metaplanet is also amping up the ante, announcing it plans to raise up to 130.3 billion yen ($880 million) by issuing up to 5 million new shares in an international offering, according to a regulatory filing. The bulk of the proceeds will be used to buy bitcoin.  

While shares of Metaplanet have surged 155% year to date, they have been struggling in the past month, down 30%.

CEO Simon Gerovich and Nakamoto’s Bailey arrived together at the Bitcoin Asia Conference in Hong Kong today.

In other bitcoin news:

  • Bitcoin miner Hut 8 announced plans to develop four new sites across the US with more than 1.5 gigawatts of total capacity. The announcement comes a few days before the “carve-out and go-public of nearly all its bitcoin mining assets through American Bitcoin (ABTC), likely to be executed in a little more than a week — a transaction that could lead to a re-rating of HUT shares,” Benchmark analyst Mark Palmer wrote in a Wednesday note. He added, “Carving out ABTC is not just structurally separating the businesses but deliberately pursuing a lower cost of capital for its energy infrastructure effort.” Benchmark reiterated its “buy” rating on the company and raised its price target to $36 from $33 — a 38% upside from its current price.

  • Global Asian food platform DDC Enterprise continued its steady accumulation, acquiring 102 bitcoin in its fifth purchase this month. The company now holds 1,008 bitcoin.

  • Finally, Swedish company H100 Group acquired 46.2 bitcoin and now holds 957.5 bitcoin.

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Payward, parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, puts plans for IPO on hold

Payward, crypto exchange Kraken’s parent company, has paused its plans for an initial public offering until market conditions improve, according to a report from CoinDesk that cited two people with knowledge of the matter. 

Since the firm announced in November its preparation for an IPO of its common stock, the total market capitalization of the crypto industry has shed around $652.2 billion, from $3.2 trillion to $2.5 trillion as of Wednesday, data from CoinGecko shows. 

The news comes two weeks after Kraken received approval for a master account from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, allowing the crypto exchange to connect to the Fed’s payment infrastructure used by traditional banks and credit unions. 

Last year, Kraken raised $800 million at a $20 billion valuation from institutional investors such as Jane Street and Citadel Securities.

The news comes two weeks after Kraken received approval for a master account from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, allowing the crypto exchange to connect to the Fed’s payment infrastructure used by traditional banks and credit unions. 

Last year, Kraken raised $800 million at a $20 billion valuation from institutional investors such as Jane Street and Citadel Securities.

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SEC and CFTC issue new guidance on how securities laws apply to crypto assets

On Tuesday, the US Securities and Exchange Commission, together with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, issued an interpretation clarifying how federal securities law applies to crypto assets, a first step toward developing a clearer regulatory framework. 

The interpretive guidance introduces a token taxonomy for different types of cryptocurrencies, with SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins adding that “most crypto assets are not themselves securities.”

Examples of a digital commodity, “a crypto asset that is intrinsically linked to and derives its value from the programmatic operation of a crypto system that is ‘functional,’” include:

The guidance also includes definitions of digital collectibles (such as NFTs), stablecoins, digital tools, and digital securities (such as tokenized real-world assets and stocks).

This is a monumental step in the mainstream adoption of the industry and clears a hurdle in how crypto can operate going forward, according to David Pakman, head of venture investments at CoinFund. “This will allow new token designs with the confidence that their existence does not require registration with the SEC, etc.,” Pakman told Sherwood News.

Despite the clarification efforts from the two organizations, the market capitalization of the crypto industry has dropped about 2% in the last 24 hours as each of the tokens mentioned in the guidance are trading lower in the period, data from CoinGecko shows.

The joint agency action also complements congressional efforts to turn a crypto market structure framework into law. With the goal of providing regulations on the offer and sale of digital commodities, the CLARITY Act passed the House of Representatives last year and is now sitting in the Senate.

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