Crypto
SATOSHI NAKOMOTO
A bronze statue of Satoshi Nakamoto (Attila Kisbenedek/Getty Images)

New Strategy competitors American Bitcoin and Nakamoto Holdings each announce mergers

Nakamoto’s merger with KindlyMD has sent the stock surging over 300%.

The field to become the next Strategy is starting to get crowded. Eric Trump-backed American Bitcoin (a subsidiary of Hut 8) has announced it’s merging with Gryphon Digital Mining and will trade under the ticker “ABTC.”

“Our vision for American Bitcoin is to create the most investable bitcoin accumulation platform in the market,” Eric Trump, cofounder and chief strategy officer of American Bitcoin, said in a press release.  

The anticipated closing target is “as early as Q3,” according to the release.

Also this morning, healthcare company KindlyMD announced a merger with bitcoin investment company Nakamoto Holdings, the new bitcoin-native venture launched by Trump crypto adviser David Bailey.  

Shares of KindlyMD skyrocketed more than 600% in premarket trading upon the announcement and are still trading up over 275% as of 11:45 a.m. ET. 

Nakamoto CEO and founder David Bailey told Sherwood News that the securitization of bitcoin, through entities like Nakamoto, is “the defining financial shift of our era.”

“Nakamoto aims to elevate bitcoin to every public and private corporate balance sheet around the world. We’re at the center of the global public markets seeking to provide investor-friendly structures they can own to accelerate bitcoin adoption,” Bailey said. 

The new company raised $510 million via a PIPE deal and $200 million in convertible notes, “marking [the] largest capital raise to launch a Bitcoin Treasury and the largest PIPE for any public crypto-related transaction,” the press release said.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if other companies similar to KindlyMD start exploring the use of crypto and even others in different industries such as healthcare, gaming, and the like,” Alan Orwick, cofounder of Quai Network, said.

Last month, Jack Mallers, the CEO of Strike, Tether, and SoftBank Group launched a new bitcoin-native company, Twenty One, via a merger with Cantor Equity Partners. The investor presentation says the company intends to offer a “potentially superior vehicle for investors seeking capital-efficient bitcoin exposure” than Strategy’s.

As for Michael Saylor’s Strategy, it’s not slowing down and bought 13,390 bitcoin for $1.34 billion this morning. It now holds 568,840 bitcoin. Japanese Metaplanet also acquired 1,241 bitcoin for $126.7 million yesterday, now holding 6,796 bitcoin.

This all comes against the backdrop of the newly announced US-China tariff deal, which boosted bitcoin’s price this morning and some predict will lead to a new all-time high.

“Risk assets are back to a state of euphoria on the news that the US and China have reached an agreement. Bitcoin, which had been acting a lot like gold over the last few weeks, has now swiftly decoupled from that safe haven narrative and is moving in tandem with risk assets again. I wouldn’t be surprised if BTC surpasses its previous all-time high of $109,588 in the coming days,” Nic Puckrin, founder of Coin Bureau, said.

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Trump-connected WLFI token jumps to 3-month high on news of banking application

World Liberty Financial’s token, WLFI, is the top cryptocurrency gainer in the last 24 hours, peaking at a three-month high of 18.5 cents after the Donald Trump-backed crypto firm announced that a proposed entity has applied for a US banking charter. 

According to a press release, World Liberty Trust Company filed a de novo application with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a branch of the US Treasury Department tasked with supervising and regulating national banks. 

With a national trust bank charter, World Liberty Trust can issue USD1, the dollar-backed stablecoin rolled out by World Liberty Financial last year. The trust company also plans to offer digital asset custody and stablecoin conversion services. 

Even though World Liberty Financial and World Liberty Trust Company share similar branding and names, the ownership and operating structures are different, a statement provided to CoinDesk explained. President Trump is labeled as World Liberty Financials cofounder emeritus, while his three sons, Eric, Donald Jr., and Barron, are cited as cofounders.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency under the Trump administration has already approved bank charter applications from several firms, including Circle Internet Group, Ripple, and BitGo, which maintains all reserve assets backing USD1. 

With a national trust bank charter, World Liberty Trust can issue USD1, the dollar-backed stablecoin rolled out by World Liberty Financial last year. The trust company also plans to offer digital asset custody and stablecoin conversion services. 

Even though World Liberty Financial and World Liberty Trust Company share similar branding and names, the ownership and operating structures are different, a statement provided to CoinDesk explained. President Trump is labeled as World Liberty Financials cofounder emeritus, while his three sons, Eric, Donald Jr., and Barron, are cited as cofounders.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency under the Trump administration has already approved bank charter applications from several firms, including Circle Internet Group, Ripple, and BitGo, which maintains all reserve assets backing USD1. 

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Zcash drops after the entire team of Electric Coin Company, a core development firm behind the token, leaves

Zcash, the privacy-focused cryptocurrency, has shed roughly $1.2 billion of its market capitalization in the last 24 hours, with the token dropping 15% after the developers of Electric Coin Company left to start a new company, though they remain focused on the same mission. 

Electric Coin Company was formed in 2015 to jumpstart the privacy-focused zcash protocol, but on Wednesday, the entire team left due to a governance conflict with several board members of Bootstrap, the 501(c)(3) nonprofit aimed at governing Electric Coin Company and supporting the blockchain network, according to Josh Swihart, former Electric Coin Company CEO.

Bootstrap board members Zaki Manian, Christina Garman, Alan Fairless, and Michelle Lai “have moved into clear misalignment with the mission of Zcash,” Swihart wrote in a social media post. “In short, the terms of our employment were changed in ways that made it impossible for us to perform our duties effectively and with integrity.” 

Despite the move, Swihart said the protocol is unaffected. The former Electric Coin Company team is now founding a new company to protect their work from “malicious governance actions” and remain committed to “building unstoppable private money.”

Last year, the cryptocurrency’s price saw explosive growth, jumping nearly 780% from under $60 in January to over $510.

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