Crypto Currents: Circle Internet, Bakkt report Q2 earnings

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CRYPTO EARNINGS: On Tuesday, Circle Internet Group (CRCL) reported a second quarter loss per share of ($4.48) on revenue of $658.08M, which compared to EPS of 0c for the same period last year and analyst revenue consensus of $644.72M. The company also reported USDC in circulation grew 90% year-over-year to $61.3B at quarter end, and has grown an additional 6.4% to $65.2B as of August 10. Adjusted EBITDA grew 52% year-over-year to $126M. Circle also forecast USDC in circulation as 40% CAGR and FY25 adjusted operating expenses $475M-$490M.

“I’m proud of Circle’s performance in the second quarter, our first as a public company, where we demonstrated sustained growth and adoption of our platform across a multitude of use cases and with a diverse set of industry-defining partners,” said Jeremy Allaire, CEO. “Circle’s successful IPO in June marked a pivotal moment, not just for our company, but for the broader adoption of stablecoins and the growth of the new internet financial system. This is an extraordinary moment for our company and industry, and we are seeing accelerating interest in building on stablecoins and partnering with Circle across every significant sector of the financial industry, with major internet companies and commercial engagement all around the world.”

Following the report, Baird lowered the firm’s price target on Circle Internet to $185 from $210 and kept a Neutral rating on the shares. The firm updated its model following the results and the announcement of its follow-on offering of roughly 4-5% of the shares.

On Monday, Bakkt (BKKT) reported a Q2 loss per share of ($2.16) on revenue of $577.9M, which compared to a loss per share of ($2.67) on a revenue of $509.9M for the same period last year. Total transacting accounts remained relatively flat year-over-year and declined 11.4% sequentially to approximately 689,000, driven by reduced market activity.

Andy Main, former Co-CEO said, “Over the past year as CEO of Bakkt, we strategically realigned the company to position it to unlock its full potential, streamlining operations, reducing costs, exiting non-core businesses, forging a transformative partnership with DTR to expand into stablecoin payments and strengthening our leadership with Akshay Naheta and other senior executives. Today, Bakkt is a leaner, more agile organization, fully focused on the massive and accelerating digital asset trend, where we see the greatest opportunity for long-term growth. With the sale of Bakkt Trust to ICE completed, a definitive agreement to sell our Loyalty business to Roman DBDR Technology Advisors in place, and the successful recapitalization of our balance sheet with $100M in new growth capital, effective today, I am handing the reins to Akshay, who will assume the sole CEO position to lead Bakkt forward, focused fully on strengthening and expanding Bakkt’s crypto platform. With Bakkt’s strong regulatory moat, institutional-grade technology and Akshay’s leadership and vision, I am confident we are well-positioned to lead the next wave of digital asset innovation.”

On Thursday, Bit Digital (BTBT) reported Q2 EPS of 7c on revenue of $25.7M, which compared to a loss per share of (9c) on a revenue of $29M for the same period last year. Cash and cash equivalents totaled $181.2M and total digital assets were $91.2M as of June 30. Subsequent to quarter-end, the company liquidated substantially all BTC and used the proceeds to acquire ETH.

“This quarter marked the beginning of Bit Digital’s transformation into a dedicated Ethereum treasury and staking platform,” said Sam Tabar, CEO. “In June, we formally launched our ETH strategy and have already scaled our holdings significantly, reaching 121,076 ETH as of August 11, 2025. Our objective is to build one of the largest on-chain ETH balance sheets in the public markets and to generate attractive staking yields for shareholders. This isn’t a trend we’re chasing, we’ve held ETH since 2021 and have deep conviction in its long-term value. We intend to opportunistically and cost-effectively scale our ETH position using a disciplined capital allocation framework. This includes deploying proceeds from operations and leveraging various capital markets tools where appropriate to maximize returns while maintaining prudent risk management. We are valuation-sensitive and focused on growing long-term value per share, not simply scaling for the sake of it.”

On Wednesday, Greenidge Generation (GREE) reported Q2 loss per share of (27c) on revenue of $12.9M, which compared to loss per share of (56c) on a revenue of $13.1M last year. Greenidge ended the second quarter with $3.4M of cash, $7.3M of bitcoin and $58.2M in aggregate principal amount of senior unsecured debt.

Greenidge CEO Jordan Kovler commented, “With the successful completion of our tender and exchange offer, we have significantly reduced our October 2026 debt obligations by $27.6M since October 2024, while continuing to secure opportunities to optimize and scale our mining operations. Building on this momentum, we remain focused on aggressively pursuing strategic opportunities to maximize value for all Greenidge stakeholders, including further restructuring of our October 2026 senior unsecured debt at a significant discount to par value.”

COINBASE CLOSES ACQUISITION OF DERIBIT: Coinbase Global (COIN) announced Thursday it has closed its acquisition of Deribit. The company said, “This acquisition comes on the heels of a record month of volume and revenue for Deribit, with July ’25 volumes exceeding $185B and approximately $60B of current platform open interest, as international momentum around crypto options heats up…We’re thrilled to welcome the world’s leading crypto options exchange to Coinbase. This milestone marks a major step forward in our mission to build the most comprehensive, trusted platform for global crypto derivatives trading…Together, we’re building the future of crypto derivatives markets: faster, more sophisticated, and more accessible than ever before.”

On Friday, Barclays raised the firm’s price target on Coinbase to $365 from $352 and kept an Equal Weight rating on the shares. The firm updated its model to reflect the close of the Deribit acquisition. Coinbase provided some incremental disclosures that indicate Deribit is run-rating at $240M in annual EBITDA, implying mid-single-digit adjusted EBITDA accretion, the analyst said.

Also on Friday, Deribit announced the launch of new linear options contracts for BTC and ETH, priced and settled in USDC, effective August 19. They come with new USDC-settled BTC & ETH dated futures, alongside the existing USDC-settled perpetual futures.

Additionally on Wednesday, Thumzup Media (TZUP) announced the expansion of its strategic relationship with Coinbase as part of its accelerated cryptocurrency accumulation and mining strategy. Under the agreement, Coinbase Prime will continue to serve as Thumzup’s custodian and prime broker, providing institutional-grade trading and financing solutions, all backed by NYDFS-qualified custody.

SOLUNA EXPANDS PARTNERSHIP WITH GALAXY: Soluna Holdings (SLNH) announced Tuesday (GLXY). Under the new agreement, Galaxy will deploy proprietary bitcoin mining operations, previously housed at their Helios datacenter campus in the Texas panhandle, at a 48 MW expansion of Soluna’s Project Kati 1 in Texas. The expansion brings Project Kati 1 to its full capacity of 83 MW and, having cleared tax abatement approvals, construction is expected to launch before the end of August. Soluna previously entered a $5M loan facility with Galaxy in Q1. With this new deployment, the partnership extends into an operational collaboration. Project Kati 1 is currently expected to be operational in Q1 2026. Galaxy will be the first customer to begin mining operations at Project Kati 1 once construction is complete.

“As we transition our Helios campus to an AI and high-performance computing data center, we’re pleased to relocate a portion of our existing Bitcoin mining assets to Soluna to manage,” said Sam Kiernan, Business Development Lead at Galaxy.

Additionally on Friday, Galaxy announced the closing of a $1.4B project financing facility to support the continued development of its Helios datacenter campus in West Texas. The gacility will fully fund the initial retrofit and expansion of Helios to deliver the first phase of power for AI and high-performance computing operations under a long-term agreement with CoreWeave (CRWV).

Galaxy also announced Monday that Matt Friedrich will be joining as Chief Legal Officer, effective September 8. Friedrich will be responsible for Galaxy’s global legal and compliance matters, including regulatory engagement, corporate governance, litigation and public policy. Friedrich succeeds Andrew Siegel, who has served as Galaxy’s General Counsel since 2017.

MICROSTRATEGY BUYS MORE BITCOIN: In a Monday regulatory filing, Strategy (MSTR) disclosed that the company acquired 155 bitcoin for an aggregate purchase price of $18M during the period of August 4 to August 10. The company’s aggregate bitcoin holdings amount to 628,946 as of August 10, the filing stated.

Also on Monday, Mizuho raised the firm’s price target on Strategy to $586 from $563 and kept an Outperform rating on the shares. The shares continue to outperform bitcoin as the company’s momentum is strong, with it again upping its bitcoin yield and gain guidance for 2025, the analyst said. The firm updated its model to reflect Strategy’s new guidance, capital markets activity and bitcoin purchases.

TERAWULF SECURES AI HOSTING AGREEMENTS: On Thursday, TeraWulf (WULF) announced two 10-year high-performance computing colocation agreements with Fluidstack. Under the agreements, TeraWulf will deliver more than 200 MW of critical IT load at its Lake Mariner data center campus in Western New York. The agreements represent approximately $3.7B in contracted revenue over the initial 10-year terms and include two five-year extension options which, if exercised, would bring the total contract revenue to approximately $8.7B. To support the buildout, Google (GOOGL) will backstop $1.8B of Fluidstack’s lease obligations to support project-related debt financing and will receive warrants to acquire approximately 41M shares of TeraWulf common stock, equating to an approximately 8% pro forma equity ownership stake.  TeraWulf also plans to access the capital markets to fund a portion of the project.

“This is a defining moment for TeraWulf,” said Paul Prager, CEO. “We are proud to unite world-class capital and compute partners to deliver the next generation of AI infrastructure, powered by low-cost, predominantly zero-carbon energy. This transaction underscores Lake Mariner’s status as a premier hyperscale-ready campus and further accelerates our strategic expansion into high-performance compute.”

TeraWulf also announced Thursday the execution of a long-term ground lease for approximately 183 acres at the Cayuga site in Lansing, New York. The lease, executed with Cayuga Operating Company, has a term of 80 years and includes reciprocal purchase and sale options exercisable for $100 beginning in year 50. The lease provides TeraWulf with exclusive rights to develop up to 400 MW of digital infrastructure capacity, with 138 MW of low-cost, predominantly zero-carbon power expected to be ready for service in 2026.

Following the reports, Northland raised the firm’s price target on TeraWulf to $12 from $10 and kept an Outperform rating on the shares. The company’s 200 MW deal with Fluidstack and partnership with Google is “game-changer,” with the $1.8B backstop reflecting strong confidence from one of artificial intelligence’s most influential players, the analyst said. The firm believes Google’s backstop significantly enhances TeraWulf’s credit profile.

Meanwhile, Clear Street raised the firm’s price target on TeraWulf to $12 from $9 and kept a Buy rating on the shares. The colocation agreements and 80-year ground lease “materially enhance” TeraWulf’s long-term growth profile, the analyst said. The firm upped its 2027E EBITDA expectations to reflect TeraWulf’s expanding high performance compute portfolio and sees potential upside to its outlook as it does not consider new business wins. Adding Fluidstack as a client, along with Google’s commitment, “will create significant momentum and increase the likelihood of additional contract wins going forward,” contended Clear Street.

Citizens JMP raised the firm’s price target on TeraWulf to $13 from $7 and kept an Outperform rating on the shares. TeraWulf reported solid Q2 results, underscoring progress in its strategic pivot toward high-performance computing hosting, the analyst said. The company is likely to exit mining by the next halving event, and it retains the flexibility to redeploy mining capacity toward HPC, aligning with customer demand trends, the firm said.

Additionally, Rosenblatt raised the firm’s price target on TeraWulf to $10.50 from $6 and kept a Buy rating on the shares. The company’s relationships with Fluidstack and Google are “transformational” for both TeraWulf and the sector, the analyst said. The firm sees further share upside beyond Thursday’s rally, saying the deal and related Google investment “dramatically improves” TeraWulf’s risk profile and overall cost of capital.

OTHER CRYPTO NEWS:

• CleanSpark (CLSK) names Matt Schultz as CEO, succeeding Zachary Bradford
• Hut 8 (HUT) price target raised to $30 from $23 at Maxim
• Block (XYZ) unveils (MARA), EDF Pulse Ventures sign investment agreement
• Bitfarms (BITF) reports Q2 EPS (5c) vs. (7c) last year
• Canaan (CAN) reports Q2 EPS (3c), consensus (8c)
• Bitcoin Depot (BTM) reports Q2 EPS 16c vs (13c) last year
• Hive Digital (HIVE) reports Q1 revenue $45.61M vs $32.24M last year
• Fold Holdings (FLD) reports Q2 EPS 28c, consensus (19c)
• BitFuFu (FUFU) reports Q2 EPS 28c, consensus 9c

CRYPTO STOCK PLAYS: Publicly traded companies in the space include Bit Digital, Coinbase, Core Scientific (CORZ), Greenidge Generation, Mara Holdings, Strategy, Riot Platforms (RIOT) and TeraWulf.

PRICE ACTION: As time of writing, bitcoin rose roughly 2% this week to $118,070 in U.S. dollars, according to CoinDesk.