Crypto Currents: Coincheck enters agreement to acquire Aplo

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COINCHECK TO ACQUIRE APLO: Coincheck Group (CNCK) announced Tuesday that it has entered into a stock purchase agreement to acquire Aplo, a digital asset prime brokerage for institutional crypto investors. Pursuant to the agreement, all issued and outstanding shares of Aplo are to be exchanged for newly issued ordinary shares of Coincheck Group. Closing of the transaction, subject to certain undertakings and conditions, is expected in October. Founded in 2019 in Paris by Oliver Yates, Arnaud Carrere, Simon Douyer, and Jacques Lolieux, Aplo has built a proprietary institutional trading application and supporting infrastructure, combining algorithmic execution, unified access to deep liquidity, and a strong regulatory foundation. Aplo is currently registered as a Digital Asset Service Provider with the French Authority for the Financial Markets and is in the process of obtaining a full crypto asset service provider license under the European Union’s Market in Crypto Assets Regulation. All four founders are to continue with Aplo after the closing.

Together, the companies will look to accelerate Aplo’s product roadmap and scale existing solutions, including: Financing solutions, such as cross-margining and deferred settlement to enhance clients’ capital efficiency; Expanding liquidity access and product offerings across multiple jurisdictions and to new institutional partners; Driving innovation in digital asset trading infrastructure to meet the growing needs of global markets; and Providing a B2B2C offering to banks interested in using Aplo’s execution platform to serve their customers. The companies will also explore, as a potential synergy, whether Aplo can provide significant additional liquidity to some of Coincheck’s altcoin offerings to its customers.

“Aplo brings us proven technology, expertise recognized by institutional clients in Europe, and a high performance team with an entrepreneurial culture,” said Gary Simanson, CEO of Coincheck. “By combining our strengths, we believe we will be better positioned to meet the needs of institutional crypto investors, which includes plans to provide a valuable B2B2C offering to banks looking to make crypto investing available to their customers.”

STRATEGY BUYS MORE BITCOIN: In a Tuesday regulatory filing, Strategy (MSTR) disclosed that the company acquired 4,048 bitcoin for an aggregate purchase price of $449.3M during the period of August 26 to September 1. The company’s aggregate bitcoin holdings amount to 636,505 as of September 1, the filing stated.

Following the news, TD Cowen lowered the firm’s price target on Strategy to $640 from $680 and kept a Buy rating on the shares. The firm noted that over the last week, Strategy purchased another 4,048 bitcoins, likely reflecting “management’s desire to take advantage of what many perceive to be temporary weakness in the price of bitcoin.” However, TD Cowen trimmed its price target to reflect “near-term BTC and cap markets fundamentals.”

AMERICAN BITCOIN DEBUTS ON NASDAQ: American Bitcoin Corp. (ABTC) began trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “ABTC” on Wednesday following the completion of its stock-for-stock merger with Gryphon Digital Mining (GRYP). American Bitcoin delivers institutional-grade exposure to bitcoin through a differentiated business model that integrates scaled bitcoin mining operations with disciplined accumulation strategies.

“With the backing of the public markets, we believe American Bitcoin is now positioned to set the standard in Bitcoin accumulation,” said Asher Genoot, Executive Chairman of American Bitcoin and CEO of Hut 8 (HUT), which launched American Bitcoin in 2025 as a majority-owned subsidiary. “By combining Bitcoin mining, opportunistic market purchases, and the backing of Hut 8’s energy and digital infrastructure, we have created a vehicle designed to drive rapid, efficient Bitcoin-per-share growth.”

Additionally, on Thursday, American Bitcoin announced it has acquired and energized approximately 14 exahash-per-second of installed hashrate across 16,300 ASIC servers. This brings American Bitcoin’s total installed hashrate from about 10 EH/s to around 24 EH/s with an average fleet efficiency of approximately 16.4 joules per terahash as of September 1.

“We are rapidly executing on a differentiated dual strategy to build Bitcoin-per-share,” said Genoot. “Mining is the foundation of this strategy because it enables us to produce Bitcoin at scale for significantly less than market prices. With this expansion, our installed hashrate has grown by 2.4x since launch to approximately 24 exahash per second, strengthening our ability to accumulate Bitcoin efficiently. In Q2 2025, our cost of revenue per Bitcoin mined was approximately 50% of our revenue per Bitcoin mined.”

BULLISH GERMAN SUBSIDIARY SECURES LICENSE: Bullish (BLSH) announced Friday that its German subsidiary, Bullish Europe, has secured a license under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation from the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority. MiCAR is a pan-European Union regime, under which Bullish Europe was previously grandfathered through its crypto brokerage and custody licenses from BaFin. The business has its European headquarters in Frankfurt. Under MiCAR, firms remain under the supervision of their home country regulator, which means that Bullish will continue to be subject to ongoing oversight by BaFin.

“Europe is the second largest cryptoasset economy in the world and institutional demand for regulated, transparent trading venues is growing rapidly,” said Chris Tyrer, President. “We believe that our MiCAR approval allows us to continue to meet that demand head-on, by offering the trusted execution that institutions need to confidently engage with digital assets.”

Additionally, on Wednesday, Compass Point initiated coverage of Bullish with a Neutral rating and $45 price target. The company is an international crypto exchange focused on institutional traders outside the U.S. with an opportunity to take market share in the U.S. where institutional trading is dominated by Coinbase (COIN), the analyst said. However, Compass finds it hard to justify Bullish’s current valuation with the shares trading at 110-times EBITDA and 68% above the initial public offering price. The firm does not expect the company to enter the U.S. until crypto market structure legislation passes next year.

U.S. BANK RESUMES CRYPTO CUSTODY SERVICES: U.S. Bank (USB) announced Wednesday that it has resumed offering cryptocurrency custody services, originally announced in 2021, as an early access program to Global Fund Services clients. The services are intended for institutional investment managers with registered or private funds who seek a secure safekeeping solution for bitcoin. NYDIG will act as the bitcoin sub-custodian.
Stephen Philipson, vice chair, U.S. Bank Wealth, Corporate, Commercial and Institutional Banking, said,

“We’re proud that we were one of the first banks to offer cryptocurrency custody for fund and institutional custody clients back in 2021, and we’re excited to resume the service this year. Following greater regulatory clarity, we’ve expanded our offering to include bitcoin ETFs, which allows us to provide full-service solutions for managers seeking custody and administration services.”

OTHER CRYPTO NEWS:

• IREN (IREN) downgraded to Hold at JonesResearch after 400% move off April lows
• Galaxy (GLXY), Superstate launch GLXY tokenized public shares on Solana
• Bitmine Immersion (BMNR) announces crypto, cash holdings exceeding $8.98B
• Hive Digital (HIVE) completes Phase 2 of Yguazu Project in Paraguay
• Trump Media (DJT), Crypto.com close purchase agreement

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

PRICE ACTION: As time of writing, bitcoin rose roughly 5% this week to $113,170 in U.S. dollars, according to CoinDesk.