News linked to both this project and an event.
Odaily News, Strategy Executive Chairman Michael Saylor said at the company's Q2 earnings call that while the company has previously allocated nearly "100% of its funds to Bitcoin," it may adopt a combined strategy of holding both cash and BTC going forward. He stated, "Perhaps the best way to buy the most Bitcoin is not to buy the most Bitcoin immediately."TD Cowen and Benchmark both maintained their Buy ratings on Strategy following the Q2 earnings call. The two firms believe that the core goal of the company's current management has shifted toward bringing its STRC preferred stock price back to near par value, thereby restoring its ability to function as a financing tool.TD Cowen analyst Lance Vitanza said the most important takeaway from the call was management's strong focus on STRC. Company executives repeatedly emphasized that restoring STRC to par value is the core objective, and noted that despite recent price deviations in the security, institutional adoption continues to rise.Benchmark analyst Mark Palmer holds a similar view. He pointed out that Saylor and his team spent most of the 90-minute call focused on the same goal: restoring STRC to the $99–$100 range, making it once again the primary engine for the company to raise capital and purchase Bitcoin.
Benchmark partner Chetan Puttagunta posted on X, expressing confusion over Anthropic's public call for stricter regulation on AI model distillation. He noted that Anthropic is currently a company valued at approximately $1 trillion with vast technical and financial resources. At the scale described, so-called "large-scale distillation attacks" should theoretically be easier to identify and track. If Anthropic chooses to restrict such activities, the real cost may not be a lack of technical capability, but rather the sacrifice of some API revenue. "The only cost required seems to be reducing revenue from related API businesses."Previously, AI companies like Anthropic have been paying close attention to the issue of model distillation. Model distillation typically refers to using the output of a large model (the teacher model) to train another model (the student model), aiming to reduce costs and improve efficiency. Some AI companies are concerned that competitors might obtain model outputs by calling a large number of APIs, which could then be used to train their own models, thereby bypassing the original R&D investment. According to Puttagunta's perspective, the controversy surrounding model distillation in the AI industry essentially involves the balance between commercial interests, open competition, and intellectual property protection. For leading AI companies, finding the balance between protecting core technology and maintaining an open ecosystem will become an important issue for future industry competition.
Odaily Equity Research raised its target price for Hut 8 to $195 from $165 on Wednesday, citing the full commercialization of the company's Beacon Point AI data center campus in Texas.This is the second time Benchmark has raised its target price for Hut 8 this month. Last week, analyst Mark Palmer had already incorporated the first phase of the Beacon Point project into his valuation, raising the target from $85 to $165. The new target implies approximately 75% upside from Hut 8's stock price of around $111 on Wednesday.Hut 8 has now signed contracts for 949 megawatts of AI data center capacity, indicating its business is further pivoting from traditional Bitcoin mining towards AI infrastructure and power-driven data center models. Benchmark believes the company is evolving into a "power-first data center REIT," an infrastructure platform centered around power resources and data center assets.Hut 8's stock rose about 2% on Wednesday, bringing its year-to-date gains to nearly 120%. As demand for AI computing power continues to grow, the market is reassessing the value of the substantial power and data center resources held by Bitcoin mining companies.
Odaily Benchmark has raised its price target for Hut 8 (HUT) from $85 to $165, citing the company's accelerated commercialization of its AI data center business and a total of $16.8 billion in long-term contracts for AI infrastructure. Analyst Mark Palmer stated that the commercialization progress of Hut 8's Beacon Point AI data center campus in Texas "has changed the company's valuation logic," significantly increasing the project's value.Currently, Hut 8's stock price is approximately $97, meaning Benchmark's new target implies roughly 69% upside. The stock had previously fallen nearly 30% over the past six weeks.According to Benchmark's estimates, the redesigned first phase of the Beacon Point campus will support 352MW of IT capacity, a 57% increase from the original 224MW plan. The base term value of the lease for this initial phase is approximately $9.8 billion, with an estimated annualized net operating income of around $655 million.Additionally, the lease agreement for Hut 8's River Bend data center, signed with Fluidstack and supported by Google, is valued at approximately $7 billion. The combined base term value of the two contracts reaches $16.8 billion. If tenants exercise the included 5-year renewal options, the potential total value could rise to $42.8 billion. (The Block)
Odaily Strategy sold nearly $467 million worth of MSTR common stock last week but did not increase its Bitcoin holdings. Analysts believe this indicates that the company is implementing its recently proposed Digital Credit Capital Framework and beginning to prioritize strengthening its balance sheet, rather than solely pursuing short-term BTC accumulation.According to the latest filings, Strategy has increased its U.S. dollar cash reserves to $3 billion, while its Bitcoin holdings remain unchanged at 843,775 BTC. Both Benchmark and TD Cowen believe this move strengthens the company's balance sheet and helps boost market confidence in its preferred equity financing model.TD Cowen reiterated its "Buy" rating and $260 price target for Strategy stock, stating that this operation is an early signal of management executing the new capital allocation framework. The firm noted that Strategy's choice to expand dollar reserves and pause Bitcoin purchases demonstrates a greater emphasis on balance sheet discipline rather than maximizing short-term BTC accumulation.Benchmark also maintained its "Buy" rating with a $570 price target. On Monday, Strategy's stock price traded at approximately $91.50, near its long-term low. Overall, analysts believe that amid pressure on preferred equity financing tools like STRC and market focus on dividend coverage capacity, Strategy's increase in cash reserves may help alleviate investor concerns regarding a forced sale of BTC.
Odaily Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse stated in a recent CNBC interview that he remains long-term bullish on Bitcoin, while strongly criticizing Michael Saylor and his strategy of continuously purchasing Bitcoin by financing through preferred stock, arguing that this "financial engineering" approach is negatively impacting the crypto market.Garlinghouse pointed out that Strategy's reliance on issuing preferred stock (such as STRC) to raise funds for Bitcoin purchases essentially acts as a distraction in the market rather than creating long-term value. He emphasized: "Financial engineering does not create long-term value; the long-term value of digital assets comes from real utility." He specifically noted that STRC's stock price has fallen to a discount of approximately 25% from its par value, which he described as a "strong vote of no confidence" in that financing structure. Against the backdrop of market pressure this week, Strategy's common stock hit its lowest level since February 2024, and Bitcoin briefly fell below $59,000.On the market front, a CryptoQuant report indicated that if the dividend structure continues, Strategy's cash buffer has decreased from over seven years to approximately 14 months, suggesting a pause in Bitcoin purchases and a rebuilding of reserve funds. Currently, STRC trading below $100 has also rendered its "issue tokens—buy Bitcoin" funding flywheel temporarily ineffective. However, Benchmark-StoneX analyst Mark Palmer believes this model reflects more of a "decline in efficiency" rather than a systemic breakdown. Meanwhile, Ripple continues to adopt an industry-contrarian perspective, reiterating the distinct value path of its ecosystem asset XRP compared to Bitcoin. (CoinDesk)
According to The Block, three Wall Street firms—Benchmark, TD Cowen, and Mizuho—maintained “Buy” ratings on four crypto-related companies—Bitdeer, DeFi Technologies, Strive, and Gemini—on Monday, noting that the market continues to value these platforms, which have pivoted toward AI infrastructure, capital markets tools, and structured financial products, using trading-business valuation multiples. Benchmark analysts reiterated their “Buy” rating on Bitdeer and $27 price target, highlighting its global power asset portfolio of approximately 3.0 GW and the growth of its AI cloud business’s annual recurring revenue—from roughly $10 million at the end of January to approximately $69 million by the end of April. TD Cowen raised its price target for Strive to $30, forecasting a 26.1% Bitcoin yield for the company in 2026. Mizuho maintained its “Outperform” rating on Gemini but lowered its price target from $12 to $10, noting that although Q1 trading volume declined by over 50%, trading revenue remained largely flat—reflecting higher fee rates and an optimized revenue mix.
market分歧 has widened regarding Strategy's financing model of continuously accumulating Bitcoin through its preferred stock STRC. Benchmark analyst Mark Palmer stated in his latest report that the interpretation of the STRC model as a "circular financing or Ponzi structure" is a "serious misreading" and emphasized that the mechanism is an "intentionally designed and sustainable capital framework," with the core logic being to convert market demand for yield into long-term Bitcoin exposure.According to an SEC 8-K filing, Strategy raised approximately $3.5 billion in the first three weeks of April, with over 85% coming from STRC issuance. Subsequently, it made three consecutive purchases within the following three weeks, acquiring a total of 51,364 Bitcoins worth approximately $3.9 billion. Strategy's total Bitcoin holdings have now increased to 818,334 BTC, with a market value of around $62.5 billion, and it has recently returned to an unrealized profit of about $700 million.Benchmark believes that this structure does not rely on continuous issuance to sustain itself and could even sell a portion of its Bitcoin to pay preferred stock dividends if necessary. However, significant market skepticism remains, with some arguing that selling financed assets to pay dividends could be perceived as a risk signal, potentially triggering broader market pressure. (The Block)