Public Keys is a weekly roundup from Decrypt that tracks the key publicly traded crypto companies. This week: Circle toes the IPO line with a Coinbase partnership debuff, MicroStrategy could be a 3 percenter soon, Bakkt is back in trouble, and Decrypt reporter Matt Di Salvo explains why experts say midsize Bitcoin miners might need a wellness check in the coming months.
Circle is in the ring?
USDC issuer Circle is finally back in the ring after filing to go public earlier this week.
Another thing that caught investors’ eyes is just how much of a cash cow Circle has been for crypto exchange Coinbase. The exchange receives half of all the residual revenue Circle makes on the cash and cash-like reserves backing its stablecoin tokens.
Analysts at Ledger Insights posited that this could make the company an unattractive bet for investors.
Coinbase Takes 50% Share of Circle's Residual USDC Reserve Revenue: Filing
Crypto exchange provider Coinbase Global receives half of Circle’s residual revenue generated from reserves backing its USDC stablecoin, according to new details disclosed in Circle's IPO filing. In an S-1 filing submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday, Circle revealed Coinbase receives 50% of the “residual payment base”—a portion of revenue explicitly derived from reserves backing Circle’s flagship stablecoin pegged 1-to-1 to the U.S. dollar. Circle generates income prima...
“Circle spent more than a billion in 2024 in distribution costs, most of which went to Coinbase,” they wrote. “The biggest concern is whether this might constrain future opportunities.”
At the time of writing, unnamed sources have told Bloomberg that the company is already considering delaying its IPO the same week it was announced.
The Wall Street Journal went harder and reported Circle is already delaying filings and will indeed push back plans for an IPO. To be clear, this doesn’t mean Circle won’t be going public; it just might take a little longer now, given market conditions and the looming threat of Trump’s tariffs.
Perhaps it’s trying to negotiate a more favorable deal with Coinbase to sweeten the honeypot for potential investors.
Three percenter soon!?
It took four years for Strategy to acquire 1% of the 21 million Bitcoin supply, a milestone it reached this time last year. Then by December, the company had rapidly closed the gap and held 2% of the supply.
As of today, Strategy’s hulking Bitcoin treasury now accounts for 2.5% the BTC supply. It’s already halfway there to reaching 3%.
Strategy Buys $2 Billion in Bitcoin, Mirroring Size of February Purchase
Strategy said on Monday that it had recently acquired $1.92 billion worth of Bitcoin, representing the third straight week that the software firm has disclosed purchasing the asset. After scooping up around 22,000 Bitcoin at an average price of $87,000 per coin, the firm said it now holds 528,185 Bitcoin veiled at $35.6 billion, according to a press release. The Tysons, Virginia-based firm said that it had meanwhile raised $1.2 billion by selling common stock through an at-the-money program...
Strategy, which trades on the Nasdaq under the MSTR ticker, would have to add another 101,815 Bitcoin to reach its next milestone. If MSTR were to close that gap at current prices, it would be an $8.5 billion endeavor.
It’s not out of the question. The company spent more than $288 billion buying Bitcoin last year and has nearly matched that already. Strategy has already spent $282 billion buying Bitcoin in the first quarter of 2025.
The company’s 528,185 BTC treasury was acquired for an average cost of $67,458 and—at $43.9 billion—carries a 23.2% unrealized profit. That means that Strategy’s Bitcoin stockpile is worth 60% of its $72.9 billion market capitalization.
Bakkt again
Two weeks ago Bakkt Holdings had bad news and good news.
Its crypto services business had lost two of its biggest clients—Webull and Bank of America. But not to worry, the Bakkt team told investors, there’s a new co-CEO coming in to launch a stablecoin service.
Well, some investors think Bakkt violated SEC rules by misrepresenting the stability and diversity of its crypto revenue.
In a class action lawsuit filed Wednesday in Manhattan, shareholders are claiming Bakkt and its officers made “materially false and/or misleading statements” about the company’s crypto revenue.
Public Keys: Predictions for HOOD, DTCC Doubles Down on ETH and Bakkt Is Back—Again
Public Keys is a weekly roundup from Decrypt that tracks the key publicly traded crypto companies. This week: After predicting it wouldn’t survive this long, Bakkt Holdings has undergone another transformation; the largest securities clearinghouse in the world doubles down on Ethereum; and Robinhood launches a prediction market for your March Madness bracket. Setbacks for Bakkt Holdings There’s new business afoot for crypto trading and payment solutions company Bakkt, which trades on the New Yor...
“Webull made up 74% of Bakkt’s crypto services revenue,” the lawsuit said, noting that at the time the company “derived 98% of its revenue from crypto services.”
The lead plaintiff, Guy Serge A. Frankin, had been a true believer in Bakkt since last year. Since June 2024, he’s acquired 8,812 shares for $191,419.82.
That’s an average cost per share of $21.72. But at the current $7.98 price for the stock, which trades on the NYSE under the BKKT ticker, his holdings are sitting on a $121,100.06 unrealized loss. Ouch.
Midsize Bitcoin miner woes
As U.S. equities and crypto experience a sell-off, the shares of top Bitcoin mining companies have also plunged in price as President Trump’s trade war heats up.
American Nasdaq-listed miners such as MARA, Riot Platforms, and Bitdeer are all down by 9-13% over a five-day period.
Hive Digital, Cleanspark, and Core Scientific have also seen their share prices suffer—but not by as much.
The sell-off shows that no industry is immune from the current market volatility. American miners had already been feeling the crunch: Last month was the worst on record for 14 top public Bitcoin miners tracked by JP Morgan, the bank said in a report this week.
Publicly Traded Bitcoin Miners Just Had Their Worst Month Ever: JP Morgan
Bitcoin miners continue to face challenges, with 14 top public companies in the space collectively having their worst month on record in March, according to investment bank JP Morgan. In a Tuesday report, the Wall Street giant said that the Bitcoin miners it tracks, which include the likes of MARA and Core Scientific, collectively shed 25%—or about $6 billion—of their value market cap last month. Analysts at the bank Reginald Smith and Charles Pearce added in their report that companies with hi...
The top companies collectively shed 25%—or about $6 billion—of their value market cap in the month of March.
And there may not be light at the end of the tunnel, either. Decrypt went to the Mining Disrupt conference last week, where Shanon Squires, chief mining officer at Compass Mining, said that mid-sized companies in the space may feel the most pain.
“The mid-size public companies might struggle the most with the extra cost of being a pubco plus low hash price and a harder to turn ship,” he explained, adding that the industry “feels very much like the oil and gas” one—and consolidation through mergers and acquisitions was likely.
Other Keys
- American Bitcoin, fuck yeah: President Donald Trump’s son, Eric and Donald Jr., are getting into the Bitcoin mining business. But they’re not starting from scratch. They’ve inked a deal to launch a joint venture with Miami-based miner Hut 8. It’s a development that echoes the American mined Bitcoin comments the president made on the campaign trail.
- Don’t let the DOGE out yet: No, Tesla is not a crypto stock per se, even if it does hold $964 million worth of Bitcoin on its balance sheet. But for a brief moment on Wednesday, TSLA shares and BTC jumped after rumors that Tesla CEO Elon Musk might soon leave his post at the Department of Government Efficiency. The reprieve was short-lived. The same day, the White House dispelled the rumor, saying Musk would leave “when his incredible work at DOGE is complete.” TSLA shares are currently trading for $241.78, down 9.5% on the day.
Decrypt reporter Mat Di Salvo contributed to this report.
Daily Debrief Newsletter
