Crypto Currents: Rumble soars on AI deal, Coinbase launches token platform

Rumble shares are soaring after announcing a major acquisition to scale its AI cloud operations with Nvidia GPUs, backed by a large services commitment from Tether. Meanwhile, Coinbase is launching a new platform to give investors early access to tokens, Strategy continues its bitcoin accumulation, and investors are watching for an end to the U.S. government shutdown, which could unleash a flood of new altcoin ETFs. Stay up on the crypto news that matters with “Crypto Currents,” daily from The Fly. Join us at 2 PM ET for your essential briefing on the fast-moving world of cryptocurrency on FlyCast radio, Also, subscribe to our YouTube channel for the Crypto Fly By weekly recap.

RUMBLE SHARES SOAR ON AI ACQUISITION AND TETHER DEAL: Shares of Rumble (RUM) jumped over 20% in pre-market trading after announcing plans to acquire high-performance-computing firm Northern Data AG in an all-stock deal valued at approximately $767M, according to CoinDesk. The acquisition will significantly scale Rumble’s cloud and AI operations, adding 22,400 Nvidia (NVDA) GPUs to its infrastructure. The deal is supported by stablecoin issuer Tether, which has committed $150M for GPU services from the combined company and an additional $100M for a two-year advertising campaign to drive adoption of Rumble Wallet.

COINBASE LAUNCHES PRE-LISTING TOKEN PLATFORM: Coinbase (COIN) is launching a new platform to provide select investors with early access to new cryptocurrencies before they are listed on its main exchange. According to Bloomberg, the move aims to distribute tokens more widely and limit concentration among large buyers. This follows the company’s $375M acquisition of the crypto investment platform Echo last month. In other infrastructure news, Block’s (XYZ) Square division is making its Bitcoin Payments product available to eligible U.S. users starting today. Cboe Global Markets (CBOE) also plans to introduce continuous futures for bitcoin and ether today.

STRATEGY AND TRUMP MEDIA UPDATE TREASURY HOLDINGS: Strategy (MSTR) reported it has purchased an additional 487 bitcoin (BTC-USD) for $49.9M. The company, which now holds 641,692 bitcoin, funded the purchase by tapping its preferred stock at-the-market programs. The buy comes as famed short-seller Jim Chanos announced he is closing his successful trade of shorting Strategy against a long bitcoin position, in a post made to X.

Separately, Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT) reported a Q3 net loss of $54.8M. However, the company’s 8-K filing reveals a treasury of 11,542 bitcoin and staking-generated unrealized gains of $33M from its 746M cronos (CRO-USD) tokens.

ETF OUTFLOWS HIT $1.2B AS SHUTDOWN THAWS: Despite a broad market rally, global crypto ETPs saw $1.17B in net outflows last week, according to data from The Block. The outflows were led by U.S. funds from BlackRock (BLK) and Fidelity, with bitcoin ETPs losing $932M and ether (ETH-USD) products seeing $438M in redemptions. Bucking the trend, solana (SOL-USD) ETPs recorded $118M in net inflows.

Market optimism is building as the U.S. Senate advanced a deal to end the 40-day government shutdown. Cointelegraph reports this has sparked hopes of an ETF “floodgate,” as 11 spot XRP (XRP-USD) ETFs, including from Bitwise and Franklin Templeton, have appeared on the DTCC website. The news sent XRP rallying over 12% to $2.56. Ripple’s ODL network is also seeing institutional interest, with pilot programs reportedly involving Mastercard (MA) and BlackRock (BLK).

PRICE ACTION: As of time of writing, bitcoin was trading at $105,216.13, while ether was trading at $3,525.25, according to price data from CoinDesk.