Here’s What You Missed in Crypto This Week

As bitcoin, ethereum and other cryptocurrencies get increasing attention from investors, Wall Street and its traditional banks continue to adjust to the shift. Catch up on this week’s top stories highlighting the intersection of these old guard and new school areas of finance with this recap compiled by The Fly.

RIOT ENERGIZES NEW CORSICANA FACILITY: Riot Platforms (RIOT) announced Thursday it has energized the substation at the company’s Corsicana facility. “Two years ago, we purchased 265 acres of land in Navarro County, Texas, driven by our vision to build the world’s largest bitcoin mining facility, and today, we have achieved a new milestone in turning that vision into a reality with the energization of our Corsicana facility,” said Jason Les, CEO. “This landmark achievement highlights our team’s unwavering dedication and collaborative effort over the past two years. With the Corsicana facility’s 400-megawatt substation now operational, we remain well on track to increase our self-mining hash rate capacity to 31 EH/s by the end of 2024, which will represent a significant increase in our operational capabilities. We are excited about the incredible pipeline for growth the Corsicana facility provides over the next several years, and we look forward to further executing on that plan.” Riot’s Corsicana facility will have a total capacity of 1 GW when fully developed. The recently energized substation will power the initial 400 MW phase of development of the Corsicana facility. This initial phase is expected to add 16 EH/s to Riot’s self-mining capacity by the end of 2024. The first batch of miners in the first 100 MW building, Building A1, have been installed and are already hashing, and miners will continue to be deployed in Building A1 until a total capacity of 3.7 EH/s is reached. The remaining buildings in the first phase, Buildings A2, B1, and B2, are set to progressively become operational over the next several months and are expected to add an additional 12 EH/s to Riot’s self-mining capacity, which is expected to total 31 EH/s by the end of 2024. (read more)

BITCOIN DEPOT PARTNERS WITH FAREWAY STORES: Bitcoin Depot (BTM) announced Wednesday its retail partnership with Fareway Stores, a growing Midwest grocery company currently operating more than 130 grocery store locations across the Midwestern US. Bitcoin Dept plans to deploy BTMs in 66 Fareway locations starting in 2Q24, throughout Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota, Kansas, and Missouri. “We’re thrilled to work with a growing grocery store brand like Fareway as we continue our own expansion efforts in 2024, reinforcing our commitment to providing easy and convenient crypto access to new and returning users,” said Brandon Mintz, CEO. “Our technology has a proven track record of success across our portfolio of retail partners, and I believe our customer-first approach aligns perfectly with Fareway’s ethos.” (read more)

Additionally on Thursday, Bitcoin Depot announced the purchase of approximately 2,300 bitcoin ATMs. The company plans to strategically deploy these kiosks as part of its ongoing expansion efforts throughout 2024 and beyond. The purchase of approximately 2,300 bitcoin ATMs comes at a greater than 50% discount in cost per-kiosk compared to the company’s typical per-kiosk cost. The majority of the kiosks are scheduled to be delivered to Bitcoin Depot over the next two quarters. This purchase will bring the total number of kiosks in Bitcoin Depot`s fleet to over 10,000 kiosks after all of these kiosks are delivered. This rapid expansion of the Bitcoin Depot fleet helps the company meet the growing demand from retailers for its bitcoin ATMs. Year to date, in 2024, Bitcoin Depot has signed over 2,000 new retail locations. (read more)

COINBASE PRICE TARGET RAISES: On Wednesday, Compass Point raised the firm’s price target on Coinbase (COIN) to $325 from $235 and kept a Buy rating on the shares. The firm is updating its model following the significant volume growth seen in March and Q1 and raising its Q1 estimates for revenue and adjusted EBITDA to “considerably above consensus,” the analyst said. (read more)

Meanwhile on Thursday, Bernstein raised the firm’s price target on Coinbase to $200 from $80 and kept a Market Perform rating on the shares. Coinbase’s stock and financial performance has a very high beta to bitcoin price in the near term, the analyst said. The firm added that if the bull market on crypto continues, “it is simply hard to not be bullish on Coinbase in the very near-term given the high beta to crypto asset prices especially bitcoin.” However, Bernstein struggles to be constructive on the stock. It believes Coinbase is a “net loser” in the medium term of the bitcoin exchange traded fund approval. (read more)

BITDEER INITIATED WITH BUY: On Monday, Needham initiated coverage of Bitdeer (BTDR) with a Buy rating and $14 price target. The company’s diversification benefits, with no revenue vertical having more than 40% share, will help it buffer expected industry-wide declines in self-mining revenue post the 2024 halving as well as during bear markets when bitcoin prices decline, the analyst said. Bitdeer is also the only miner with its own machine manufacturing, which allows the company to source machines at production cost, the firm added. (read more)

BINANCE GETS DUBAI VASP LICENSE: Binance announced Thursday that Binance FZE, the company’s Dubai subsidiary, has received a Virtual Asset Service Provider license from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority. Following the initial issuance of the Minimum Viable Product license in July 2023, this marks a significant milestone for Binance and the global virtual asset landscape. The transition from an MVP to a VASP license allows Binance FZE to extend its product offerings to the retail market alongside qualified and institutional investors. Individual customers can now access a broad range of digital asset products and services, including spot trading, margin trading, and staking. Binance FZE General Manager Alex Chehade said, “This is a major milestone that validates our commitment to providing secure, compliant, and top-tier services to our users globally. It underlines Dubai’s position as a forward-thinking city, acknowledging and embracing the financial potential that blockchain technology brings.” (read more)

CRYPTO STOCK PLAYS: Publicly traded companies in the space include Bit Digital (BTBT), Coinbase, Core Scientific (CORZ), Greenidge Generation (GREE), Marathon Digital (MARA), MicroStrategy (MSTR), Riot Platforms, Stronghold Digital Mining (SDIG) and TeraWulf (WULF).

PRICE ACTION: As of time of writing, bitcoin dropped roughly 3% this week to $64,851 in U.S. dollars, according to CoinDesk.