BlackRock Just Launched a Fund That Sneaks a Little Bitcoin Into Your Regular Stock Portfolio

BlackRock Canada dropped two new ETFs on Monday, and one of them is a pretty interesting mix.

The two funds started trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange, called the iShares Equity + Bitcoin ETF Portfolio (IBQT) and the iShares Core MSCI All-International Equity Index ETF (XINT).

IBQT is the interesting one here

This fund basically gives you 97% exposure to a mix of Canadian, US, international, and emerging market stocks, and then tucks in a 3% allocation to Bitcoin through BlackRock's own Canadian Bitcoin ETF, IBIT, which trades on Cboe Canada.

Instead of holding individual stocks directly, IBQT mostly just holds other iShares ETFs to get that mixed equity and Bitcoin exposure.

So it's basically a "set it and forget it" fund with a small Bitcoin sprinkle built right in.

XINT is more of a straightforward global stock play

This one tracks the MSCI ACWI ex North America IMI Index, giving exposure to over 5,000 companies across more than 40 markets outside Canada and the US.

No Bitcoin here, just broad international diversification.

Both funds are run by BlackRock Asset Management Canada through the RBC iShares alliance. For scale, BlackRock's iShares business manages $6.2 trillion across more than 1,700 ETFs total; that's genuinely massive.

Worth noting too, BlackRock's US-listed Bitcoin ETF, IBIT, is already the biggest spot Bitcoin ETF in the US, sitting at about $47.9 billion in assets. So they clearly have the scale and trust to make something like this work.

This kind of product is honestly a pretty clever way to get everyday investors some Bitcoin exposure without them having to actively decide to buy crypto directly.

Do you think small Bitcoin allocations like this 3% become more common in mainstream investment portfolios going forward?

Oil Prices Ticking Up Again as US-Iran Talks Go Nowhere

Oil's climbing a bit today as markets react to zero real progress in US-Iran negotiations. WTI crude rose 0.53% to $78.58 a barrel, while Brent, the international benchmark, gained 0.65% to $84.09.

Basically, hopes for a quick resolution are fading, and that's keeping a risk premium baked into oil prices right now.

Trump's calling it "semi-negotiating," and that's not exactly reassuring

Trump said the US is only "semi-negotiating" with Iran at this point, and suggested Washington's basically just gonna let economic pressure build on Iran instead of rushing toward a full diplomatic deal.

Not exactly the kind of comment that gets markets excited about a quick resolution.

Traders are watching closely because if this standoff drags on, it raises real risk of disruption in one of the world's most important energy-producing regions.

Iran's not budging either

On the other side, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi came out and said there's currently no direct talks happening between Iran and the US. He also made it clear Iran isn't reopening the Strait of Hormuz until Washington meets their demands, including lifting the naval blockade.

That matters a lot because the Strait of Hormuz is one of the most critical routes for global energy shipments.

Any prolonged restriction there could genuinely mess with crude supply and transportation worldwide, which is exactly why oil traders are staying glued to every headline coming out of this situation.

So with both sides basically at a standstill right now, do you think oil keeps grinding higher the longer this drags on, or does this eventually cool off without a major supply disruption?

Strategy Sold Bitcoin Again, Two Weeks in a Row Now

Strategy's officially made a habit out of this. Michael Saylor's company sold Bitcoin for the second week straight, this time offloading 1,690 BTC for $108.6 million, at an average price of $64,262 per coin.

That brings their total holdings down to 840,447 BTC.

According to the SEC filing, all the proceeds from this sale went toward buying back STRC stock; they repurchased 1,152,020 STRC shares with that $108.6 million.

This is becoming a pattern

Two weeks ago they sold 1,638 BTC for similar reasons, funding STRC buybacks and dividend payments. So this isn't a one-off move anymore; it's clearly a deliberate strategy shift toward supporting STRC through Bitcoin sales.

And honestly, it seems to be working so far. STRC stock has climbed nicely from its June low of $74, currently trading around $95 in premarket, up over 10% in the past month, and getting close to its $100 par value.

On top of the Bitcoin sales, Strategy's also been selling MSTR shares through its ATM program, using those proceeds to build up its USD reserves.

So basically, Strategy's using Bitcoin sales to prop up STRC while boosting cash reserves through stock sales too. Two moving parts, one clear goal.

With this now being two weeks running, do you think Strategy keeps this selling pattern going as a regular thing, or does it slow down once STRC hits that $100 mark?

Standard Chartered Thinks Tokenized Assets Hit $4 Trillion by 2028, and Chainlink's the Big Winner

Big call from Standard Chartered here. They're projecting tokenized assets on public blockchains to hit $4 trillion by the end of 2028.

That number includes both stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets like bonds and investment funds, roughly splitting evenly between the two.

Their digital assets team is also bullish on DeFi more broadly alongside this trend.

Analyst Geoffrey Kendrick expects DeFi's total value locked to grow a massive 37x, reaching $2.7 trillion by 2030. Wild growth if it actually plays out.

He's also got some bold price targets

Kendrick set 2030 price targets of $3,500 for AAVE and $100 for UNI as part of this whole DeFi thesis.

There's also a $200 LINK target that's been floating around in reports, but worth clarifying that this one seems to be more of an interpretation based on Chainlink's potential role in tokenization, not something Kendrick actually published directly as an official target.

Why Chainlink specifically stands out here

Chainlink's become a pretty central name in the tokenization conversation, mainly through its oracle services and its Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol, aka CCIP.

Basically, this lets different blockchains actually talk to each other and move assets across chains, which is a big deal if tokenized assets are gonna scale the way Standard Chartered thinks they will.

For context on how much this is already being used, CCIP processed about $18 billion in transaction volume just in Q1 2026 alone.

Chainlink's also been working directly with financial institutions, including some cross-border tokenization work tied to Standard Chartered and Brazil's central bank.

So if tokenization really scales the way this forecast suggests, infrastructure players like Chainlink could end up being a pretty important piece of that puzzle.

Do you think Chainlink ends up being the go-to infrastructure for institutional tokenization, or is this space still too early to bet on one clear winner?

Big Week Ahead for Bitcoin and XRP, Here's What Could Move the Market

Prices are pretty mixed today: Bitcoin's up 0.64%, XRP's down slightly by 0.11%. ETH's up 0.44%, sitting at $1,924, and Solana's holding onto its weekend gains around $76.

But the real story this week is what's coming up; there are a few big catalysts that could shake things up.

CPI data drops August 12

July's inflation numbers come out this week, and analysts are expecting inflation to tick down slightly from 3.5% to 3.4%.

If that print comes in as expected, it basically reinforces the case for the Fed holding rates steady at the September meeting, which tends to be good news for risk assets like Bitcoin and XRP.

This all comes after last week's weak jobs report already started shifting rate hike odds lower.

Two Fed presidents are speaking too

On August 13, Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack and Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin are both giving speeches.

Since this comes right after the CPI print, there's a good chance they touch on it directly, and whatever tone they strike could move rate hike expectations one way or another.

And don't forget the US-Iran situation

Trump's apparently leaning toward economic pressure on Iran instead of military pressure, and there's talk the Strait of Hormuz could reopen "very soon."

If that actually happens, it could ease oil-driven inflation pressure, which tends to be a good setup for both Bitcoin and Ethereum.

So where could Bitcoin actually go from here?

BTC's currently trading around $65,244. CryptoQuant data points to $72,000 as a potential target if buying pressure keeps building.

There's a key level to watch, though: $67,000, since that's the realized price for traders who bought between May and August, meaning some of them might take profits right around there.

But if Bitcoin manages to push through that resistance, $72,000 becomes the next real target, since that's where traders who've held since March start becoming profitable too.

Analyst Shayan Markets says a push to $72K would actually be a good sign, showing buyers are absorbing supply from sellers rather than just chasing price.

Lot of moving pieces this week. Do you think CPI and the Fed speeches end up being the bigger driver, or is the Iran situation the real wildcard here?

Bitmine's Buying ETH Every Week Like Clockwork, Now at 4.8% of Total Supply

Bitmine's kept up its buying streak, picking up another 7,391 ETH last week.

That brings their total holdings to about 4.8% of Ethereum's entire supply, putting them 96% of the way toward their goal of owning a full 5%. Pretty impressive consistency, honestly.

Most of their ETH isn't just sitting idle either. Their total staked ETH now sits at 5,067,309 tokens, worth around $9.8 billion, which is 87% of everything they hold.

They're projecting around $194 million in annual staking rewards from this, with a 7-day BMNR yield of 2.63% coming straight from their own staking operations.

This is now a genuine weekly habit

This isn't a one-off buy either; Bitmine's bought ETH every single week since they adopted this treasury strategy last year.

Just two weeks ago they picked up 10,399 ETH while also running their share buyback at the same time.

Speaking of which, they bought back another 3 million BMNR shares last week too, even though the stock's actually been down despite all this buying activity.

Tom Lee's still bullish, even with regulatory setbacks

Chairman Tom Lee did address one disappointment though: the CLARITY Act not getting a Senate vote before the August recess. But he's not too worried about it, saying markets seem more focused on recent softer inflation and jobs data instead.

He also pointed out that odds of a Fed rate hike have dropped, and thinks easing financial conditions could actually be a tailwind for crypto going forward.

This ties back to that weak July jobs report too, which showed a loss of 23,000 jobs and eased fears of a September rate hike.

So Bitmine's basically stacking ETH weekly regardless of regulatory delays or stock price movement, pretty consistent playbook so far.

Do you think this kind of steady weekly accumulation eventually pays off for BMNR shareholders, or does the stock need something bigger to actually move alongside all this buying?

SanDisk's Tokenized Stock Is Beating SpaceX and Tesla on Binance, Here's Why

Random one but kinda interesting.

SanDisk bStock is currently the biggest tokenized stock on Binance's bStocks lineup, sitting above $100 million in market cap, which puts it ahead of tokenized SpaceX, Circle, Micron, Tesla, and even some major ETFs.

SNDKB was trading at $1,225.79, with a market cap of $101.71 million and $29.55 million in 24-hour trading volume.

For comparison, SpaceX bStock came in second at $88.66 million, followed by Circle at $73.02 million and Micron at $66.06 million.

But this doesn't mean it's the most popular token

Here's the thing though, SNDKB being on top doesn't necessarily mean it's the most traded or widely held tokenized stock on Binance.

It's really just a math thing: SanDisk's share price has been on an insane run in 2026, and that high price directly boosts the token's market cap even with a relatively small circulating supply.

Quick refresher on how these work: market cap is just price times circulating supply.

So $1,225.79 times roughly 82,975 SNDKB tokens gets you that $101.71 million figure.

That's just the value of the tokens in circulation though, not SanDisk's actual company valuation, which is obviously way bigger.

The real reason SNDKB is winning here

SpaceX bStock actually has way more tokens in circulation, around 650,238 SPCXB tokens, almost 8x more than SNDKB. But each SPCXB token is only worth about $136, compared to SNDKB's $1,200+ price tag. So fewer tokens at a much higher price still wins out.

Micron's a good comparison too; MUB had a similar token supply to SNDKB, around 74,663 tokens, but Micron's lower share price left it about $35.65 million behind SanDisk.

Basically, a high share price doesn't make a company more valuable fundamentally, but since each bStock tracks one underlying share, that price directly drives the token's market cap.

Worth noting too, bStocks give you exposure to the stock's performance, including dividends, but they don't give actual ownership or shareholder rights.

Kinda wild that SanDisk of all companies is topping this list right now. Do you think this changes once other tokenized stocks like Tesla or the ETFs see bigger rallies, or is SanDisk just having a unique moment?

Shibarium Transactions Just Spiked 507% in a Day, But Don't Get Too Excited Yet

Shibarium had a wild jump in activity.

On August 9, the network processed 4,480 transactions, its highest in a month, and a massive 507% jump from just 738 transactions the day before on August 8.

That's a huge one-day swing.

For context on how weak things had gotten, Shibarium was doing 5,170 transactions back on July 10, but activity kept sliding after that, dropping below 1,000 transactions for several days straight by early August.

So this spike is a real break from that downtrend, though it's still unclear if it actually sticks around.

The long-term numbers are still solid, though

Zooming out, Shibarium's cumulative stats are honestly pretty impressive. Since launching back in August 2023, the network's processed 1.56 billion transactions total, with around 269.93 million addresses recorded overall.

It's also produced more than 18.47 million blocks, with an average block time sitting around 8.3 seconds.

But here's the catch: DeFi activity is basically dead

Despite this transaction spike, actual DeFi usage on Shibarium hasn't budged at all. DEX trading volume over the past 24 hours came in at just $0.02. Yeah, two cents.

Total value locked sits at only $25,273, and the network only generated $0.14 in fees and $0.14 in revenue during that same period. So basically, more transactions are happening, but almost none of it is meaningful trading or economic activity.

SHIB burning also slowed down

On top of that, the SHIB burn rate dropped 55% in the last 24 hours, with only 4.72 million SHIB tokens burned, worth about $22. Pretty tiny number compared to recent weeks when burn activity was running hotter.

So overall, more transactions but basically zero real economic activity behind it. Do you think this spike is just noise, or could it be an early sign of something building up on Shibarium?

The Rockstar Energy Founder Is Trying to Take Over Celsius, and Investors Are Here for It

Celsius Holdings had one of the wildest weeks of the year.

First it crashed 18% on weak earnings, then it jumped 12% just two days later. And the recovery had literally nothing to do with the company's actual results.

So what happened? Russ Savage, the guy who founded Rockstar Energy and sold it to PepsiCo for $3.85 billion back in 2020, revealed he's built a stake in Celsius worth around $300 million, about 4.7% of the company.

Then he went on national TV and basically said the leadership needs to go, starting with the CEO. He even offered to step in as CEO himself.

He didn't hold back either

Savage specifically named who he thinks needs to be replaced: the CEO, COO, brand manager, and marketing manager. Pretty blunt.

He also said he's been quietly giving Celsius strategic advice for over a year and got largely ignored, which is honestly part of why the market reacted so strongly here.

People aren't just buying the stock, they're betting on the possibility of actual leadership change.

Now here's why the stock crashed in the first place

The activist push came right after a genuinely rough Q2 report. Revenue came in at $817.9 million, up 11% year over year but below the roughly $886 million analysts wanted. Adjusted EPS was $0.36, missing the $0.43 consensus too.

The bigger issue, though, was inside the core Celsius brand itself: sales there actually fell 11.7% year over year.

Management blamed this on a few things: cutting product lines on purpose, pausing new launches, and spending more on promotions, all tied to digesting two recent acquisitions, Alani Nu and Rockstar (yes, the same Rockstar Savage originally built and sold).

Margins took a hit too; gross margin dropped from 51.5% to 48.1%, mostly from those extra promotions.

For a stock that's supposed to be a growth story, a shrinking core brand and thinner margins gave investors real reason to be nervous. Even after Friday's bounce, the stock's still down about 42% for the year.

So this whole rally is basically a bet on Savage actually pulling off a leadership shakeup. Do you think he actually gets his way here, or is this just a short-term pop before reality sets back in?

H100 Group Just Tripled Its Bitcoin Stack With a Wild "Bitcoin for Bitcoin" Deal

Interesting deal just closed. H100 Group completed its acquisition of NSD AS on August 10, adding a huge 2,455.37 BTC and bringing their total treasury up to 3,506.4 Bitcoin. That's a big jump from where they started.

Here's the wild part though, no cash changed hands at all. Instead, H100 issued shares to NSD's sellers, and the whole thing was structured as a "Bitcoin for Bitcoin" deal.

They actually called it the largest M&A deal in Europe's public Bitcoin equity sector, and claim it's the first time this kind of structure has ever been done in the world. Worth noting, though, that's their own claim, not something independently verified across the board.

How the math worked out

The acquired Bitcoin was valued using a reference price from July 31, around $62,900 per BTC at the time. At today's Bitcoin price near $65,158, this expanded treasury is now worth roughly $228.5 million.

To pull this off, H100 issued 790.5 million new shares at SEK 1.86 each, totaling about SEK 1.47 billion, and it was all settled through promissory notes offset against those new shares. So genuinely zero cash spent here.

There's a catch though, dilution

This new share issuance creates about 70% dilution based on H100's share count when the deal closed.

That sounds rough on paper, but here's the interesting part: basic Bitcoin per share actually stayed the same, since the deal was structured around each side's relative Bitcoin contribution.

On a fully diluted basis, sats per share actually went up about 5%, from 288 to 303.

Also worth mentioning, NSD came with zero outstanding debt, which is a pretty clean acquisition from that angle.

So even with heavy dilution, the actual Bitcoin backing per share slightly improved. Do you think structuring M&A deals this way- Bitcoin for Bitcoin instead of cash- becomes more common for treasury companies going forward?