The Daily: Bitcoin and altcoin treasuries surge, PayPal rolls out ‘Pay with Crypto’, SEC delays Truth Social bitcoin ETF, and more

The following article is adapted from The Block’s newsletter, The Daily, which comes out on weekday afternoons.

Happy Monday! Let’s catch up on today’s biggest crypto stories.

Crypto treasuries aren’t slowing down. Metaplanet added 780 BTC, pushing its total to $2 billion. SharpLink Gaming bought $295 million in ETH, BTCS added $55 million in ETH, and Marathon closed a $950 million note sale to buy more bitcoin. Strategy, meanwhile, reported no new BTC buys this week, holding steady at 607,770 BTC.

Altcoin treasury moves are picking up, too. Upexi secured a $500 million credit line for more SOL, a Nasdaq-listed vape stock surged 600% after backing a $500 million BNB plan, Mill City unveiled a $450 million raise to buy SUI, and Justin Sun-backed Tron Inc. filed a $1 billion shelf registration with the SEC to expand its TRX treasury.

ETF inflows are rising alongside treasuries. Ethereum ETFs pulled in $1.85 billion last week — the second-biggest week ever — and ETH is now trading above $3,800.

Elsewhere, PayPal is expanding PYUSD to support payments across 100+ cryptocurrencies. The SEC also delayed its decision on Trump’s Truth Social bitcoin ETF.

P.S. I also write The Funding, a biweekly newsletter covering crypto VC trends. Yesterday’s edition explored why liquid token funds are underperforming. Subscribe here.

Let’s dive in.

SharpLink Gaming buys $295M in ETH, now holds over 438,000 ETH

• Joseph Lubin-backed SharpLink Gaming has added 77,210 ETH worth roughly $295 million to its treasury, according to onchain data from Lookonchain and Arkham.
• The Nasdaq-listed company — trading under the ticker SBET — now holds 438,017 ETH, valued at around $1.7 billion at current prices. That makes it one of the largest Ethereum treasury holders globally.
• SharpLink’s latest ETH accumulation comes just days after the firm appointed former BlackRock executive Joseph Chalom as co-CEO. Chalom previously led digital asset strategy and partnerships at BlackRock, and his move to SharpLink was called a “resounding validation” of its ETH treasury strategy by Lubin.

Nasdaq-listed vape stock soars 600% after $500M BNB treasury move

• CEA Industries (ticker: VAPE), a Colorado-based vape company, surged 600% on Monday after announcing a $500 million PIPE deal led by 10X Capital and YZi Labs to build the largest publicly traded BNB treasury in the U.S.
• The upsized deal includes $400 million in cash and $100 million in crypto, with potential to raise another $750 million through warrant exercises — totaling up to $1.25 billion in gross proceeds.
• The BNB treasury strategy will be managed by 10X Capital and supported by YZi Labs, the family office of former Binance CEO Changpeng "CZ" Zhao. Incoming executives include Galaxy Digital co-founder David Namdar and former Kraken director Saad Naja.
• CEA’s stock surged to $65, lifting its market cap from $56 million to nearly $370 million in a single session.

Mill City Ventures III raises $450M for Sui treasury

• Specialty finance firm Mill City Ventures III has raised $450 million to begin building a corporate treasury of Sui (SUI), the Layer 1 blockchain developed by Mysten Labs.
• The raise was led by London-based crypto hedge fund Karatage and backed by the Sui Foundation, with additional participation from Pantera Capital, Galaxy Digital, Electric Capital, and others.
• Mill City Ventures III says Sui’s infrastructure is well suited for institutional-scale crypto and AI applications. The firm’s stock jumped 16% on the news. The company has a market cap of around $40 million.

PayPal expands crypto reach with PYUSD-powered payments

• PayPal has launched “Pay with Crypto,” a new service that lets U.S. merchants accept over 100 cryptocurrencies — including memecoins like TRUMP and FARTCOIN — with all payments converted into its in-house PYUSD stablecoin.
• The new payment feature is designed to simplify international transactions for small businesses by offering lower fees (0.99% in year one, rising to 1.5%), near-instant access to proceeds, and the ability to earn 4% return on PYUSD balances held in PayPal.
• Initially, PayPal will support wallets from Coinbase, OKX, Binance, Kraken, Phantom, MetaMask, and Exodus. Depending on the token, the conversion to dollars will be handled via centralized or decentralized exchanges.
• This marks a deeper integration of PYUSD into PayPal’s ecosystem. Launched in 2023, the stablecoin — issued by Paxos — is now the 12th-largest globally with a market cap of $900 million.

SEC delays decision on Truth Social’s bitcoin ETF

• The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has postponed its decision on whether to approve the Truth Social Bitcoin ETF, pushing the deadline to Sept. 18. The ETF, proposed by Trump Media & Technology Group, would expand the Trump family’s growing crypto footprint.
• The delay is part of a broader pattern, with the SEC also deferring its ruling on Grayscale’s proposed Solana ETF until Oct. 10. Since January, the agency has approved spot bitcoin and ether ETFs, while holding off on altcoin-based products.

In the next 24 hours

• The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) begins its two‑day monetary policy meeting on Tuesday, wrapping up with a policy decision and Chair Jerome Powell’s press conference on Wednesday.
• U.S. economic updates — including the consumer confidence index, job openings, and home price data — are scheduled for release on Tuesday.

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