Public Keys is a regular collection from that tracks the major officially traded crypto firms. This week: GameStop makes a big splash with its Bitcoin news, next scrambles with a debt giving, BTC workers are in for a world of hurt as fees stretch, and Robinhood gets a New Jersey slap on the wrist for its forecast business album.
Store presses play on Cryptocurrency
There was a lot of enjoyment for GameStop’s Q4 income statement because it was strongly hinted—and next confirmed—that the business was going to start buying Bitcoin.
( There’s a rapidly growing list of publicly traded companies that buy Bitcoin. )
The video game retailer, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the GME ticker, reported$ 4.8 billion in cash and cash equivalents as of February 1—up from$ 921 million the same time last year.
But instead of using a piece of that cash to buy Bitcoin, it’s raising$ 1.3 billion in a convertible word giving. Equal investors are not pleased, but traders are finding a way to gain on the news: Little level yesterday was the highest it’s been since meme stock influencer Roaring Kitty made his return next summer.
However, GME has erased its Wallet knock and sank near a six-month small. By Friday afternoon, the price of GME was hovering around$ 22 and had lost 12.9 % over the past five days.
Buyers have noted on X, originally Online, that more than 71 % of GME amount is being traded off markets in dark lakes. This is how institutional shareholders, like fence funds, mutual funds, and retirement carry out big transactions without having to quickly share them formally.
The outstanding, shrinking Bitcoin costs
Troubling information for workers: Bitcoin transaction costs have been shrinking.
BlocksBridge Consulting noted in its email this week that exchange fees today make up only 1.25 % of total prevent rewards. That’s the lowest it’s been since April 2022.
” Without a significant rise in Bitcoin’s market value or a renaissance in exchange fees, these miners may soon experience an overwhelming condition: they may no longer be able to compete”, BlockBridge researchers wrote.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin and the rest of the crypto market, are in the throes of a rout. The global crypto market cap has sunk by 5.5 % in the past 24 hours and the price of Bitcoin is down 3.7 % to$ 83, 804.62, according to CoinGecko data.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin miners told at a conference earlier this week that pivoting data warehouses to serve high-performance computing and AI clients has come with its own set of challenges.
For starters, Bitcoin miners can—and often do—turn their rigs off to save money. But that doesn’t fly when you’re handling workloads for AI startups.
” We’re interruptible]as Bitcoin miners], whereas a traditional data center needs]to be ] on 100 % of the time”, Shanon Squires from Compass Mining told adding that this ups costs big time.
Paging CoreWeave quote
Speaking of Bitcoin miners pivoting to AI, Nvidia-backed AI hyperscaler CoreWeave began trading on the Nasdaq under the CRWV ticker—or so we were told.
( Remember: CoreWeave, began as a crypto miner focused on Ethereum in 2019, before gradually pivoting to AI as Ethereum switched to a proof-of-stake consensus in 2022 and rendered Ethereum miners obsolete. )
The company’s CEO rang the opening bell on Friday to mark the IPO, which priced shares at$ 40 and sought to raise$ 1.5 billion. For a time, it was expected that CRWV would raise up to$ 2.7 billion with price estimates as high as$ 55 per share.
But for the better part of the day, it was impossible to find a stock quote for CRWV. And when it did show up, around 1: 30 p. m. Eastern Time, the share price had fallen 5.5 % to$ 37.81. But it recovered slightly and looked to be ending its first day of trading having gained 2.4 %.
An unnamed person familiar with the matter told that three unnamed investors bought half of the$ 1.5 billion offering. And Nvidia was rumored to snap up$ 250 million worth of the offering. In other words, a handful of wealthy people juiced the IPO to make it appear more successful than it otherwise would have been, according to ‘s reporting.
One of the issues analysts have flagged with CRWV is the background of its founders. As Matt Turck, partner at venture capital firm First Mark, put it on X, they come from a financial, rather than technological, background.
But even with two finance co-founders, the financials haven’t looked great.
” CoreWeave remains deeply unprofitable”, Turck wrote in a blog post. ” It incurred a net loss of$ 31M in 2022, which widened to$ 593.7 million in 2023 and ,$ 863.4 million in 2024 (-45 % margin ). In other words, expenses grew almost as fast as revenue – the 2024 net loss was about 45 % of revenue ( an improvement from 2023, when the net loss exceeded 2× annual revenue )”.
Time out for Robinhood?
First, the good news: Robinhood put some extra shine on its Gold premium membership earlier this week.
The crypto and stock trading platform, which trades on the Nasdaq under the HOOD ticker, is , now going to include access to Robinhood Strategies, which aims to deliver “tailor, expert-managed portfolios”, tickets to exclusive events such as the Oscars, private jet travel, and same-day delivery of cash direct to a customer’s doorstep.
This led Bernstein analysts to set a$ 105 price target for HOOD—more than double the company’s current share price of$ 41.65.
But, according to , state regulators have a problem with another recent update from the company: Its sports prediction markets.
The New Jersey Division of Gaming and Entertainment sent a letter to the companies, alleging the markets are “unauthorised sports wagering services” and should not be available to state residents.
Midnight tonight is the deadline for Kalshi and Robinhood to acknowledge receipt of the letter and shut off access for New Jersey residents. At approximately 3 p. m. Eastern Time, this New Jersey resident could still see the markets in her Robinhood app.
Other keys
Trading platform eToro, which paired its crypto offerings back to Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Bitcoin Cash as part of an SEC settlement, is now making a run for an initial public offering. But it remains to be seen whether eToro will bring back crypto to lure in new users.
But having been on- and off-again with most crypto assets doesn’t seem to have hurt its performance.
In its SEC filing, the company reported that crypto accounted for 38 % of the company’s commissions, up from 17 % the year before. And total commissions grew to$ 931 million, up 46 % from$ 639 million in 2023.
Could this be the bull that leads current tech IPO season?
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