Gerber Warns Strategy’s Bitcoin Leverage Could Trigger a Selloff
In Bitcoin news today, Ross Gerber, CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, argued this week that gold remains easier to use for everyday transactions than Bitcoin, reviving a long-running debate over the asset’s real-world utility. The comments arrived alongside a sharper attack on Michael Saylor’s Strategy Inc. (NASDAQ: MSTR), which Gerber warned could “nuke” Bitcoin if its leveraged accumulation model unwinds, according to a note shared with Benzinga. Gerber’s utility argument centers on a simple observation: gold can be exchanged in far more physical settings worldwide than Bitcoin, even after years of industry claims about the cryptocurrency’s payment potential. Saylor kinda makes me over Bitcoin. Hard to take it seriously anymore. — Ross Gerber (@GerberKawasaki) August 14, 2026 Trader Scott Melker pushed back on that framing, arguing that crypto-linked Visa and Mastercard cards already allow holders to spend Bitcoin at nearly any point of sale that accepts plastic. That distinction matters for anyone tracking Bitcoin payments adoption, since card-rail spending routes through a custodian converting BTC to fiat at the point of sale rather than merchants accepting Bitcoin directly on-chain. Bitcoin News: Saylor’s Leverage Model Draws Fire SOURCE: Yahoo Finance Gerber’s more pointed criticism targets Strategy’s approach of selling equity to fund Bitcoin purchases. He questioned why an investor would accept diluted exposure at a premium to the underlying asset, a dynamic visible in Strategy’s stock, which trades at roughly 1.61x its Bitcoin holdings. “The fact they can sell stock at some inflated valuation to then buy Bitcoin is crazy bad math for the investor. Why would you buy $100 of Bitcoin for $200?” Gerber said Bitcoin’s periodic hard corrections could force Strategy into selling if its debt-funded structure comes under pressure, calling that scenario the mechanism that could “nuke” the cryptocurrency. Strategy has countered that its shift toward perpetual preferred stock, which carries no maturity date, insulates the company from forced liquidations even in an 80% drawdown. The company held 629,376 BTC worth more than $72Bn as of its latest disclosure, after adding 430 BTC for roughly $51.4M, yet its stock has lagged Bitcoin’s own price performance over the same stretch. Discover: Everyone’s Got a Take. Get Free $25 to Actually Trade Yours Bitcoin Miners Betting Big on AI Former Bitcoin miner @RiotPlatforms just locked a ~$9B, 20-year lease with @AnthropicAI for 191 MW of AI capacity in Texas. More and more miners are following the profits towards AI infra; meanwhile, mining hashrate is down 21% from 2025 highs… pic.twitter.com/Fyr0iQxcLa — 𝕄 𝕁 (@skizdidlyidler) August 16, 2026 In other Bitcoin news, Gerber also questioned whether Bitcoin’s network foundation is weakening as major miners redirect infrastructure toward artificial intelligence and high-performance computing. That trend is documented rather than speculative: several listed miners have already converted mining capacity into AI hosting contracts, a shift detailed in coverage of Riot Platforms’ recent AI leasing arrangement. Core Scientific, for example, has been converting a 300-megawatt Texas facility, once used for Bitcoin mining, into an AI data center campus, with colocation revenue now outpacing its digital-asset self-mining revenue. CoinShares projections cited in coverage of the trend suggest mining revenue could fall from roughly 85% of total revenue in early 2025 to under 20% by the end of 2026 for miners with significant AI contracts, according to crypto.news. That reallocation of capital doesn’t signal the disappearance of Bitcoin mining, but it does mean the economics increasingly favor AI hosting over pure hash-rate production, a tension that supports part of Gerber’s broader skepticism without proving his claim that Bitcoin mining AI conversions have permanently capped the network’s upside. Trade Bitcoin on Bybit and Get a Chance to Win Our $1,000 USDT Airdrop The post Gerber Warns Strategy’s Bitcoin Leverage Could Trigger a Selloff appeared first on Cryptonews.
Sam Altman ChatGPT AI Predicts Bitcoin Could Be Entering Its Most Important 5 Months of 2026
Two dates in Washington and one week of ETF flows explain why the calendar suddenly matters. ChatGPT AI predicts that the next five months will be unusually consequential, and the price prediction for Bitcoin runs from $78,000 to $92,000 by the end of 2026, with $85,000 as the base case. September 15 is the first trigger. The Senate is expected to test whether the Clarity Act can clear the 60-vote threshold. The passage would remove a major U.S. policy overhang. That alone changes the risk calculus for allocators who have stayed on the sidelines. Source: ChatGPT AI Bitcoin Price Prediction ARMA is the bigger Bitcoin-specific catalyst. The House proposal would authorize Treasury purchases of up to 1 million BTC over five years. It also requires a 20-year federal hold on those coins. Buying at that scale with a two-decade lockup would remove supply permanently rather than temporarily. Flows are already turning. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs pulled in $853.5 million in the week ended August 7, their strongest week since mid-April. The bear case reverses that same picture. Renewed ETF outflows are the first pressure point. Continued Strategy selling compounds it. Together, they could drag BTC toward $52,000 to $56,000. Bitcoin (BTC) 24h7d30d1yAll time Discover: Everyone’s Got a Take. Get Free $25 to Actually Trade Yours Bitcoin Price Prediction: Five Months, Two Bills, And One Very Large Buyer The weekly chart shows a cycle that has already peaked. Bitcoin topped near $126,000 in mid-2025 and has trended lower since. Late 2025 broke the structure, taking the price from $120,000 toward $84,000. Early 2026 delivered the deepest leg down near $58,000. Spring produced a recovery attempt to roughly $82,000. That failed by June, and the price returned to the low $60Ks. Recent weeks have built a shallow base. Higher lows are forming, though without any strong upward push behind them. The weekly close reads $63,078, down 2.74% and $1,780. The weekly range covered $62,470 to $65,333. Support sits at $62,000, then $58,000 and $56,000 as the zone ChatGPT flags. Resistance appears at $70,000, then $80,000 and $92,000. RSI reads 39.06 with its signal line just above at 39.32. The two lines have converged almost exactly, separated by roughly a quarter point. That reading sits well below the midline and is near oversold. Momentum is weak, though the flattening suggests the decline is losing force. ChatGPT’s base case sits 35% above this level. September 15 is the first date that tells you whether the market starts pricing it. Discover: Your Market Calls Are Worth Something. Start with a free $25 on Kalshi If September 15 Is the Trigger, Kalshi Lets You Trade the Decision Before Bitcoin Reacts Bitcoin holders are waiting for Washington to move first. Kalshi gives traders a way to take a position on the event itself. The platform lets users trade on real-world outcomes across politics, economic data, Fed decisions, crypto, and other market-moving events. That matters when the Bitcoin thesis is increasingly tied to specific dates rather than vague expectations. If the market is watching whether legislation clears Congress, whether policy shifts, or whether another macro catalyst lands, Kalshi turns that uncertainty into a tradable probability. You are no longer forced to buy BTC and hope the eventual reaction matches your thesis. You can trade the outcome directly. With September 15 now shaping up as one of Bitcoin’s most important near-term dates, that distinction matters. Eligible new users who sign up through CryptoNews can also receive $25 through our referral link. Claim Your $25 on Kalshi The post Sam Altman ChatGPT AI Predicts Bitcoin Could Be Entering Its Most Important 5 Months of 2026 appeared first on Cryptonews.
Jane Street Group reported holding more than 1.2 million shares of Bitwise’s XRP ETF as of June 30, 2026, up from 20,605 shares three months earlier. The 60-fold increase appeared in the trading firm’s second-quarter Form 13F filed with the SEC. The filing highlights Jane Street’s position in the XRP ETF market, but its role as a major market maker that actively trades ETFs and options means the holding should not necessarily be viewed as a simple long-term directional bet on XRP. Jane Street’s Q2 2026 Form 13F covers holdings as of June 30. The filing reported more than 1.2 million Bitwise XRP ETF shares, compared with 20,605 ordinary shares at the end of the first quarter. Discover: The Best Crypto to Diversify Your Portfolio The firm also reported exposure to XRP-related funds from Franklin Templeton, Grayscale, Canary Capital, and 21Shares. That places Jane Street across several XRP ETF products rather than solely in Bitwise’s fund. Bitwise’s product stands out because it holds spot XRP, unlike other ETFs tracking the asset. The fund launched in November, a few weeks after Canary Capital’s ETF reached Wall Street, and has since become the largest of the group discussed in the filings. The XRP increase in reported shares is substantial, but Jane Street’s market-making and ETF and options trading activities provide important context. The source material cautions that the position should not automatically be treated as a straightforward long-term bet on XRP. Xrp (XRP) 24h7d30d1yAll time The filing establishes the firm’s reportable securities position at the June 30 cutoff. On its own, that reported position does not establish Jane Street’s investment intention or the duration for which it plans to hold the shares. Jane Street’s reported stake nevertheless makes it a leading participant in XRP ETF adoption among the institutions cited in the filings. Trade XRP on Bybit and Get a Chance to Win Our $1,000 USDT Airdrop Other Institutions Reporting XRP ETF Positions Bank of America reported 13,260 shares of the Volatility Shares XRP ETF, a position valued at about $76,000. Unlike Bitwise’s product, the Volatility Shares ETF is not a spot ETF. Morgan Stanley reported positions in three XRP-related funds at the end of the second quarter: 6,715 shares of Franklin’s XRP ETF, 255 shares of REX-Osprey’s product, and 567 shares of Bitwise’s fund. The holdings are small relative to Morgan Stanley’s overall portfolio, but add to the list of institutions reporting regulated XRP exposure. Other reported positions included nearly 200,000 Bitwise XRP ETF shares held by Wolverine Asset Management and 86,744 Capital XRP ETF shares reported by Gallacher Capital Management. Main Street Group and National Bank of Canada reported holding 5,261 and 3,848 XRP-related shares, respectively. Discover: The Best Token Presales The post Jane Street Reports Major Position Across XRP ETF appeared first on Cryptonews.