Kaupr Today - Tuesday 9 June 2026
Good morning and welcome to Kaupr Today!
Bitcoin had its worst week in years. Treasury firms shed billions. The Strategy model is under scrutiny. And yet — two of the smartest money managers in digital assets bought aggressively into the dip.
That tension is today's edition. The crash, the contrarians, and the bigger structural story that neither Bitcoin bulls nor bears are talking about enough: the infrastructure that will carry the next phase of digital finance.
Stories in today's newsletter:
♦️ Bitcoin treasury firms shed $62 billion — is the Strategy model broken?
♦️ Standard Chartered: this is the buying zone.
♦️ Saylor sold the symbolism — then bought $101 million in Bitcoin.
♦️ Tom Lee bought 127,000 ETH at the year low and called the selloff "superficial."
♦️ Brookfield: the real stablecoin prize is the infrastructure, not the coin.
♦️ Mastercard will now settle in stablecoins — 24/7, including weekends.
Have a great read!
Morten
📖 Missed yesterday's edition? Monday's Kaupr Today covered the token and agentic economy — Goldman Sachs tokenizes real estate, Morgan Stanley opens its wealth platform to AI agents, and Lovable becomes Europe's most valuable AI startup. Read it here: Token economy, agentic economy — Mon 8 Jun
Bitcoin's brutal week — and what comes next
Bitcoin treasury firms shed $62 billion — and the Strategy model is under scrutiny
The combined market value of publicly traded Bitcoin treasury companies has fallen from nearly $134 billion at the October peak to around $72 billion. Shares of most treasury firms have fallen further than Bitcoin itself. Smaller firms that copied the Strategy model without its scale are now scrambling for capital. "By the time a growing number of companies were attempting to replicate the MSTR playbook, much of the scarcity value had arguably already been captured."
Why it matters: This is a stress test of a financial model. The question is whether a leveraged, mark-to-market-sensitive corporate Bitcoin treasury is structurally sound — or structurally broken by design.
Source: Bitcoin treasury firms shed $62 billion in deepening crypto rout — Bloomberg / Moneyweb
Standard Chartered holds its $100,000 year-end target — and calls this the buying zone
Standard Chartered's Geoffrey Kendrick called last week "painful" but held his year-end Bitcoin target of $100,000. He expects Strategy to resume aggressive buying as selling pressure eases. "When we look back at the end of 2026 with Bitcoin at $100K, we will say this was the buying zone we all wanted."
Why it matters: Holding the $100,000 target through a 15% crash — and naming this the buying zone — is a meaningful contrarian signal from one of the most consistently bullish institutional voices on Bitcoin.
Source: 172-year-old bank makes 2026 Bitcoin prediction amid market crash — TheStreet / Yahoo Finance
Bitcoin bounced to $63,700 — and crushed $504 million in short positions
Bitcoin's recovery from last week's lows triggered the largest single-day short liquidation since late April — $504 million in 24 hours across more than 104,000 traders. The bounce has since eased as renewed Iran-Israel strikes sent oil up and Asian stocks lower. Volatility stays elevated ahead of US inflation data and the SpaceX IPO on June 12.
Why it matters: The short squeeze confirms significant bearish positioning has now been flushed. Whether this marks a floor depends largely on macro developments this week.
The bottom fishers
Saylor triggered the crash — then bought $101 million in Bitcoin
Strategy bought 1,550 Bitcoin for $101 million between June 1 and June 7 at an average of $65,332 — well below the $77,135 it received on the 32 BTC sale that triggered the rout. The purchase was financed through an at-the-market equity programme. Total holdings now stand at 845,256 BTC with a $1 billion cash reserve.
Why it matters: The small sale was a treasury action. This purchase is the signal. Saylor sold the symbolism — and then bought the dip.
Tom Lee calls the ETH selloff "superficial" — and buys 127,000 ETH at the year low
Bitmine bought 126,971 ETH for approximately $214 million as ETH hit its lowest price in more than a year — its largest single-week purchase of 2026. Chairman Tom Lee attributed the crash to an AI system discovering a Zcash vulnerability, not Ethereum fundamentals. "The broad selloff in crypto, in our view, is a superficial take." Bitmine now holds 4.59% of total ETH supply, with 85% staked generating $230 million in projected annualised staking revenue.
Why it matters: While most treasury firms paused, Bitmine accelerated. Lee is not just buying the dip — he is calling it publicly and backing it with the firm's largest purchase of the year.
Source: BitMine adds 126K ETH at year low in biggest 2026 buy — CoinMarketCap Academy
The plumbing is the prize
The real stablecoin prize is not the coin — it is the infrastructure
Brookfield Private Equity CEO Anuj Ranjan argues in Reuters that the biggest returns from the stablecoin boom will come from owning the infrastructure — not the coins. Issuance platforms, wallets, custody, and KYC/AML tools are systematically underbuilt. Stablecoins are projected to grow up to 15-fold by 2030. The parallel: railroads did not drive 19th-century wealth creation — the steel, coal, and logistics networks did.
Why it matters: When the CEO of one of the world's largest private equity firms makes the strategic case for stablecoin infrastructure investment, the thesis has crossed from crypto into mainstream capital allocation.
Source: The real stablecoin play is in the plumbing — Reuters
Mastercard will now settle transactions in stablecoins — around the clock, including weekends
Mastercard is expanding settlement to support regulated stablecoins alongside existing fiat processes — intraday, on weekends, on holidays, and onchain. USDC, PYUSD, RLUSD and others will be available across Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, Base, Arbitrum, and XRPL. Cross River, Lead Bank, and Nuvei are among the first participants.
Why it matters: Card transactions have always been authorized instantly but settled in batches. Mastercard moving to always-on stablecoin settlement is not a crypto product — it is a structural change to how global payments actually work.
Source: Mastercard expands on-chain settlement in bet on stablecoins and always-on finance — CoinDesk
Kaupr picks
Eight ways to own crypto — which one are you? From the sovereign Bitcoin maximalist to the convenience-driven ETP investor — Kaupr has mapped the full spectrum of crypto ownership. Eight archetypes, one question.
Who shapes the future of digital finance? Sellers, buyers, observers, investor relations — the digital asset ecosystem is mirroring traditional finance. Kaupr maps the players most people haven't noticed yet.
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Best regards
Morten Myrstad
Founder & Editor