Avalanche Push for $1B Treasury, BitMine Continues Ethereum Buying Spree, Ethena Withdraws USDH Bid on Hyperliquid

The Avalanche Foundation is advancing plans to raise $1 billion through two U.S.-based digital asset treasury companies, as reported by the Financial Times.

This initiative aims to create structured vehicles for long-term AVAX accumulation, mirroring strategies like MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin treasury model. The funds would be used to purchase millions of AVAX tokens directly from the foundation’s reserves at a discounted price, potentially reducing circulating supply and supporting ecosystem growth.

Two separate $500 million raises. First: Led by Hivemind Capital (part of Dragonfly Capital ecosystem), via a private investment in an unidentified Nasdaq-listed company. Advised by Anthony Scaramucci (former White House press secretary and SkyBridge Capital founder). Expected to close by end of September 2025.

Second: Via a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) backed by Dragonfly Capital, with a longer timeline (potentially October 2025). At current AVAX prices around $28–$29, $1B equates to roughly 34–35 million tokens—about 8% of the ~422 million circulating supply.

This could tighten liquidity and signal strong institutional commitment which aligns with a surge in corporate crypto treasuries, which have raised over $16B in 2025 per Kaiko data. Avalanche is also attracting TradFi players like BlackRock, Apollo, and Wellington for tokenized fund pilots.

AVAX surged ~8–10% in the 24 hours post-report, trading near $29 with network activity spiking. On X, discussions highlight this as a “buyback” play to boost adoption, with users like @ThuanCapital and @thecryptobasic emphasizing the Hivemind/Dragonfly involvement. This move positions Avalanche as a capital markets contender against Ethereum and Solana, though AVAX has lagged in 2025 price gains.

BitMine’s Latest ETH Acquisition

BitMine Immersion Technologies (NYSE: BMNR), the Nasdaq-listed Bitcoin miner pivoting to an Ethereum treasury powerhouse, acquired 46,255 ETH (valued at ~$201M) from BitGo. This brings their total ETH holdings to 2,126,018 tokens, worth approximately $9.24B at current prices (~$4,350–$4,400 per ETH).

This follows a $358M ETH purchase (80,325 ETH) from Galaxy Digital and FalconX last week, and broader accumulation of 319K+ ETH (~$1.4B) in early September. Total crypto + cash reserves now exceed $9.2B, including 192 BTC (~$215M) and $266M cash.

BitMine aims to control 5% of ETH’s total supply (~120M ETH) as a long-term reserve asset. Chairman Tom Lee (Fundstrat) views ETH as a “supercycle” bet tied to Wall Street’s blockchain shift and AI/token economies. Backed by heavyweights like Cathie Wood’s ARK, Founders Fund, Pantera, and Galaxy Digital.

On the same day, BitMine invested $20M in Eightco Holdings (NASDAQ: OCTO) via a $270M PIPE, supporting OCTO’s “Moonshot” strategy to build a Worldcoin (WLD) treasury—aligning with BitMine’s 1% balance sheet allocation to ETH ecosystem projects.

BitMine now holds ~1.8% of ETH’s circulating supply, outpacing rivals like SharpLink Gaming ($3.63B ETH). It’s the #1 ETH corporate treasury and #2 overall crypto treasury (behind MicroStrategy). ETH rose ~2.3% post-announcement, trading above $4,400 amid ETF inflows ($172M net yesterday, led by BlackRock’s ETHA).

On X, on-chain trackers like OnchainLens confirmed the transfer, sparking buzz about institutional ETH hoarding. BMNR stock dipped slightly (~0.5%) to ~$42 amid high volume ($6.4B daily average, #10 most liquid U.S. stock). These developments underscore 2025’s treasury trend, with $16B+ raised for crypto holdings YTD.

Both signal maturing institutional adoption—AVAX for L1 competition, ETH for DeFi/TradFi convergence. Watch for deal closures and Nasdaq/SEC scrutiny on these models.

Ethena Withdraws USDH Bid on Hyperliquid Amid Community Pushback

Ethena Labs, the team behind the synthetic stablecoin USDe, announced its withdrawal from the competitive bidding process to issue Hyperliquid’s native stablecoin, USDH.

This decision came after direct feedback from Hyperliquid’s validators and community members, who expressed concerns that Ethena—despite its strong track record—was not a “native” project to the Hyperliquid ecosystem, maintained broader product ambitions beyond stablecoins, and wasn’t committed exclusively to Hyperliquid as a partner exchange.

Ethena’s founder, Guy Young, acknowledged these points as valid in a detailed X post, describing the community’s engagement as “incredible” and congratulating rival bidder Native Markets on their strong position.

Hyperliquid, a decentralized perpetuals exchange known for its high trading volumes (recently hitting $330B monthly with just 11 employees), is launching USDH to reduce reliance on bridged assets like USDC, which currently dominate 95% of its $5.6B stablecoin supply.

The USDH issuer will control significant revenue from reserve yields (potentially $200M annually for the ecosystem), making the bid a high-stakes contest. Ethena entered the race on September 9 as the sixth bidder, proposing a fully backed USDH using USDtb (tied to BlackRock’s BUIDL fund via Anchorage Digital), pledging 95% of net revenue back to Hyperliquid, and committing up to $150M in incentives.

Other contenders included established players like Paxos (emphasizing PayPal/Venmo integrations and zero-cost ramps), Frax, Agora, Sky (formerly MakerDAO), and the upstart Native Markets. Validators vote on the issuer via staked HYPE tokens, with the process weighted by stake.

Prior to Ethena’s withdrawal, Native Markets had secured about 30-53% validator support, while Ethena held around 8%. Polymarket prediction markets now give Native Markets a 91-92% chance of winning ahead of the September 14 vote, with Paxos at ~7%.

Why the Withdrawal?

Community sentiment favored “native” teams deeply embedded in Hyperliquid’s ecosystem, viewing Native Markets (a team formed specifically for this bid) as a better cultural fit despite its limited track record.

Critics, including Dragonfly’s Haseeb Qureshi, questioned the process’s fairness, suggesting it was “custom made” for Native Markets and that validators showed bias against outsiders like Ethena, Paxos, and Agora. Young pushed back on complaints about Native Markets’ credibility, calling it a “level playing field where emergent players can win the hearts of the community.”

Ethena’s synthetic stablecoin model (USDe, which hit $12B market cap in August) also drew skepticism in this context, as Hyperliquid prioritizes fiat-backed reserves for USDH stability. Despite the exit, Ethena emphasized it will “put our full force” into Hyperliquid integrations, viewing the USDH bid as the “least interesting” part of its plans.

Key focus areas include:

hUSDe: A native synthetic dollar tailored for Hyperliquid users. USDe-enabled tools like savings accounts and cards. Enabling better risk management on Hyperliquid’s perps markets. Advanced features like reward-bearing trading collateral, modular prime brokerage, and perpetual swaps on equities.

Young framed this as Ethena’s core strength: “outcompete everyone else on product regardless.” This aligns with Ethena’s recent momentum, including $500M+ in cumulative revenue and integrations across Aave, Pendle, and Coinbase Institutional.

Native Markets’ likely win reinforces the platform’s community-driven ethos, potentially boosting HYPE (which hit $55 ATH amid the bids) through revenue shares for buybacks and ecosystem growth. It could shape USDH’s risk profile toward more localized, fiat-backed issuance.

The move avoids a divisive vote and lets the team pivot to high-upside products without the 5% revenue cap from USDH yields (especially in a declining rate environment). It highlights tensions between established DeFi players and ecosystem natives.

This underscores governance’s role in stablecoin issuance, with Hyperliquid’s process favoring alignment over pedigree— a model that could influence other chains. The vote concludes on September 14, but Ethena’s withdrawal has already streamlined the path for Native Markets.