The Daily: Robinhood’s expansion plans, BlackRock’s staked Ethereum ETF filing, Strategy’s biggest Bitcoin buy since July, and more
The following article is adapted from The Block’s newsletter, The Daily, which comes out on weekday afternoons.Happy Monday! Bitcoin opened the week above $90K as whales scooped up roughly 45,000 BTC in seven days, a surge analysts say signals quite large holder accumulation even as markets brace for a pivotal Fed decision on Wednesday.In today's newsletter, Robinhood acquires an Indonesian crypto trading firm, BlackRock files for a staked Ethereum ETF, Strategy buys another 10,624 BTC for $963 million, and more.Meanwhile, Binance's post confirming insider trading sends the "year of the yellow fruit" memecoin even higher.P.S. Don't forget to check out The Funding, a biweekly rundown of crypto VC trends. It's a great read — and just like The Daily, it's free to subscribe!Robinhood to enter Indonesia by acquiring local crypto trading firmRobinhood is eyeing a move into Indonesia by agreeing to buy brokerage firm Buana Capital Sekuritas and crypto trading platform Pedagang Aset Kripto.The company is targeting Southeast Asia's largest economy as its next growth market and awaits regulatory approval to close the deals in early 2026.Robinhood plans to keep serving Buana Capital's existing clients while rolling out U.S. equities and crypto trading to Indonesian users.Head of Asia at Robinhood, Patrick Chan, framed Indonesia as a fast-growing trading market that fits the company's mission to democratize finance.Pieter Tanuri, the majority owner of both Buana Capital and Pedagang Aset Kripto, is expected to remain involved as a strategic advisor to Robinhood following the acquisitions.Meanwhile, in the U.S., Robinhood is courting high-volume crypto traders by expanding its fee tiers from three to seven, cutting rates as low as 0.03%.Simultaneously, EU users are gaining access to XRP, SOL, DOGE, and SUI perpetual futures with up to 7x leverage as Robinhood races to win more traders.BlackRock moves to add staked Ethereum ETF with fresh SEC filingBlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, filed an S-1 registration statement for its iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF, moving to add a staked ETH product to its lineup.The filing follows a recent Delaware entity registration for the ETF, confirming expectations that a formal SEC submission was imminent.BlackRock said the fund aims to track the cryptocurrency's price and staking rewards from a portion of its ETH, when it can do so without triggering legal or tax risks for the trust.The firm's filing builds on momentum from its existing $17 billion AUM spot Ethereum ETF as more issuers race to add staking and diversify their crypto offerings under a friendlier U.S. regulatory climate.Michael Saylor's Strategy buys another 10,624 BTC for $963 millionStrategy bought another 10,624 BTC for $963 million at an average price of $90,615 per bitcoin between Dec. 1 and Dec. 7, according to an 8-K filing with the SEC on Monday — its largest purchase block since July.Strategy now holds a total of 660,624 BTC — worth around $60 billion — bought at an average price of $74,696 per bitcoin for a total cost of around $49.4 billion, according to the company's co-founder and executive chairman, Michael Saylor.The firm funded the latest purchases through fresh at-the-market sales of its MSTR common stock and STRD perpetual preferred shares.The haul pushes Strategy's paper gains above $10 billion, while its recently established $1.44 billion USD Reserve gives it runway to meet dividend and debt obligations for the next 12 to 24 months.Vitalik Buterin pushes for trustless gas futures market to hedge Ethereum feesVitalik Buterin proposed a trustless onchain gas futures market to let users hedge future Ethereum fee spikes and gain clearer visibility into expected base fee levels.Industry leaders pushed back, with Flashbots' Hasu arguing the market lacks a natural short side and would struggle to scale meaningfully.Buterin floated the idea of the protocol itself taking the short side, but other critics said Ethereum's burn mechanism and incentive design still make viable shorting difficult.The debate follows recent network upgrades — including Fusaka and a higher block gas limit — as the Ethereum community advances broader work on cost structure, privacy, and scaling.Paradigm bets $13.5 million on stablecoin startup Crown in first Brazil investmentParadigm made its first investment in Brazil by backing stablecoin startup Crown with $13.5 million at a $90 million valuation as the crypto VC firm targets the country's fast-growing digital asset market.Crown claims its BRLV token, pegged to the Brazilian real and backed by government bonds, has already become the world's largest emerging-market stablecoin with strong institutional demand.Crown's co-founders said they built BRLV to offer native yield and institutional-grade safety, positioning the stablecoin to scale toward an ambitious R$1 trillion circulation target over the next decade.In the next 24 hoursIt's quiet on the economic calendar front.Movement is among the crypto projects set for token unlocks.Bitcoin MENA concludes in Abu Dhabi.Never miss a beat with The Block's daily digest of the most influential events happening across the digital asset ecosystem.Disclaimer: This article was produced with the assistance of OpenAI’s ChatGPT and reviewed and edited by our editorial team.Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.© 2025 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.