The Daily: Tether buys 8,888 BTC, several altcoins suddenly crash on Binance and more

The following article is adapted from The Block’s newsletter, The Daily, which comes out on weekday afternoons.Happy Tuesday! An air of uneasy anticipation hangs over the crypto market as traders adopt a "wait-and-see" approach ahead of President Trump's "Liberation Day" tariff announcements tomorrow.In today's newsletter, Tether buys another 8,888 BTC, multiple altcoins suddenly crash on Binance, "BitBonds" get pitched as a solution to Trump's budget-neutral bitcoin reserve strategy and more.Meanwhile, Taiwan mulls a special crypto act that experts say may squeeze out small players, Timmy Shen reports.Let's get started.Tether bought 8,888 bitcoin in Q1, bringing its total holdings to $7.8 billionStablecoin issuer Tether bought 8,888 BTC in Q1 for approximately $735 million, bringing its total bitcoin holdings to 92,646 BTC, worth more than $7.8 billion.The purchase makes Tether the sixth-largest holder of bitcoin in a single wallet.The transaction was recorded on March 31, consistent with Tether's pattern of accumulating bitcoin throughout each quarter and moving the funds to its reserve wallet once the quarter concludes.Tether first began its bitcoin acquisition strategy in September 2022, later committing 15% of its net profits to quarterly purchases.At current prices, Tether is sitting on roughly $3.9 billion in unrealized gains from its bitcoin holdings.Tether remains one of the most profitable companies in the industry, generating a net profit of $13 billion in 2024, with USDT being the world's largest stablecoin at a total supply of about $145 billion.The firm has also recently expanded into other sectors, including bitcoin mining, energy production and AI.Meanwhile, Japanese investment firm Metaplanet announced it acquired another 696 BTC for $67.9 million, bringing its total holdings to 4,046 BTC, worth over $340 million.Multiple altcoins suddenly crash on BinanceSeveral altcoins, including the Solana-based memecoin Act 1 The Prophecy (ACT), DeFi social trading platform DeXe (DEXE) and onchain liquidity network dForce (DF), crashed between 20% and 50% on Binance on Tuesday, despite a broader market uptick.Other tokens, including KAVA, HIPPO, BANANAS31, LUMIA, TST and QUICK also fell significantly.After a preliminary investigation, Binance said several small-cap tokens declined due to VIP users cross-selling tokens in the spot market and a non-VIP user transferring and selling tokens in a short period of time. As prices dropped, some users closed their futures contracts, further affecting other tokens."Since the tokens are all circulated in the secondary market, the platform cannot intervene in any selling behavior of users. We will continue to investigate this incident," the crypto exchange said, noting that no large profit accounts had been identified.ACT, once a major player in last year's AI memecoin craze, has seen its market cap plummet over 85% from its peak, now sitting around $95 million.'BitBonds' pitched as bitcoin reserve solutionThe Bitcoin Policy Institute proposed bitcoin-enhanced U.S. Treasury Bonds, or "BitBonds," as a solution to help implement President Trump's budget-neutral Strategic Bitcoin Reserve plans.According to the policy brief, BitBonds would allocate 90% of proceeds to government funding and 10% to purchasing bitcoin for the reserve.Investors would benefit from a fixed 1% annual interest payment in U.S. dollars and potential bitcoin appreciation at maturity, while the government would also retain a portion of any bitcoin gains, the authors said.In the think tank's estimates, BitBonds could generate up to $700 billion in savings over ten years by reducing Treasury bond interest rates, helping to address the U.S. government's $9.3 trillion debt refinancing challenge and rapidly expanding the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.Additional benefits include a significant reduction in the overall national debt if bitcoin continues to appreciate over time and offers tax-advantaged returns for American households, democratizing access to bitcoin's potential growth, per the proposal.Coinbase staking suit axed in three US statesKentucky dropped its lawsuit against Coinbase just days after passing a "Bitcoin Rights" bill, which includes mining and staking exemptions from securities legislation.Kentucky had previously alleged that Coinbase violated local securities laws by offering digital asset staking services to investors within the state.South Carolina and Vermont also recently ended litigation against the crypto exchange, following the Securities and Exchange Commission's lead, though Coinbase is still facing staking-related complaints in seven other states.Responding to the news, Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal urged Congress to "end this litigation-driven, state-by-state approach" with a federal crypto regulatory framework.OG bitcoiner blasts into spaceChun Wang, co-founder of the Bitcoin mining pool F2Pool, became the first known bitcoiner to launch into Earth's orbit aboard SpaceX's Fram2 mission late Monday.Fram2, funded and commanded by Wang, made history with the four-person all-civilian crew becoming the first humans to enter polar orbit.The crew will conduct 22 research experiments over the next few days, aiming to "advance humanity's capabilities for long-duration space exploration."SpaceX CEO Elon Musk confirmed in 2021 that the private firm holds bitcoin on its balance sheet, with blockchain analytics platform Arkham estimating it currently owns 8,285 BTC worth around $700 million.In the next 24 hoursU.S. mortgage data are released at 7 a.m. ET on Wednesday.ECB President Christine Lagarde will speak at 2:45 p.m. U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to speak at 3 p.m. U.S. FOMC member Adriana Kugler follows at 4:30 p.m.IOTA and Ethena are set for token unlocks.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 3.5/4 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.