Hey there, PoI readers! 💫

It's your favorite crypto connoisseur, Mochi, back with another serving of tantalizing tech and web3 news. From BitMine's CEO shake-up while sitting on a mountain of Ether and Eric Trump's volatility pep talk during the market bloodbath, to Binance embracing BlackRock's tokenized Treasurys and the U.S.-China AI showdown that's got Silicon Valley sweating – we've got a lot to unpack. So, buckle up and get ready for a wild ride through the wonderland of digital assets and cutting-edge tech!

INTEL BRIEF

🟧 BitMine Immersion Technologies appointed Chi Tsang as CEO while holding $11 billion in Ether, making it the largest ETH treasury company in crypto.

🟧 Eric Trump brushed off the crypto market crash as "volatility being your friend" while his company American Bitcoin added 3,000+ BTC to its treasury during the downturn.

🟧 Binance now accepts BlackRock's BUIDL token as off-exchange collateral for institutional traders, joining the growing trend of exchanges embracing tokenized Treasury products.

🟧 Databricks co-founder Andy Konwinski warns the U.S. is losing its AI research edge to China and argues that embracing open-source development is critical to maintaining dominance.

BitMine Names New CEO While Sitting on the Biggest Ether Pile in Crypto

BitMine Immersion Technologies just pulled a classic corporate shuffle, and it's happening right as they're sitting pretty on what's believed to be the biggest pile of Ether in the entire crypto industry. Talk about timing, right?

Chi Tsang is now taking the CEO throne from Jonathan Bates, and he's inheriting quite the treasure chest. We're talking about more than 3.5 million ETH tokens – that's roughly $11 billion worth of digital gold (well, digital silver if Bitcoin is gold, but you get the idea). At $3,175 per token, BitMine isn't just playing in the crypto sandbox; they've basically bought the entire playground.

Tsang seems pretty pumped about the gig, claiming BitMine is "positioned to become a leading financial institution" with its massive Ethereum holdings. The company also brought in three new independent board members, because apparently, when you're managing $11 billion in crypto, you need some extra adult supervision.

Here's where it gets interesting: BitMine is basically the Ether equivalent of Michael Saylor's Strategy (you know, that Bitcoin-hoarding company that won't stop buying BTC). While Saylor's out there stacking sats, Chairman Tom Lee and BitMine are going all-in on Ethereum. It's like the ultimate crypto rivalry, except they're probably both winning.

Even Cathie Wood's ARK Invest is feeling the FOMO, reportedly scooping up about $2 million worth of BitMine shares earlier this month. Though, not everything's rosy – BitMine's stock has taken a 35% nosedive over the past 30 days, landing at $34.43. Ouch.

And BitMine isn't alone in this treasury game. Forward Industries is speculated to be sitting on roughly 6.82 million Solana tokens, while Leap Therapeutics (now calling itself Cypherpunk Technologies, because rebrand szn) just announced a $50 million Zcash buying spree. Looks like corporate crypto hoarding is the hot new trend!

Chi Tsang is BitMine's new CEO, taking over a company holding $11 billion in Ether (3.5M+ tokens)

BitMine is now the largest Ethereum treasury company, rivaling Strategy's Bitcoin dominance

Stock's down 35% in 30 days despite ARK Invest buying $2M in shares, while other companies jump on the crypto treasury bandwagon

Eric Trump Says Buy the Dip as Bitcoin Drops 25% From Its Peak

Eric Trump is over here treating market chaos like it's a Black Friday sale. The co-founder of American Bitcoin and son of President Donald Trump just told The Wall Street Journal that volatility isn't scary – it's practically a feature, not a bug.

"I think volatility is your friend," Trump said, as Bitcoin briefly dipped below $95,000 – sitting roughly 25% lower than its early-October high. Ouch? Not according to Eric. For him, this is just the price of admission for those juicy, outsized crypto returns.

And if you think Bitcoin holders have it rough, spare a thought for the altcoin crowd. Major digital assets are believed to be down anywhere from 5% to 11%, part of a brutal stretch that kicked off with the Oct. 10 market crash that allegedly obliterated around $19 billion in leveraged positions. The entire crypto market has reportedly shed more than $1 trillion from its peak. That's trillion with a T, folks.

But Trump's message is clear: "Anybody who can't embrace volatility in cryptocurrency should probably get out of it." He added, "It's actually a great opportunity for us to buy." And he's not just talking the talk – American Bitcoin has been walking the walk, adding more than 3,000 BTC in the third quarter alone, bringing their total stash to over 4,000 BTC.

Trump's strategy focuses on increasing the company's Bitcoin-per-share ratio, which he believes will boost shareholder value in the long run. This accumulation spree is speculated to be part of a broader push by the Trump administration for crypto adoption, including January's executive order on digital assets and the passage of key stablecoin legislation.

Though ironically, Bitcoin's price is reportedly sitting at roughly the same level it was on Jan. 1. So much for that presidential pump!

Eric Trump embraces crypto volatility as Bitcoin drops 25% from its peak, calling it a "great opportunity to buy"

American Bitcoin added 3,000+ BTC in Q3, now holding over 4,000 BTC total while the market shed $1 trillion

The Oct. 10 crash wiped $19 billion in leveraged positions, but Trump's doubling down on his Bitcoin-stacking strategy

Binance Now Accepts BlackRock's Tokenized Treasuries as Collateral

Binance just announced it's accepting BlackRock's BUIDL token as off-exchange collateral. Translation? Institutional traders can now keep their assets tucked safely with custodians while still trading on the exchange. It's like having your cake and eating it too, except the cake is tokenized Treasurys.

So what exactly is BUIDL? It's BlackRock's USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund – basically a tokenized, interest-bearing money market fund issued through Securitize. Think of it as a boring Treasury bond that got a blockchain makeover and can now generate yield while you're busy day-trading. And when we say BlackRock, we mean THE BlackRock – the world's largest asset manager sitting on a casual $13.4 trillion in assets as of Q3 2025.

Here's where it gets spicy: Binance is reportedly launching BUIDL on BNB Chain too, expanding beyond Ethereum and opening up the token to more onchain applications. The integration allegedly allows traders to earn yield on BUIDL while simultaneously using it to back their trading positions. That's some next-level efficiency right there.

Binance isn't alone in this tokenized Treasury party. Back in July, Deribit and Crypto.com jumped on the BUIDL bandwagon, accepting it as collateral for institutional clients. Then in September, Bybit followed suit with support for QCDT, a Dubai-approved tokenized money-market fund. It's like everyone suddenly realized that yield-bearing, low-volatility assets make pretty great collateral. Who knew?

The numbers are believed to be pretty impressive too. Tokenized US Treasurys have become the second-largest RWA category after stablecoins, with a market cap of roughly $8.57 billion. BUIDL is leading the pack with about $2.52 billion, followed by Circle's USYC at $1.06 billion and Franklin Templeton's BENJI with $850 million.

Basically, what we're witnessing is TradFi going full degen – except in the most boring, compliance-friendly way possible!

Binance accepts BlackRock's BUIDL as off-exchange collateral, letting institutions trade while earning yield on tokenized Treasurys

BUIDL is expanding to BNB Chain, joining a growing trend of exchanges (Deribit, Crypto.com, Bybit) accepting tokenized assets

Tokenized Treasurys hit $8.57B market cap, with BUIDL leading at $2.52B as the second-largest RWA category after stablecoins

Databricks Founder Says China Is Winning the AI War Thanks to Open Source

Andy Konwinski, co-founder of Databricks and AI research firm Laude, just dropped a reality check that's making Silicon Valley squirm: America is allegedly losing its AI dominance to China, and he's calling it an "existential" threat to democracy. No pressure, right?

Speaking at the Cerebral Valley AI Summit this week, Konwinski dropped this bomb: "If you talk to PhD students at Berkeley and Stanford in AI right now, they'll tell you that they've read twice as many interesting AI ideas in the last year that were from Chinese companies than American companies." Yikes. That's like showing up to a race and realizing you forgot your shoes.

Here's the problem, according to Konwinski: while major U.S. AI labs like OpenAI, Meta, and Anthropic are still doing groundbreaking work, they're keeping everything locked behind proprietary walls. Meanwhile, these companies are reportedly hoovering up top academic talent with multimillion-dollar salaries that universities can't compete with. So the brightest minds are leaving academia, and the free exchange of ideas that once fueled innovation is believed to be drying up.

Konwinski points to the Transformer architecture – you know, the breakthrough that basically birthed generative AI – as proof that open research works. It came from a freely available research paper, and look what happened. "The first nation that makes the next 'Transformer architectural level' breakthrough will have the advantage," he warned.

And here's where China enters the chat. According to Konwinski, the Chinese government is actively supporting and encouraging AI labs like DeepSeek and Alibaba's Qwen to go open source, allowing others to build on their work. This collaborative approach is speculated to lead to faster breakthroughs, while the U.S. is allegedly stuck in a "mine, mine, mine" mentality.

"We're eating our corn seeds; the fountain is drying up," Konwinski said dramatically. "Fast-forward five years, the big labs are gonna lose too." His solution? "We need to make sure the United States stays number one and open."

It's a spicy take, but given Konwinski's credentials – he runs both a venture fund and the Laude Institute accelerator – he's not just talking. He's putting money where his mouth is.

U.S. PhD students read 2x more interesting AI research from China than American companies, signaling a potential shift in innovation leadership

Major U.S. labs keep research proprietary while offering huge salaries that drain academic talent and allegedly stifle open collaboration

China encourages open-source AI (DeepSeek, Qwen), while Konwinski warns U.S. risks losing its edge without embracing open research

And that's a wrap, my lovely PoI readers! I hope this edition left you feeling informed, entertained, and maybe even a little bit richer (in knowledge, of course). From corporate crypto hoarding to AI supremacy battles, it's clear that the tech world never sleeps – and neither does your trusty newsletter writer!

Remember to stay curious, stay informed, and keep spreading the love. Until next time, this is Mochi, signing off with a virtual high-five!

P.S. Don't forget to share your thoughts, questions, and favorite crypto puns with us. very voice matters in the PoI community! 📣❤️ Share the newsletter

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