The Daily: Kalshi raises $300M at a $5B valuation, bitcoin miners’ power capacity is giving them an edge in AI, and more

The following article is adapted from The Block’s newsletter, The Daily, which comes out on weekday afternoons.

Happy Friday! Is it so over again already? Bitcoin slumped below $118,000 again this morning, souring sentiment during a month that historically returns its best gains. Nevertheless, analysts said that crypto market structure remains strong, and the "Uptober" narrative is still intact.

In today's newsletter, Kalshi raises $300 million at a $5 billion valuation amid its overseas expansion plans, bitcoin miners' power pipelines are giving them a strategic advantage in the global AI infrastructure boom, Coinbase and Mastercard spark a $2 billion bidding war for stablecoin firm BVNK, and more.

Meanwhile, officials reportedly probe Polymarket over suspicious trades predicting the Nobel Peace Prize winner.

Let's get started!

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Kalshi's $300M raise values firm at $5B as it tops Polymarket in global market share

Predictions platform Kalshi announced Friday it has raised over $300 million at a $5 billion valuation amid plans to open its markets to over 140 countries in a major international push.

• Kalshi's Series D round drew backing from Sequoia Capital, a16z, Paradigm, CapitalG, and Coinbase Ventures, signaling deep crypto-industry alignment.
• Kalshi's Head of Crypto John Wang previously told The Block the platform aims to be on "every major crypto app" within 12 months, expanding its reach beyond existing distribution deals that let users trade event contracts via Robinhood and Webull.
• The company, which is on pace for $50 billion in annualized trading volume, eclipsed Polymarket to claim over 60% global market share last month.
• The raise was also shared in the same week that Polymarket announced a $2 billion investment from NYSE parent firm, Intercontinental Exchange, valuing it at $9 billion post-money.
• Historically, Kalshi focused on a compliance-first strategy in the U.S. market, while rival Polymarket is now looking to re-enter the U.S. after gaining approval from the CFTC.

Bitcoin miners' power edge makes them key AI infrastructure players, Bernstein says

Analysts at Bernstein said bitcoin miners are emerging as unexpected winners in the artificial intelligence boom, thanks to their access to pre-secured, high-density power capacity, and infrastructure already designed for compute-intensive operations.

• They noted that bitcoin miners have collectively secured access to more than 14 gigawatts of grid-connected power, with their early build-outs now making them attractive strategic partners for hyperscalers and AI cloud providers.
• This ready infrastructure could cut AI data center deployment timelines by as much as 75%, the analysts said, giving miners a head start over greenfield developers who face multi-year interconnection queues.
• Bernstein highlighted IREN — top public bitcoin miner by market cap — as their top pick, citing its 3 GW power capacity pipeline, 23,300 GPUs, and an expected $500 million AI cloud revenue run-rate by early 2026.

Coinbase and Mastercard in $2 billion bidding race for stablecoin firm BVNK

Coinbase and Mastercard are separately pursuing the acquisition of London-based stablecoin firm BVNK in a deal valued between $1.5 billion and $2.5 billion, Fortune reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

• Coinbase leads the bidding, the sources said, positioning it ahead of Mastercard in what could become the largest such acquisition to date, surpassing Stripe's $1.1 billion deal for stablecoin payments platform Bridge last year.
• Founded in 2021, BVNK processes over $20 billion annually for enterprise clients like Worldpay, Flywire, and dLocal, and recently secured a strategic investment from Citi Ventures.
• The bidding war underscores surging institutional demand for stablecoin infrastructure following Circle's IPO and the passage of the U.S. GENIUS Act, which established a regulatory framework for dollar-pegged stablecoins.

Morgan Stanley to open crypto access to all client accounts, including retirement plans

Morgan Stanley will open crypto fund access to all client accounts, including retirement plans, on Oct. 15, removing wealth and risk-profile barriers that had previously limited participation, CNBC reported.

• The change follows President Trump's August executive order directing regulators to ease restrictions on crypto assets in 401(k) plans, though full regulatory changes are still pending.
• Advisors will now be able to recommend bitcoin and ether funds from issuers like BlackRock and Fidelity to a much broader investor base.
• Morgan Stanley's Global Investment Committee also recently endorsed crypto allocations of up to 4% in model portfolios, framing the asset class as speculative but increasingly mainstream.

Zcash reclaims $200 level after three years amid renewed interest in privacy coins

Zcash surged over 40% in 24 hours to trade above $200 for the first time in three years, outpacing majors while the broader privacy-focused cryptocurrency cohort climbed about 15%.

• Proponents attribute the rally to rising financial surveillance concerns, new wallet integrations for shielded ZEC, and surging trading volumes across the privacy sector.
• While ZEC is up nearly 400% in the past month alone, it still trades significantly below its 2016 all-time high, with some viewing sharp spikes in its prices as potential local top signals for the broader crypto market.

Looking ahead to next week

• U.S. CPI inflation data are due on Wednesday. U.S. PPI and UK GDP figures are scheduled to follow on Thursday. Eurozone CPI numbers and U.S. nonfarm payrolls are due on Friday.
• U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is scheduled to speak on Tuesday, as is Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey. ECB President Christine Lagarde will speak on Thursday.
• Aptos, Starknet, Sei, Arbitrum, ZKsync, Wormhole, and ApeCoin are among the crypto projects set for token unlocks.
• Digital Asset Summit and the European Blockchain Convention get underway.

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.

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