The Daily: Sen. Lummis reintroduces bill for Trump's Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, StarkWare establishes BTC treasury of its own and more

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

Happy Tuesday! Memecoin influencer Murad Mahmudov once told us to "believe in something" as his public portfolio soared to an all-time high of $56 million in January. Now, with that same portfolio down over 80% to below $10 million, it seems that belief might just be that memecoins are largely worthless.

In today's newsletter, Sen. Cynthia Lummis reintroduces her strategic bitcoin reserve bill, Starknet developer StarkWare establishes a BTC treasury of its own, Bitwise launches a new ETF of corporate bitcoin hodlers and more.

Meanwhile, Axelar Foundation discloses strategic AXL token sales worth $30 million.

Let's get started.

Sen. Lummis reintroduces strategic bitcoin reserve bill

Sen. Cynthia Lummis has reintroduced a bill called the "Boosting Innovation, Technology and Competitiveness through Optimized Investment Nationwide Act," or BITCOIN Act, to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, aligning with President Trump's recent executive order.

• Lummis' bill reintroduction, last proposed in July 2024, has a few minor changes and would create the reserve to help "bolster America's balance sheet," according to a statement.
• "By transforming the President's visionary executive action into enduring law, we can ensure that our nation will harness the full potential of digital innovation to address our national debt while maintaining our competitive edge in the global economy," Lummis said.
• The bill proposes a decentralized network of secure bitcoin vaults operated by the U.S. Treasury and a program to acquire 1 million BTC over a set period — an approximate 5% stake of the total bitcoin supply — mirroring the size and scope of gold reserves held by the United States.
• The reserve would be funded by reallocating existing assets within the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department rather than new government spending.
• Republican senators Jim Justice, Tommy Tuberville, Roger Marshall, Marsha Blackburn and Bernie Moreno are cosponsors of the bill. Republican Rep. Nick Begich has introduced a companion bill in the U.S. House of Representatives, according to the statement.

StarkWare establishes BTC reserve of its own

Blockchain scaling company StarkWare has established a "Strategic Bitcoin Reserve," committing to holding a growing portion of its treasury in BTC as part of its operational strategy.

• "We put our money where our mouths are," StarkWare CEO and co-founder Eli Ben-Sasson told The Block, without revealing how much bitcoin it holds or aims to acquire. "I believe every blockchain company should and will hold bitcoin, and we who are working on Bitcoin day in day out should lead by example."
• Valued at $8 billion in its last investment round, StarkWare is the core contributor to Ethereum Layer 2 Starknet. However, the firm has allocated increased time and resources to Bitcoin research over the past few years.
• Starknet aims to become one of the first Layer 2s to settle on both Bitcoin and Ethereum, with StarkWare actively advocating for scaling solutions like OP_CAT to enable trustless Bitcoin-to-Starknet transfers.

Bitwise launches a new ETF of corporate bitcoin hodlers

Crypto asset manager Bitwise has launched its Bitcoin Standard Corporations ETF (OWNB) to track companies holding at least 1,000 BTC in their treasury.

• Strategy, the largest corporate bitcoin holder with 499,096 BTC ($41 billion), is the top-weighted asset in the ETF, followed by public mining firms MARA, CleanSpark and Riot Platforms.
• Boyaa Interactive, Metaplanet, Aker ASA, Bitfarms, BitFuFu and Galaxy Digital round out the fund's top 10 holdings.
• The ETF is weighted based on bitcoin ownership, capping the largest position at 20% and assigning a 1.5% weight to qualifying firms whose BTC holdings make up less than one-third of their balance sheet.

Cboe BZX files to add staking to Fidelity's Ethereum ETF

Cboe BZX Exchange has filed a 19b-4 form with the Securities and Exchange Commission to allow staking in Fidelity's spot Ethereum ETF (FETH), aiming to enhance returns for investors.

• Several issuers had included staking in their initial applications but removed the feature at the request of the SEC under its previous Chair Gary Gensler.
• If approved, the proposed rule change would allow Fidelity's fund to stake all or a portion of the ether held through one or more staking providers. Any rewards generated by staking would be treated as income, according to the filing.
• Franklin Templeton, Grayscale and 21Shares are also seeking to add staking to their spot Ethereum ETFs under the new pro-crypto administration.

Taproot Wizards to hold first public auction of Bitcoin Ordinals collection

Bitcoin Ordinals project Taproot Wizards is holding its first public sale of its Wizards NFT collection on March 25, with an initial tranche of whitelisted assets priced at 0.2 BTC and the rest sold via a Dutch auction.

• The 2,121 Wizards NFTs, minted two years ago but never sold, are modeled after a cartoon image that served as an unofficial mascot for Bitcoin in its early days.
• The sale excludes 13 honorary Wizard images that resemble notable figures like Casa founder Jameson Lopp and crypto trader Cobie that haven't been inscribed.

In the next 24 hours

• The latest U.S. CPI inflation data are due at 8:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday. Est. MoM 0.3%; Core 0.3%. Est. YoY 2.9%; Core 3.2%.
• ECB President Christine Lagarde will speak at 4:45 a.m.
• Ethena and Aptos are set for token unlocks.

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