The US CPI has been released, and despite the results being neither great nor terrible, the market has reacted positively. In the crypto world, many major altcoins have seen growth, especially ETH.

Market Overview

US equities had a strong session on Tuesday (August 12th, US), with all three major indices rising by over 1.1%. Stock futures continued their upward trend. Gold and oil saw minor corrections, hovering around $3397 per ounce and $63 per barrel, respectively.

Bitcoin held steady around $119,000, maintaining its position above $100,000 for 97 consecutive days. ETH saw a significant increase, surging to $4600, very close to its previous peak. Many other altcoins also saw growth. The overall crypto market capitalization increased to $4.1 trillion.

US BTC spot ETFs continued to see inflows, with $65.9 million on Tuesday. Meanwhile, ETH spot ETFs stood out, attracting a massive inflow of $523.9 million—a new record. Recently, ETH ETFs seem to be gaining attention and attracting significant institutional capital.

CPI Data Released, Market Reacts Positively

The US Consumer Price Index (CPI) for this month came in at 2.7%, lower than the forecast of 2.8% and unchanged from the previous period. However, Core CPI, which excludes volatile items like food and energy, registered a 3.1% increase, which matched the forecast but was higher than the previous period's 2.9%.

The labor market is weaker than previously thought and is at risk of a rapid downturn, while inflation remains "persistent" though not accelerating sharply. Overall CPI has stalled since late last year, while Core CPI has been trending upwards for the past three months. A real-time inflation tracker, TrueFlation, shows a rate of 1.83%, which is below the Fed's 2% target and typically precedes the official CPI by 1–2 months. If this trend repeats, inflation could cool down in the September-October period. This is fueling market expectations that the Fed might cut interest rates at its September meeting, with some investors even forecasting a 0.5% reduction. However, the Fed could still hesitate if inflation unexpectedly surges.

Political controversy is also adding pressure. President Donald Trump has criticized Fed Chairman Jerome Powell for his slow response in cutting interest rates, while also raising concerns about the Fed's headquarters renovation project, which has seen its budget swell from $50 million to $3 billion.

Data from the past 5 years shows that the purchasing power of the US dollar has been significantly eroded: new car prices are up 21%, health insurance 24%, groceries 24%, rent 27.5%, dining out 30%, used cars 33%, electricity nearly 38%, gasoline 44%, home prices 51.6%, household gas 56%, heating oil 57.7%, car insurance 60%, and eggs 157%. These trends highlight the importance of investing, as they encourage investors to avoid holding cash and seek assets that can preserve value, such as real estate, stocks, or crypto.

The Trend of Holding ETH and Other Altcoins Beyond BTC

Tom Lee continues to strongly advocate for ETH. His company, BitMine Immersion Technologies, has just announced plans to issue up to $20 billion in stock to expand its Ethereum holdings. BitMine currently holds approximately 1.15–1.22 million ETH, valued at roughly $5 billion, which is nearly 1% of the total circulating supply. Tom Lee's ambition rivals MicroStrategy's long-term Bitcoin accumulation strategy—a company that now holds over 628,000 BTC, valued at around $75 billion. With its new fundraising plan, BitMine aims to increase its holdings to 5% of the total ETH supply, solidifying its position as one of the largest institutional holders of Ethereum globally. To reach this scale, BitMine will need to raise many times the $20 billion it just announced.

Unlike Bitcoin's fixed supply of 21 million BTC, Ethereum does not have an absolute cap on its issuance. However, the crucial factor is not the limit but the net inflation rate. Data shows that Ethereum's annual inflation rate over the past 30 days is about 0.74%, lower than Bitcoin's current rate of 0.83%. In the long term, as the ETH supply continues to grow but the new issuance rate slows down, the inflation rate is expected to gradually decrease. Ethereum operates on a Proof-of-Stake mechanism, which requires the issuance of new tokens to reward stakers and maintain network security. While this theoretically makes the ETH supply infinite, in practice, fee burning policies (EIP-1559) combined with increasing usage demand can create deflationary pressure in some periods.

Tom Lee believes that holding a large amount of ETH is not just a long-term investment strategy but also a way to bet on the growth of the entire Ethereum ecosystem. While still far from MicroStrategy's scale, BitMine's plan reflects a clear trend: large companies are beginning to expand their accumulation strategies to include digital assets beyond Bitcoin, aiming to access long-term growth opportunities.

Companies Continue to Accumulate BTC

Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), Norway's sovereign wealth fund, has increased its indirect exposure to Bitcoin by 192% year-over-year, reaching 7,161 BTC (equivalent to approximately $844 million) as of mid-2025, up from 3,821 BTC at the end of 2024. This means the fund added 3,340 BTC in just the first half of this year.

The majority of this indirect BTC increase comes from increased share ownership in publicly listed companies that hold significant amounts of Bitcoin, including:

• MicroStrategy (MSTR): +3,005.5 BTC
• Marathon Digital (MARA): +216.4 BTC
• Block (SQ): +85.1 BTC
• Coinbase (COIN): +57.2 BTC
• Metaplanet: +50.8 BTC

Additionally, NBIM also holds a smaller indirect amount of BTC through investments in GameStop, Tesla, Mercado Libre, Jasmine, Virtu, and WeMade. This trend reflects the growing inclination of investment funds and large financial institutions to accumulate Bitcoin through the shares of companies that hold BTC, rather than buying directly in the market.

Other Key Crypto & Market Updates

Metaplanet purchased an additional 518 BTC, raising its total holdings to 18,113 BTC.

Smarter Web Company, a London-listed company, bought an additional 295 Bitcoin as part of its "10-Year Plan," which includes a treasury strategy prioritizing BTC accumulation. After this transaction, the company's total Bitcoin holdings reached 2,395 BTC.

Vanguard has officially become the second-largest shareholder of Strive, a Bitcoin treasury company founded by Vivek Ramaswamy. This highlights the paradox of a traditional asset manager gaining indirect exposure to Bitcoin through index investing.

Stripe has partnered with Paradigm to develop a Layer 1 blockchain called Tempo, which is compatible with Ethereum, to expand payment capabilities in the crypto sector. This project is part of Stripe's broader strategy, which includes acquiring stablecoin and crypto wallet companies, helping the company gain more control over the crucial stablecoin payment infrastructure and solidify its position in the digital finance industry.

JD.com, China's second-largest e-commerce company, is expanding into the DeFi sector by recruiting experts to develop new financial products such as stablecoins and programmatic financial services. Concurrently, the company is implementing a PayFi model, which combines payments and finance through smart contracts, allowing for the tokenization of assets in its supply chain to increase value. This strategy combines domestic regulatory compliance with international innovation, targeting both the Web2 and Web3 spaces, helping JD.com enhance its competitive position.

Do Kwon, co-founder of Terraform Labs, has pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges related to the 2022 Terra collapse. He has agreed to pay a $19 million fine and could face a maximum sentence of 12 years in prison under a plea deal with prosecutors. If the sentences run consecutively, the total time could be up to 25 years. The sentencing hearing is scheduled for December 11th. Do Kwon was arrested in Montenegro in March 2023 for using a forged document before being extradited to the US and held without bail.

Sources

• Bloomberg
• CoinDesk
• U.S. Treasury
• TradingView
• Reuters
• SEC
• White House Press Office
• CryptoQuant
• The Block
• Coingecko
• Dune Analytics
• Truth Social
• The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget
• BitMine Immersion Technologies Investor Relations
• Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM)
• Stripe Official Blog
• JD.com Official Announcements
• Paxos
• Shift4
• Blue Origin
• Virgin Galactic
• Vanguard Investor Relations
• Metaplanet
• Smarter Web Company
• Do Kwon Legal Filings

Disclaimer

This article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Please do your own research before making investment decisions.