Animoca Brands co-founder and executive chairman Yat Siu expects continued growth through 2025 due to a more crypto-friendly regime in the US.
Animoca Brands reported $314 million in bookings for 2024, marking a 12% year-over-year increase.
Bookings is a term commonly used in the gaming sector to represent the sum of revenue and deferred revenue. It includes all payments received and potential sales based on contracts not yet fulfilled.
According to Animoca Brands, its Digital Asset Advisory (DAA) business accounted for $165 million in bookings in 2024, a 116% increase over the previous year. The company’s subsidiaries and incubated projects generated $110 million in bookings, while its investment activities contributed $39 million.
Arkham Intelligence detected a massive Bitcoin transaction from Nucleus Marketplace, a dark web drug market that has been totally inactive for nine years. Nucleus moved $77.5 million to three wallets, leaving $365 million behind.
So-called “ancient” Bitcoin whales pop up in the space periodically, but an extant darknet vendor is still quite rare. Nucleus’ assets have appreciated in value astronomically, but it will be very difficult to convert this BTC into fiat currency.
Dark Web Bitcoin Whale Wakes Up
If there’s one constant in the crypto space and finance more broadly, it’s that money never sleeps. Earlier today, on-chain analysis firm Arkham Intelligence discovered rapid action from a long-dormant source.
Nucleus Marketplace, a darknet market with zero activity in the last nine years, woke up to move over $77.5 million worth of Bitcoin.
“Nucleus Marketplace was a darknet drug market, and it was believed that the founder had either been apprehended by law enforcement or had exit-scammed when the market went offline in 2016. The BTC held in their wallets has not been moved until today,” Arkham claimed.
This defunct darknet market didn’t immediately move all its Bitcoin, and Nucleus still retains about $365 million in BTC. The price of Bitcoin has shot up astronomically since the company’s heyday; at no point in 2016 did BTC cross the $1,000 price point.
Whoever controls this wallet is acting somewhat conservatively, moving these assets into three separate wallets.
Darknet market transactions are somewhat less common, although a few remain at large despite major legal crackdowns.
As novel as this darknet wallet may be in 2025, it doesn’t seem too likely to have much of an impact on Bitcoin. At the moment, it’s impossible to tell who is controlling Nucleus’ wallet, be it an original operator, associate, or hacker.
Regardless of who controls the wallet, it would be very difficult for anyone to convert this BTC into fiat without notice. These wallets are constantly monitored, and any suspicious activity could trigger community actions.
Welcome to the US Morning Crypto News Briefing—your essential rundown of the most important developments in crypto for the day ahead.
Grab a coffee to see what experts say about Bitcoin’s (BTC) price amid recovery efforts. The status of Bitcoin as a hedge against inflation and economic uncertainty is progressively becoming questionable, with institutional influence adding to the concerns.
Can Strategy’s $555 Million BTC Purchase Send Bitcoin Past $90,000?
Michael Saylor, the chairman of Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), revealed the firm’s latest Bitcoin purchase, comprising 6,556 BTC tokens worth approximately $555.8 million. With this, the firm has attained a Bitcoin yield of 12.1% year-to-date (YTD) in 2025.
“MSTR has acquired 6,556 BTC for ~$555.8 million at ~$84,785 per bitcoin and has achieved BTC Yield of 12.1% YTD 2025. As of 4/20/2025, Strategy holds 538,200 BTC acquired for ~$36.47 billion at ~$67,766 per bitcoin,” Saylor shared.
Strategy uses the Bitcoin Yield YTD to measure the BTC holdings per share increase. This model has been a key part of their financial strategy firm since their first Bitcoin purchase in August 2020.
This acquisition aligns with a bullish market sentiment for Bitcoin, which is steadily nearing the $90,000 milestone, as the recent US Crypto News indicated.
Despite a mild recovery in Bitcoin prices this week, up by over 3% in the last 24 hours, it is worth noting that Bitcoin is highly sensitive to economic indicators.
Similarly, the global market is highly sensitive to monetary policies set by major economies, particularly the US. BeInCrypto contacted Paybis founder and CEO Innokenty Isers for insights on the current market outlook, particularly for Bitcoin.
“Given the strong concentration of investors in technology stocks, shifts in trade policies and government interventions that influence key indices like the Nasdaq Composite create ripple effects across financial markets,” Isers told BeInCrypto.
“With its relatively higher volatility, risk-averse investors may favor alternative inflation hedges instead of Bitcoin,” he added.
Iners expressed cognizance of the longer stretch of the trade war and the potential inflation that will emerge. Based on this, he noted that capital allocation to Bitcoin as a hedge against economic instability might be reduced.
Strategy’s Stock Premium Narrows as Bitcoin Hype Cools
Meanwhile, Strategy has seen a significant shift in its stock valuation dynamics over the past year. Saylor recently revealed that as of Q1 2025, over 13,000 institutions and 814,000 retail accounts held MSTR directly.
“An estimated 55 million beneficiaries have indirect exposure through ETFs, mutual funds, pensions, and insurance portfolios,” Saylor added.
According to data on Bitcointreasuries.net, the premium investors once paid for exposure to its Bitcoin holdings has notably narrowed.
Specifically, the NAV multiplier, a measure of how much the stock trades above the value of Strategy’s Bitcoin assets, has decreased compared to last year. This indicates that MSTR is now trading closer to the actual value of its Bitcoin reserves.
In 2024, investors were willing to pay a substantial premium for MSTR shares, driven by Bitcoin’s hype and MicroStrategy’s aggressive accumulation strategy.
“I don’t know if buying strategy equity is a good idea for the government. The stock would just pump, and it’s likely trading at a premium over NAV with a higher risk profile. Also, I believe the gov will find it difficult to find institutions that would be willing to sell their BTC in large quantities,” an analyst said recently.
The shrinking NAV multiplier suggests a more cautious market sentiment. Analysts believe this reflects a shift toward valuing MicroStrategy based on its fundamentals rather than speculative Bitcoin enthusiasm.
This suggests a maturing market approach to the company’s unique investment strategy.
This chart shows how Strategy’s stock price (blue) moves with Bitcoin price (orange). When Bitcoin goes up, MicroStrategy usually follows, but it swings even more.
However, the NAV multiplier has narrowed compared to last year, meaning MicroStrategy’s stock is now trading closer to the actual value of its Bitcoin holdings.
Last year, investors paid a bigger premium for exposure to MSTR, but that gap has shrunk. This suggests a more cautious sentiment or a shift toward valuing the company based on fundamentals rather than just Bitcoin hype.
Accumulation signals from whale activity and consolidation at $0.60 indicate a possible rally for Pi Network, despite concerns about the lack of exchange listings and use cases.
