Strategy Rockets 13%, Bitmine Immersion Technologies Rallies 13%, Coinbase Jumps 11% as Bitcoin Surges Past $68,000

David Moadel

Wed, August 19, 2026 at 7:38 PM GMT+3 5 min read

Quick Read

MSTR and COIN each jumped double digits Wednesday but remain down roughly 35%-39% for 2026, making this a violent short-covering bounce rather than a confirmed trend reversal.
Goldman Sachs nearly quadrupled its MSTR stake to $555 million even as Strategy reversed course by selling Bitcoin to fund preferred dividends.
Bitmine Chairman Tom Lee holds 4.8% of Ethereum's circulating supply, giving him a direct financial stake in the ETH narratives he publicly promotes.
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Even with the Clarity Act stalled in Congress, the he U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is proposing new cryptocurrency-related rules; this framework is known as "Regulation Crypto Assets." This helps to explain why Strategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) stock is up 13% to $104.72 midday Wednesday, as part of a broad rally in crypto-linked equities as Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) punches back above $68,000 for the first time in months.

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Bitmine Immersion Technologies (NYSEAMERICAN:BMNR) stock is climbing 13% to $20.63. Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) shares are up 11% to $162.88. The move marks the sharpest one-day pop for these crypto proxies all summer.

Yet, even after today's spike, all three remain deeply negative on the year. This is a sharp one-day rally inside a brutal 2026.

Bitcoin's Rebound Off Summer Lows

Bitcoin is trading at $68,500, up 6% over the past 24 hours. Ethereum (CRYPTO:ETH) trades at $1,908 as of August 19, according to CoinGecko data.

No company-specific catalyst has surfaced. The move looks like a rebound off summer lows that pushed Bitcoin's year-to-date drawdown deep into the red, possibly boosted by the SEC's proposed crypto rules.

Strategy Leads the Bitcoin Proxies Higher

Strategy stock is up 13% to $104.72, though shares remain down 39% year to date (YTD) through Tuesday's close. Strategy's leverage to Bitcoin cuts both ways, and it's cut hard in 2026.

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The company has sold Bitcoin in multiple tranches since May to fund dividends on its STRC preferred shares, reversing the accumulation-only approach that built its reputation. In Q2 2026, 12 of Strategy's 15 largest institutional holders added to their positions, with combined holdings rising $700 million. That trails the Q1 2026 figure, when 13 top holders added and combined holdings rose $4.6 billion.

Capital International Investors remains the largest holder after adding $346 million to lift its stake to $3.49 billion, or 9.4% of shares outstanding. BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Institutional Trust grew its position by $84 million, and Goldman Sachs nearly quadrupled its Strategy stake to $555 million. UBS trimmed $142 million. Executive Chairman Michael Saylor posted Wednesday on X, stating that "some are trying to bring Bitcoin to billions" while "others are trying to win arguments on the internet."

Bitmine's Ethereum Bet

Bitmine Immersion Technologies stock is up 13% to $20.63 and down 33% year to date through Tuesday's close. The company holds 4.8% of Ethereum's circulating supply, making Chairman Tom Lee one of the asset's largest institutional stakeholders. That gives Lee a direct financial incentive to tie Ethereum to major crypto narratives.

Lee posted that crypto is "more relevant today given the rapidly increasing capabilities of AI and robotics," calling Ethereum "the most important L1." He was responding to a BlackRock report titled "Re-Underwriting Bitcoin," which attributed Bitcoin's 50% drawdown from its October 2025 high to crypto-native deleveraging. The report never mentions Ethereum, robotics, or blockchain verification of AI systems, per BeInCrypto, so Lee's framing extends beyond the source material.

Coinbase Rides the Volatility Bid

Coinbase stock is up 11% to $162.88 and down 35% year to date through Tuesday's close. The exchange is the most direct equity beneficiary of sustained Bitcoin trading activity.

Options positioning tilts bullish, with a Coinbase full-chain put/call ratio of 0.39. Polymarket assigns a 98.6% probability that Coinbase shares close higher today.

Bitwise Crypto Industry Innovators ETF

The Bitwise Crypto Industry Innovators ETF (NYSEARCA:BITQ) trades at $23.48 and is up 12% year to date through Tuesday's close, one of the few names in this cohort that's green for 2026.

The fund holds crypto industry equities rather than Bitcoin itself, so returns track miners, exchanges, and Bitcoin treasury vehicles. That concentration risk means idiosyncratic blowups at a top holding can hit performance hard, even when Bitcoin cooperates.

What to Watch

Traders may want to keep an eye on whether Bitcoin holds above $68,000. Follow-through in Strategy, Bitmine Immersion Technologies, and Coinbase volumes tomorrow can help distinguish a genuine trend change from a violent short-covering pop inside a downtrend.

The setup is asymmetric. A rally that fails from here reinforces the bearish MSTR positioning that gained traction on WallStreetBets over the weekend, where a thread titled "Why I Expect $MSTR at $40ish in 8-12 Weeks" drew heavy engagement. A close above the day's highs could squeeze that positioning across the whole crypto-equity complex. Given how far these names have fallen, a cautious position size is the reasonable play for anyone chasing the rebound.