Odaily Planet Daily reports that Bitcoin mining company MARA Holdings announced a partnership with investment firm Starwood Capital Group to build a large-scale data center for AI and cloud computing customers on top of its existing mining farms in the United States. Following the announcement, the company's stock price rose approximately 17% in after-hours trading. According to the agreement, the two companies will convert some of their existing Bitcoin mining facilities into AI data centers, with Starwood Digital Ventures, a subsidiary of Starwood, responsible for design, construction, and customer acquisition. The project is initially expected to provide approximately 1 gigawatt of computing power, with plans to expand to over 2.5 gigawatts in the future, and will be jointly funded and operated by both parties. This partnership marks a significant transformation for MARA's business. Due to the large-scale power access capabilities of mining farms, this type of infrastructure becomes even more valuable against the backdrop of rapidly growing demand for AI computing power. In recent years, under pressure from declining block rewards due to Bitcoin halvings, rising electricity costs, and intensified competition, many mining companies have begun to shift towards AI computing power infrastructure. However, MARA stated that Bitcoin will remain a core component of the company's long-term strategy. The company's management emphasized that despite short-term price uncertainties, their long-term confidence in the Bitcoin asset class remains unchanged. Financial reports show that the company's revenue in the fourth quarter was $202.3 million, a year-on-year decrease of about 6%, mainly due to a decrease of about 14% in the average mining price of Bitcoin.

According to Odaily Planet Daily, Benchmark analysts recently reiterated their "buy" rating on Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) and gave it a target price of $705, representing an upside of approximately 430% from the current share price of around $130. Analysts believe the company's strategic shift to a STRC (Strongly Shared Currency) preferred stock financing model is poised to become a core driver of Bitcoin reserve growth. At the Strategy World 2026 conference, Executive Chairman Michael Saylor stated that the company will shift its strategy from encouraging companies to include Bitcoin on their balance sheets to focusing on promoting STRC perpetual preferred stock as the primary financing tool for future Bitcoin purchases. Benchmark analysts point out that STRC will become the "main engine" for Strategy's Bitcoin accumulation and is expected to accelerate the growth rate of the company's Bitcoin holdings per share. The STRC price briefly fell to around $90 earlier this month but has since recovered to near its par value of $100. This preferred stock product offers an annualized yield of approximately 11%, pays dividends monthly, and has priority over common stockholders in dividend payouts.

According to Odaily Planet Daily, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the founder of FTX who is currently serving a prison sentence, recently publicly expressed his support for the US cryptocurrency regulatory bill, the CLARITY Act. However, this statement was met with opposition from both Democratic and Republican senators. SBF stated on social media that the CLARITY Act would be a significant milestone for the cryptocurrency industry, and that he had previously pushed for similar legislation to limit the Securities and Exchange Commission's regulatory power over the industry. He supported the Digital Goods Consumer Protection Act (DCCPA) in 2022, but its progress stalled after FTX's collapse and his arrest. In response, Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis publicly stated, "We don't need, and don't want, your support." Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren also opposed SBF's statement, demonstrating a rare bipartisan consensus on this issue. Currently, SBF, sentenced to 25 years in prison for embezzlement and other charges, is appealing and continues to post comments on social media, many of which express support for the Trump administration's policies, interpreted by some as an attempt to secure a presidential pardon. However, the White House has previously stated that Trump has no plans to pardon SBF at this time. The CLARITY Act aims to establish a comprehensive regulatory framework for the crypto industry and clarify the regulatory division of labor between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Although the House of Representatives has passed the relevant bill, the Senate legislative process still faces controversy over issues such as stablecoin yield rules and potential conflicts of interest.

According to Odaily Planet Daily, US lawmakers have recently resumed discussions on stablecoin yield mechanisms. Some lawmakers are concerned that stablecoin yields could lead to an outflow of bank deposits and blur the lines between crypto products and traditional bank deposits. At a Senate Banking Committee hearing, Senator Angela Alsobrooks stated that while she supports financial innovation, stablecoin yield mechanisms could create products similar to bank deposits, lacking corresponding regulatory and protective measures, potentially leading to future deposit outflows. The issue of stablecoin yields has been a core topic in crypto market legislative negotiations. The GENIUS Stablecoin Act, passed in 2025, prohibits stablecoin issuers from directly paying interest to holders, but does not prohibit third-party platforms like Coinbase from offering rewards to users for holding stablecoins. Banking professionals believe that allowing stablecoins to offer yields would weaken the deposit base of the traditional banking system. A previous study by the Independent Community Bankers Association estimated that if stablecoin yield mechanisms were fully open, bank deposits could decrease by approximately $1.3 trillion, leading to a decrease of approximately $850 billion in community bank lending. The crypto industry counters that restricting stablecoin yields would stifle innovation. Some industry insiders say there is currently no evidence to suggest a significant link between the adoption of stablecoins and the outflow of bank deposits. Senator Thom Tillis stated that he will request regulators to conduct an independent assessment of the potential deposit outflow risks posed by stablecoins. Meanwhile, the White House has recently organized several meetings between banks and crypto companies, hoping to reach a solution to the stablecoin yield issue by the end of this month.

Odaily Planet Daily reports that stablecoin issuer Circle's stock price briefly rose above $90, reaching a new high since November of last year, before falling back to around $87. This followed the company's fourth-quarter results, which exceeded market expectations, driving the stock price up by approximately 30% after the earnings release. Bernstein analysts maintained their "outperform" rating on Circle and gave it a $190 price target, believing that the company's performance shows a growth trend that is "clearly different from the crypto market." The report points out that Circle's expansion in the infrastructure sector is bringing new, higher-margin revenue streams, rather than relying solely on stablecoin reserve returns. Analysts stated that Circle's transaction-related revenue continues to grow, including blockchain rewards earned as a supervalidator on the Canton network. Meanwhile, the proportion of USDC directly custodied on the Circle platform has risen to 17% of the total supply, up from 14% in the previous quarter. The company expects USDC circulation to maintain an annual growth rate of approximately 40% in the future, and anticipates revenue from other businesses besides reserve income to reach approximately $170 million in 2026, up from approximately $110 million in 2025. Bernstein is also optimistic about Circle's expansion into new product areas, including the Arc platform, Circle Payments Network, and "automated payment" capabilities for AI agents. Meanwhile, Mizuho analysts point out that as stablecoins are increasingly used in new scenarios such as prediction markets, for example, the Polymarket platform, Circle's revenue structure is expected to become more diversified. Overall, market attention is gradually shifting towards whether Circle can establish a more balanced revenue stream structure during the expansion of the stablecoin ecosystem.