Performance Update

As of August 2026, Bursera Capital's total ROI is 596.61%* since the fund's inception in 2019, with Bitcoin standing at 660.94% and similar funds reaching 511.60%. Returns are 18.45%*, with similar funds reporting 18.37% and Bitcoin at 25.58%. Our Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) is 31.11%* with Bitcoin at 32.73% and similar funds at 28.75%.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Institutional and corporate engagement with digital assets deepened on several fronts at the start of September, even as near-term flows stayed tied to the interest-rate outlook. Strategy, the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, returned to buying after several weeks of net selling. Thirty-nine state banking associations announced plans for a bank-owned blockchain network, the BankChain Alliance, aimed at keeping deposits and payments inside the regulated sector. And demand through investment funds held firm, with spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) resuming inflows and spot Ether funds extending an eleven-day buying streak. Together, the week pointed to a market whose long-term foundations continue to broaden across corporate treasuries, traditional banks, and institutional funds, even as short-term flows remain sensitive to signals from the Federal Reserve.

I. Strategy Resumes Buying After Weeks as a Net Seller

KEY SIGNAL

After several weeks of trimming its holdings to shore up its finances, Strategy returned to buying Bitcoin, purchasing 4,603 BTC for about $369.7 million and lifting its total to 845,050 BTC, a turnaround Executive Chairman Michael Saylor signaled with a brief "We're back."

WHAT HAPPENED

Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) bought 4,603 BTC for approximately $369.7 million between August 24 and August 30, at an average price of $80,318 per coin. The purchase brought its total to 845,050 BTC, worth around $66.1 billion, at a blended average price of $75,412 per coin. The company now holds more than 4% of all the Bitcoin that will ever exist.

The move reverses the company's posture of the preceding weeks. Earlier in August, Strategy had been a net seller, letting go of roughly 1,690 BTC as it shifted toward managing its balance sheet more actively, which raised the question of whether the selling was a lasting change or a temporary pause. The return to buying answers that question, though the balance-sheet work has continued alongside it. Strategy funded the purchase by selling about $602.8 million of its own common shares, ticker MSTR, over the week, using the rest of the proceeds to buy back its STRC preferred shares and pay dividends on them. Notably, it bought Bitcoin back well above the roughly $64,000 at which it had been selling weeks earlier, a sign the earlier sales were about raising cash rather than timing the market.

MARKET IMPLICATIONS

The return to buying confirms Strategy's place as the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin and suggests its recent selling was a short-term cash-management move rather than a step back from accumulating. How it pays for all this is worth attention. Strategy funds both its Bitcoin purchases and its share buybacks by issuing new stock, an approach that works only as long as investors will pay more for its shares than the Bitcoin behind them is worth. That cushion has shrunk considerably, with the company's market value now only about 7% above the value of its holdings and its stock down roughly 63% over the past year. For the nearly 200 public companies that now hold Bitcoin, Strategy's return is a meaningful signal, but the smaller cushion across the group limits how aggressively such firms can keep buying.

WHAT COMES NEXT

• The company's weekly filings, which will show whether the buying continues or pauses again.
• How much investors will pay for Strategy's stock above the value of its Bitcoin, since that gap sets how much more it can buy.
• Whether the wider group of Bitcoin-holding companies resumes buying or keeps pulling back.

II. State Banking Groups Plan a Bank-Owned Blockchain Network

KEY SIGNAL

Thirty-nine state banking associations, representing thousands of banks, announced plans to build their own blockchain network, the BankChain Alliance, with the aim of keeping deposits, payments, and stablecoins inside the regulated banking system rather than ceding them to crypto-native firms.

WHAT HAPPENED

On August 25, 39 state banking associations announced the BankChain Alliance, a plan to build a shared, bank-owned blockchain network targeted to launch in 2027. According to the group, the associations represent about 3,283 banks holding roughly $21.8 trillion in assets. The network is intended to let banks offer newer digital services, including tokenized deposits, which are bank deposits represented as digital tokens that can move on a blockchain, along with bank-issued stablecoins, programmable payments, and faster settlement, all within existing banking rules. The group described the effort as industry-owned and governed and said it would invite banks nationwide to take ownership stakes.

The alliance is led on an interim basis by Kathy Kraninger, head of the Florida Bankers Association and a former director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Notably, the group has not yet chosen a technology partner, disclosed the underlying design, or named the banks that have committed. The announcement reflects a broader response to competition from stablecoins, as banks worry that deposits could migrate to stablecoins issued by crypto-native firms, a concern behind recent Washington fights over the rollout of the 2025 stablecoin law, the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act. BankChain joins a wave of bank-led blockchain efforts since late 2025, alongside tokenized-asset trials the messaging network Swift has run with large banks including Citi, BNY, and Wells Fargo.

MARKET IMPLICATIONS

The plan signals that the banking industry intends to adopt blockchain technology on its own terms rather than leave payments and deposits to crypto-native firms. For the broader digital asset sector, the development cuts two ways. It further establishes tokenization and blockchain-based payments as mainstream financial infrastructure, since thousands of banks are organizing around it. At the same time, it positions the regulated banking system as a direct competitor to public stablecoin networks for the deposits both sides are contesting. The alliance's main advantage is scale rather than novel technology. Execution is far from certain, however, with no technology partner selected, no design disclosed, and ownership and funding still unspecified, making a 2027 launch an ambitious target.

WHAT COMES NEXT

• The choice of a technology partner and the network's underlying design.
• Whether individual banks commit as owners, and how the network will be governed and funded.
• How it fits with stablecoin regulation and competing efforts from Swift, large-bank groups, and crypto-native issuers.

III. ETF Demand Holds Firm as Ether Funds Take the Lead

KEY SIGNAL

Money kept flowing into U.S. crypto funds at the end of August, with spot Bitcoin funds resuming inflows after a brief, Fed-driven pause and spot Ether funds extending an eleven-day buying streak, a sign institutional demand is holding up and broadening toward Ether.

WHAT HAPPENED

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs took in about $217 million on Monday, August 31, resuming inflows after roughly $202 million left the funds on Friday, August 28. The Friday outflow ended a nine-day buying run, the longest of the year. August was still Bitcoin funds' strongest month of 2026 by a wide margin, though they remain slightly negative on the year at about $2.5 billion in net outflows.

Spot Ether funds have been the stronger story. Monday's roughly $88 million marked an eleventh straight day of net buying worth about $1.6 billion, with no down day since mid-August, their longest streak since July 2025. Ether also outperformed Bitcoin for the first time in 2026, rising about 33% in August, supported by heavy corporate buying and a tightening supply. BitMine Immersion Technologies, chaired by Fundstrat's Tom Lee, added more than 53,000 Ether last week, while a growing share of supply is locked in staking and coins held on exchanges have fallen.

The lone interruption came from the Federal Reserve. Friday's Bitcoin outflow followed remarks by Chair Kevin Warsh at the economic policy symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, that lifted rate-hike expectations, and Monday's quick rebound suggested investors read it as a one-day adjustment rather than a reversal.

MARKET IMPLICATIONS

The steady inflows point to firm institutional demand that is broadening beyond Bitcoin, as large investors grow more willing to hold a wider range of digital assets. The brief Bitcoin outflow after Jackson Hole is a reminder that these flows stay sensitive to the rate outlook and can pull back quickly on a hawkish signal. Worth watching, though, the Ether streak leans heavily on a single provider, BlackRock, which has accounted for most of the buying.

WHAT COMES NEXT

• Whether Bitcoin inflows hold this week or Friday's outflow marks a broader shift.
• Whether the Ether streak continues and demand broadens beyond one dominant fund.
• Fed signals ahead of the September meeting, given how fast the funds reacted to Jackson Hole.

Closing Perspective

The developments of the past week reflect a digital asset market maturing through more than one channel at once. The return of the largest corporate buyer, a collective move by the banking industry to build its own blockchain infrastructure, and the steady flow of institutional money into investment funds each point to deeper and more durable engagement than in earlier cycles, when demand rested largely on short-term speculation. Each also carries a constraint: Strategy's model depends on issuing stock at a premium that has narrowed considerably, the banks' network remains an early plan without a technology partner or a disclosed design, and the fund inflows lean heavily on a single provider while reacting quickly to shifts in rate expectations. The brief pause in Bitcoin fund demand after the Federal Reserve's Jackson Hole remarks is a reminder that the rate environment still governs the near term. Taken together, the direction points toward the steady integration of digital assets into corporate balance sheets, the banking system, and institutional portfolios, though the pace remains uneven and closely tied to the broader economic backdrop.

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**Data from August 2026 subject to crystallization.