Bitcoin's Biggest Rival Is Now the AI Trade, Not Ethereum

Evernorth has secured $30 million in financing through a convertible bond from South Korea's NH Investment & Securities to fund XRP purchases and ecosystem-related activities. According to a Form 8-K filed with the SEC, the company issued $30 million of 4% convertible senior PIK notes maturing in 2031, in an agreement with NH Investment & Securities, which serves as trustee for Kyobo AIM Corporate Finance General Private Investment Trust No. 3. The financing is contingent on the completion of Evernorth's business combination with Armada Acquisition Corp. II, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026, after which the company plans to list on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol XRPN. Evernorth already holds approximately 346.28 million XRP, and the tracked publicly listed companies hold a combined total of about 346.4 million XRP, worth roughly $489 million at current prices. Meanwhile, seven XRP ETFs hold about 1.1286 billion XRP, with weekly net inflows of roughly 6.34 million XRP, or about $8.99 million.

Bitcoin surged above $81,000 on Saturday as a wave of short liquidations and renewed spot demand helped the cryptocurrency rebound from losses triggered by higher interest rates and a setback for U.S. crypto legislation. Bitcoin climbed as high as $81,702 on Sept. 18 after trading near $76,400 a day earlier, marking its first move above $80,000 since Sept. 7, and was trading at $81,309.4 as of 22:50 ET, up 5.62% for the day. The rebound followed a difficult week in which the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 25 basis points and the Bank of Japan followed with a quarter-point increase to 1.25%, its highest policy rate in 31 years, while U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded about $159 million of inflows on Sept. 17. A sharp short squeeze then accelerated Friday's rally, with roughly $192 million of leveraged crypto positions liquidated within one hour, including more than $183 million in shorts, of which Bitcoin shorts accounted for about $119 million. Regulatory uncertainty remains in focus after the U.S. Senate failed to advance the CLARITY Act this week, though the CFTC has submitted a separate crypto market proposal to the White House Office of Management and Budget and the SEC introduced an innovation exemption giving qualifying platforms a five-year route to offer onchain trading in certain tokenized stocks without registering as securities exchanges.

CleanSpark said on Friday it priced $2.276B of 7.875% senior secured notes due 2031 at 98.5% of the principal amount. The offering is expected to close on September 25. Net proceeds will fund the remaining buildout costs of the Sandersville facility, reimburse certain prior equity contributions, and fund debt service reserves. The notes will be fully and unconditionally guaranteed by CSRE Properties Sandersville, a wholly owned subsidiary of the issuer, and the company will provide a completion guarantee and fund any shortfall needed to complete the Sandersville facility. Shares rose 8.39%.