The Daily: BlackRock, Nvidia, Microsoft and Musk's xAI strike $40B data-center deal, Binance drama, SBF and more

The following article is adapted from The Block’s newsletter, The Daily, which comes out on weekday afternoons.

Happy Wednesday! The market is in repair mode: not euphoric, not fearful, but steady, BRN Head of Research Timothy Misir told The Block as ETF inflows return, leverage resets, and spot activity cautiously picks up.

In today's newsletter, we take a look at how a $40 billion data-center deal could reprice bitcoin miners, Coinbase invests in Indian crypto exchange Coin CDX, Sam Bankman-Fried claims the Biden administration targeted him over his GOP donations, and more.

Meanwhile, Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan argues that the crypto market's flash crash was a blip, not a structural shift.

Let's get started!

P.S. CryptoIQ is now available to everyone. Take the test for a chance to win $20,000!

BlackRock, Nvidia, Microsoft, and Elon Musk's xAI strike $40B data-center deal valuing power sites 160% above public bitcoin miners

• BlackRock, Nvidia, Microsoft, and Elon Musk's xAI agreed to buy Aligned Data Centers from Macquarie for $40 billion, marking one of the largest data-center deals to date.
• The acquisition values power capacity at roughly $8 million per megawatt — about 160% higher than the typical $3 million per megawatt valuations for listed bitcoin miners.
• VanEck Head of Digital Assets Research Matthew Sigel said similar project financing access could drive 150% to 500% equity upside re-ratings for miners like IREN, Riot, Cipher, and Hut 8.
• Aligned operates around 50 sites across the Americas with more than 5 GW of operating and planned capacity, with the sale expected to close in the first half of 2026 pending regulatory approvals.
• The deal underscores how institutional capital is flooding into power-intensive infrastructure once dominated by bitcoin miners amid the AI boom.
• Many bitcoin miners are already diversifying their mining facilities to include high-performance AI compute operations, taking advantage of their edge in pipeline power capacity.

Coinbase invests in CoinDCX at $2.5 billion valuation

Coinbase is investing in Indian exchange CoinDCX to expand its presence across India and the Middle East.

• While the financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, CoinDCX CEO Sumit Gupta said the deal valued the exchange at $2.45 billion post-money, pending regulatory approval.
• Coinbase previously invested in CoinDCX via Coinbase Ventures, participating in multiple funding rounds since 2020.
• Founded in 2018, CoinDCX has over 20.4 million users and $165 billion annualized transaction volumes across its products.
• In July, CoinDCX suffered a $44 million exploit where hackers disguised as recruiters lured one of its software engineers to install malware on his company laptop.

SBF claims Biden administration targeted him over GOP donations

Sam Bankman-Fried, the convicted founder of the collapsed FTX crypto exchange, claimed his 2022 arrest was political retaliation by the Biden administration after he donated tens of millions privately to Republicans.

• In a post on GETTR via a friend, Bankman-Fried accused former SEC Chair Gary Gensler of "conveniently losing" internal messages from October 2022 to September 2023 that could shed light on the timing of his arrest.
• The SEC's inspector general later confirmed that Gensler's texts were wiped due to an automated IT policy error during the period of major crypto enforcement actions.
• Bankman-Fried, now serving a 25-year prison sentence related to the FTX fraud, continues to claim wrongful conviction and is seeking clemency from President Trump.

Binance claims it 'does not profit' from its token listing process, calls allegations 'false and defamatory'

Binance denied profiting from token listings, dismissing claims by Limitless Labs CEO CJ Hetherington as "false and defamatory."

• The exchange said it does not charge listing fees and that any required security deposits are typically refundable within two years.
• Hetherington alleged Binance sought around 8% of Limitless' potential token supply plus additional deposits in exchange for a listing, prompting Binance to threaten legal action.
• Critics, including founder of 6MV and former backer of The Block, Mike Dudas, countered that Binance has made similar token listing requests before, alleging the practice is common.
• While standing by its position, the exchange later apologized for its "excessive" response.
• Binance also pushed back against claims it saw over $20 billion in weekly outflows, with co-founder Yi He mocking what she called "paid FUD" and citing DeFiLlama data showing net inflows instead.
• Meanwhile, Coinbase — whose venture arm backs Limitless — added the Binance-linked BNB token to its listing roadmap amid renewed scrutiny of exchange practices.

Roger Ver admits failing to report bitcoin holdings, DOJ drops indictment after $50 million settlement

Roger Ver, the early bitcoin evangelist nicknamed "Bitcoin Jesus," admitted to willfully failing to report his BTC holdings when he renounced U.S. citizenship in 2014, according to the DOJ.

• He entered a deferred prosecution agreement and paid nearly $50 million in taxes, penalties, and interest, leading prosecutors to drop the indictment.
• Ver's admission ended a year-long case that began with his arrest in Spain, briefly fueling pardon speculation on Polymarket before odds collapsed after the DOJ's announcement.

In the next 24 hours

• UK GDP data are due at 2 a.m. ET on Thursday.
• U.S. FOMC members Thomas Barkin, Michelle Bowman, and Neel Kashkari are scheduled to speak at 8:00 a.m., 10 a.m., and 6 p.m., respectively. ECB President Christine Lagarde will speak at 12 p.m.
• Arbitrum is set for a token unlock.
• The European Blockchain Convention continues in Barcelona.

Never miss a beat with The Block's daily digest of the most influential events happening across the digital asset ecosystem.