The Daily: Bernstein reaffirms $150K price target citing 'weakest bitcoin bear case in history,' Strategy buys another 1,142 BTC, and more

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

Happy Monday! The crypto Fear & Greed Index sank to a reading of 6 over the weekend, according to The Block's data dashboard — one of the lowest levels recorded since it launched in February 2018.

In today's newsletter, Bernstein analysts reiterate their $150K price target amid the "weakest bitcoin bear case in history," Michael Saylor's Strategy buys another 1,142 BTC, Tether continues its staff expansion plans, and more.

Meanwhile, Farcaster founders Dan Romero and Varun Srinivasan join stablecoin startup Tempo.

P.S. Don't forget to check out The Funding, a biweekly rundown of crypto VC trends. It's a great read — and just like The Daily, it's free to subscribe!

'Weakest bitcoin bear case in history': Bernstein reiterates $150,000 price target

Analysts at Bernstein said bitcoin's latest drawdown reflects a "self-imposed crisis of confidence" rather than structural damage, calling it the "weakest bear case" in the asset's history.

• The analysts reiterated their $150,000 bitcoin price target for 2026, citing institutional adoption, spot ETF infrastructure, and improving liquidity conditions.
• The firm said none of the typical bear-market catalysts have emerged, pointing to the absence of major failures, hidden leverage, or systemic breakdowns.
• The analysts argued that bitcoin is still trading as a liquidity-sensitive risk asset, not a mature safe haven, explaining its underperformance versus gold during tighter financial conditions.
• Bernstein also pushed back on AI-driven relevance concerns, saying blockchains and programmable wallets are well-positioned for an emerging agentic economy that needs global financial rails.
• Furthermore, Bernstein said potential quantum computing risks warrant preparation but are not unique to bitcoin, arguing that all critical digital systems will transition toward quantum-resistant standards together, while stronger corporate balance sheets and diversified miner revenues have reduced forced-selling risk.

Strategy buys another 1,142 BTC as total bitcoin treasury value remains below cost

Strategy bought another 1,142 BTC for about $90 million at an average price of $78,815, lifting its total holdings to 714,644 BTC.

• The purchases were funded through at-the-market sales of Strategy's Class A common stock, with roughly $8 billion of MSTR shares remaining available for issuance and sale under that program, the firm said.
• Strategy's bitcoin treasury holdings are now worth about $49.2 billion versus a total cost of roughly $54.4 billion, implying around $5 billion in paper losses at current prices.
• Strategy executives and industry analysts recently said the firm's balance sheet risks remain remote, noting that bitcoin would need to fall to around $8,000 for several years before debt servicing becomes a serious issue.

Tether plans to add 150 staff over next 18 months as expansion accelerates

Tether has substantially grown its workforce to about 300 employees and plans to hire another 150 over the next 18 months as it accelerates a global expansion, according to the Financial Times.

• The stablecoin issuer is deploying rising profits into engineering hires and specialized roles across regions, including Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America.
• Tether's expansion is underpinned by strong USDT growth, with its market capitalization climbing to roughly $185 billion from around $140 billion a year earlier.
• The company is also broadening its investment footprint across agriculture, sports, AI, media, metals, and crypto infrastructure as competition intensifies and regulatory scrutiny continues.

MegaETH debuts 'real-time' mainnet

MegaETH launched its so-called "real-time" mainnet on Monday, claiming a throughput of around 50,000 transactions per second and 10-millisecond block times.

• The network uses a custom architecture to minimize latency by keeping critical state in memory while leveraging Ethereum for settlement and security.
• The launch follows a heavily oversubscribed October 2025 token sale that raised $1.39 billion, and prior stress testing aimed at validating sustained high-throughput performance.
• MegaETH has decoupled its mainnet debut from its MEGA token launch, tying token issuance and buybacks to usage-based KPIs such as stablecoin circulation, app activity, and fee generation.

Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek buys AI.com for $70 million in cryptocurrency

Crypto.com co-founder and CEO Kris Marszalek bought the AI.com domain for about $70 million paid entirely in cryptocurrency, marking what is believed to be the largest publicly disclosed domain sale ever.

• Marszalek plans to debut a new consumer AI agent platform under the AI.com brand, which was previously listed at a $100 million asking price in March 2025.
• AI.com will let users create personal AI agents that can send messages, execute actions across apps, trade stocks, and build projects, according to a press release.

In the next 24 hours

• It's quiet on the economic calendar front.
• Linea and Aptos are among the crypto projects set for token unlocks.
• Consensus Hong Kong gets underway. Bitcoin Investor Week and Cayman Crypto Week continue.

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