Robinhood Did Something This Week Nobody Expected

Welcome to the Bitcoin Balance Sheet. Each Monday, we recap last week's key developments and share our publication's leading stories.

Robinhood put bitcoin on its own balance sheet for the first time. Strategy added 250 BTC but spent more than eight times as much buying back STRC, and President Trump's latest ethics filing showed one more Strategy purchase, made the day Strategy reported selling. Here's what mattered.

XCE. An executive recruitment group that combines a profitable recruitment business with a Bitcoin treasury strategy. The company turns over a decade of executive recruitment experience and four years of Bitcoin accumulation into a public Bitcoin-powered growth engine, using a proven operating business to drive Bitcoin treasury accumulation.

Why Robinhood Won't Call Its Bitcoin a Treasury Strategy

Robinhood has made its first corporate bitcoin purchase, putting $25 million of BTC on its own balance sheet. Johann Kerbrat, who runs crypto and international, disclosed it Wednesday on The Starting Block at DAS Asia. He called it a signal of commitment, not a treasury program: "Right now they are just holding."

The company gave no coin count. At this week's average near $84,960, $25 million is about 294 BTC. That is our estimate, and it puts Robinhood at rank 74 until a filing confirms it. Kerbrat said the sum "is not going to change a lot" for a firm worth about $100 billion, and left the door open to more, with no pace or target. The check is small. The precedent isn't.

Strategy Bought Bitcoin. That Wasn't the Big Check.

Strategy bought 250 bitcoin from October 5 through October 11, for $21.5 million at an average of $86,194 including fees. Most of it came from 125,183 MSTR shares sold through the at-the-market program. Holdings rose to 848,250 BTC, about 4% of supply.

The bigger check went to STRC. Strategy repurchased 1,932,145 shares for $192.4 million, up from $176.3 million last week. USD Cash fell $192.9 million to $640.5 million, roughly the buyback plus $0.5 million spent on bitcoin. The press release does not say how the repurchases were funded. Another $354.8 million remains under the repurchase program, down from $547.2 million. The stack grew. The cash went to STRC.

Trump Is a Strategy Investor. His Filing Just Proved It.

President Trump's accounts bought Strategy stock again in August. His new OGE Form 278-T shows a $1,001–$15,000 purchase on August 10, the only Strategy trade in the filing. With the July report, that makes four trades: one $1,001–$15,000 sale, then buys totaling $52,003–$130,000. Those are ranges, not a confirmed holding, and the White House says outside firms run the accounts on a discretionary basis.

The timing stands out. In the August 3–9 week, Strategy sold 1,690 BTC for $108.6 million while MSTR traded around $100. It closed October 8 at $151.47, up about 51%. The buy was small. It landed the same day Strategy reported selling.

A look at the leaderboard

The top of the board held steady after last Monday's prints. Robinhood enters at rank 74 on an estimated 294 BTC, pending a reported figure. Smaller but consistent additions came from:

• Strategy +250 BTC → 848,250 BTC

• XCE +8.216 BTC → 81.157 BTC, via its acquisition of James Gray Recruitment

• Genius Group +10 BTC → 10 BTC, its first buy since selling its treasury to zero

• Bitcoin Japan Corp +5.88 BTC → 17.8 BTC

• CleanSpark −173 BTC → 13,530 BTC

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