Private Markets Sector
SoftBank turned a Q1 net profit of 347.3 billion yen boosted by its Intel holding, while Mastercard acquired stablecoin firm BVNK for $1.8 billion to expand on-chain payouts. Meanwhile, Prudential and Hong Kong financial stocks tumbled following reports that mainland Chinese authorities are enforcing a 20% tax on Hong Kong insurance policy gains.
SoftBank reported a Q1 net profit of 347.3 billion Japanese yen ($2.2 billion), topping analyst estimates of 120.23 billion yen despite an 18% year-on-year decline. A 1.3 trillion yen gain on its stake in Intel drove the earnings surprise, rewarding a roughly $2 billion position SoftBank took in the chipmaker last year ahead of a massive share rally. That gain offset zero paper profits from OpenAI, which had generated nearly $20 billion in valuation markups for SoftBank in the previous quarter. The Vision Fund segment scraped together a 5.4 billion yen profit, supported by a $2.2 billion markup on TikTok parent ByteDance. Masayoshi Son is leveraging past wins to fund future commitments. SoftBank secured a $10 billion bank loan in August using its OpenAI holding as collateral. The borrowing helps fund $20 billion in pledged follow-on capital for OpenAI in late 2026, along with acquisitions of ABB's robotics business for $5.4 billion and DigitalBridge for $3.1 billion. Debt maturity timelines create immediate refinancing risks. A $40 billion bridge loan backing Son's investment pipeline expires in March 2027. Simultaneously, higher R&D expenses widened quarterly losses at SoftBank's AI computing division—which holds Arm, Ampere, and Graphcore—to 200.8 billion yen.
Mastercard completed its $1.8 billion acquisition of London-based stablecoin infrastructure provider BVNK on August 3, 2026. The transaction pays $1.5 billion upfront with up to $300 million in earnouts tied to performance targets, closing months ahead of its original year-end timeline. BVNK handles $30 billion in annualized payment volume across 130 countries, providing APIs that let financial institutions route funds between traditional bank accounts and blockchain networks. Integrating these on-chain rails gives Mastercard direct ownership over cross-border B2B transfers, treasury flows, and automated settlements without routing transactions through correspondent banks. Mastercard chose full ownership over alternative routes. Rival payment providers are pursuing starkly different strategies: Stripe acquired stablecoin platform Bridge for $1.1 billion in 2025, while Visa relies on external partnerships rather than dedicated infrastructure buyouts. The deal ranks as Mastercard's third-largest purchase this decade, behind its $3.19 billion acquisition of Nets and $2.65 billion purchase of Recorded Future. Mastercard stock closed down 0.4% at $570.97 following the announcement.
Bitcoin held above $64,600 on Thursday after buyers defended a dip to $62,500 earlier in the week, pushing the cryptocurrency back above its 50-day moving average. According to reporting from coindesk.com, market attention is shifting to Elon Musk’s SpaceX, where roughly $101 billion worth of private stock becomes tradable following its first lockup expiration. SpaceX held 18,712 bitcoins valued at approximately $1.1 billion at the end of June. Traders are monitoring whether unlock recipients or the company might liquidate crypto assets to fund liquidity needs. That balance sheet overhang is keeping crypto gains concentrated in Bitcoin while altcoins lag. Ether rose over 1% to $1,904, XRP fell nearly 3% to $1.04, and BNB slipped over 1% to $595. A broader pullback in global equity markets provided little support as South Korea's Kospi dropped 4.4% on AI hardware selling. Meanwhile, SoftBank prepares to report earnings that will show the state of its $34.6 billion commitment to OpenAI.