CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost flagged that Strategy sold 3,588 bitcoins for approximately $216 million in the past week, incurring an estimated 20% loss. The company acquired those coins at an average price of $75,476 before selling near $60,000. Despite the loss, Strategy still holds 843,775 BTC, maintaining its lead as the largest corporate Bitcoin holder.
Binance’s Realized Price Stands at $60,900, Below Strategy’s Average Cost
Darkfost emphasized that the gap in average acquisition cost matters more than total holdings. CryptoQuant data places Binance’s reserve realized price at roughly $60,900, significantly lower than Strategy’s $75,476. With Bitcoin trading near the same range in recent sessions, most of Binance’s reserve positions are close to breakeven.
Binance controls about 29.75% of Bitcoin held across centralized exchanges, representing 656,561 BTC. Bitfinex, Gemini, and Kraken follow with 16.75%, 8.66%, and 8.46% respectively. Centralized exchanges collectively custody around 8 million BTC, making Binance the dominant platform by reserve size.
Why Binance’s Cost Basis Gains Significance
Darkfost noted that Strategy and Binance hold Bitcoin for fundamentally different reasons. Strategy treats it as a long-term treasury asset, while Binance primarily supports customer deposits and trading liquidity. The sale was driven by dividend obligations tied to its Digital Credit securities, not a bearish outlook.
The realized price is a critical on-chain indicator: when Bitcoin trades above $60,900, Binance’s holdings remain in unrealized profit; sustained dips below could trigger selling pressure as more positions turn underwater. Darkfost argued that total Bitcoin ownership alone doesn’t define market strength — Binance’s lower cost basis makes its breakeven level a closely watched metric as Bitcoin stays in the $60,000 range.