Strategy (MSTR) has sold bitcoin for the first time since December 2022, unloading roughly $2.5 million worth of BTC. The company, long seen as the template for corporate digital asset treasury strategies, had kept buying through market swings. This sale breaks that run at a time when the model is under strain.
Over the past year, dozens of companies raised money through equity and debt deals to purchase bitcoin, ether (ETH), and other crypto assets, trying to follow Michael Saylor’s playbook. The setup worked while token prices were rising and treasury stocks traded above the value of their underlying holdings. That changed after crypto markets peaked in October. As token prices weakened and treasury stocks fell below net asset value, many firms lost access to attractive financing. Some shares dropped more than 90% from their highs. A number of companies stopped buying, and some moved into outright selling.
A smaller group is still adding to crypto reserves
Even with last week’s sale, Strategy remained one of the biggest sources of bitcoin demand through May, purchasing more than 25,000 BTC for over $2 billion. Still, the market focus has shifted. With Strategy no longer maintaining an uninterrupted accumulation streak, attention is turning to which treasury firms are still active buyers.
Bitmine (BMNR), Tom Lee’s ether treasury company, is one of them. The firm bought about $53 million worth of ETH last week and had accumulated more than 338,000 ETH through May, worth roughly $665 million at current prices. Its total holdings exceed 5.4 million ETH, making it the largest corporate holder of the token. Lee said the company plans to slow the pace of accumulation as it gets closer to owning 5% of ETH supply.
Bit Digital (BTBT), another ETH-focused company, returned to the market in May with a purchase of about $20 million in ether, its first buy since October. On the bitcoin side, Strive (ASST) disclosed that it acquired roughly 1,944 BTC during May across multiple purchases at a cost of around $150 million. Japan’s Metaplanet also reported a buy in early April, adding 5,075 BTC.
Other firms are cutting holdings or exiting the strategy
Several companies have been moving the other way. Nakamoto Holdings (NAKA), the bitcoin treasury firm led by David Bailey, sold 284 BTC in March, or about 5% of its holdings. Empery Digital sold 370 BTC in April to repay a term loan. Genius Group (GNS) said in April that it liquidated its remaining 84 BTC to pay down $8.5 million of debt.
Some have left the treasury model altogether. Forum Markets, formerly ETHZilla, shifted its focus to tokenization earlier this year after selling roughly $114 million worth of ether. VivoPower, which had planned to build an XRP-focused treasury, pivoted in February toward data centers and AI infrastructure, while divesting Ripple-related investments and its XRP holdings.
There are still treasury strategies built around single tokens outside BTC and ETH. Hyperliquid Strategies (PURR), focused on HYPE, said it spent $216 million to buy 7.3 million tokens between early December and the end of April. With HYPE later rising to record highs, the return on that position has more than doubled.