- Strategy sold a minuscule amount of its Bitcoin supply, but the negative feedback triggered a massive volatility in BTC, the broader crypto market, and the company’s share price.
Strategy just sold Bitcoin (BTC) after a long accumulation streak over the past few years. The move triggered a significant drop in the company’s shares and BTC’s slump to the $71K range, which could spill to spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) at the start of the regular work week.
Strategy Sells $2 Million in Bitcoin
Michael Saylor, Executive Chair of Strategy, appeared to be hinting at another Bitcoin acquisition in one of his usual cryptic posts on Sunday. However, the opposite happened on Monday as Blockzeit’s Strategy Bitcoin Tracker revealed that the company just sold 32 BTC for around $2 million.
It’s the first time since December 22, 2022, that the business has offloaded some of its BTC haul. Saylor and Phong Le, CEO of Strategy, have been notably hinting at selling some of their company’s BTC reserves in the past few months to either meet financial obligations or rebalance account books.
The Market’s Reaction
Despite Strategy’s minuscule sales, which hardly put a dent in its Bitcoin reserves, the move triggered a cascade of panic-selling. The company still maintains 843,706 BTC, but the ensuing negative publicity dragged Bitcoin back to $71,293.75 per coin from $74,058.52 in the last 24 hours.
The 3.73% decline in Bitcoin’s price wiped around $55.4 billion from the market cap of its circulating supply of 20.04 million BTC. Meanwhile, the resulting volatility liquidated over $185 million in leveraged BTC positions, consisting of approximately $174 million longs. It also spilled into a broader $524 million liquidation in leveraged crypto positions, with longs accounting for $387 million of the float.
A Broken Promise
As of writing, Strategy, Saylor, and Le have remained mum on the matter, as company shares fell by more than 7% from Friday’s $159.09 close to $146.84 at early trading hours on Monday. However, some saw the company’s Bitcoin sale as a huge shift from its “never selling” promise.
Many suspect that it may be a sign of the company’s gradual offloading of Bitcoin. Additionally, others raised FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) about the institution slowly losing its trust in the premier crypto asset.
Furthermore, several people warned that Strategy may be anticipating a deeper drawdown in Bitcoin price, as it’s still treading the bearish phase of its traditional four-year cycle. It would be interesting to see how the business plans to follow up with the latest developments, though.
On the other hand, some see Strategy’s recent BTC sale as a healthy pivot in its Digital Asset Treasury (DAT) playbook.
