Strategy sold 32 Bitcoin last week to cover a preferred stock dividend — its first coin sale since 2022 — and the tiny trade set off a chain of liquidations that knocked Bitcoin from $77,000 to below $60,000 before it recovered near $65,000. While one large holder was trimming, another went all-in: BitMine Immersion Technologies bought 126,971 Ether for $213 million during the dip, pushing its total stash to 5.54 million ETH, or 4.59% of the entire supply.
Why 32 Bitcoin mattered
The sale itself was trivial — 32 coins at $77,135 each raised roughly $2.5 million, a blip for a firm that holds 845,256 BTC. But the market read it as a signal. According to Tom Lee, the move is actually a classic bottom indicator. He called conditions a ‘crypto spring’ and said Strategy’s minor sale confirms the downturn is near its end. Still, the immediate result was ugly: liquidation cascades drove Bitcoin down fast, and Strategy’s average cost basis of $75,680 per coin means it’s sitting on over $9 billion in unrealized losses at current prices.
BitMine loads up on Ether
BitMine took the opposite bet. It acquired 126,971 ETH for $213 million during the slide, averaging $3,460 per coin. With Ether now trading around $1,681, that’s roughly $9.9 billion underwater. But the company has a buffer Strategy lacks: more than 85% of its Ether is staked on the MAVAN platform, generating an estimated $270 million in annual staking rewards. That yield helps offset the paper losses and gives BitMine reason to hold rather than panic.
Two approaches, one bet on a rebound
Strategy funds its Bitcoin purchases through equity offerings and debt financing. No staking, no yield. BitMine uses treasury buys combined with staking operations, producing income even when the market sags. Both are deep in the red on paper, but BitMine can collect while it waits. Lee’s ‘crypto spring’ thesis suggests that aggressive buying during the dip — exactly what BitMine just did — is the right play for patient capital.
Where that leaves Strategy is less clear. It sold for the first time in four years to pay a dividend, and the market punished everyone for it. The next big test will come if Bitcoin stays below $60,000 for any length of time; at that level Strategy’s unrealized losses would widen further and the calls for another sale could get louder.
