Bitcoin News Today: Bitcoin Treasury Firms' Sell-or-Hold Dilemma as BTC Discounts Widen

Bitcoin Treasury Company Sequans Transfers 970 BTC to Coinbase, May Sell

Bitcoin treasury firms are facing mounting pressure as market sentiment turns sharply bearish, with companies trading at significant discounts to their Bitcoin holdings. Sequans Communications (SQNS), a firm holding 3,234 BTC, has taken a notable step by transferring 970 BTC to Coinbase, a move that may signal impending sales to fund operations amid deteriorating investor confidence, according to a CoinDesk report.

The broader market has seen nearly all major Bitcoin treasury companies trade below the intrinsic value of their BTC stacks, reflecting a collapse in the so-called "Bitcoin premium" that once characterized the sector. This shift has been driven by a combination of macroeconomic uncertainty, underwhelming Bitcoin performance relative to traditional assets, and waning trust in corporate balance sheets. Bitcoin, while up for the year, has largely stagnated since January 20, the day of President Trump's inauguration, lagging behind surging stocks and gold, the CoinDesk report found.

To combat the discount, firms are exploring aggressive capital allocation strategies. Empery Digital, for instance, secured a $100 million credit facility to repurchase $150 million in stock, but its shares have since fallen 10%, compounding a 60% annual loss. Sequans has announced a 10% buyback program for its American Depositary Shares (ADS), authorizing the repurchase of 1.57 million ADSs. However, the stock has dropped 27% since the announcement, underscoring the challenge of sustaining shareholder value in a volatile market, the CoinDesk report added.

Alternative strategies include deploying Bitcoin holdings into low-yield trading or liquidity strategies to generate modest returns. MARA Holdings (MARA), a miner and treasury player, has adopted such an approach, leveraging its BTC reserves for incremental gains. However, these tactics offer limited upside in a market where even minimal returns are hard to achieve, according to CoinDesk.

The most resilient player in the sector remains Michael Saylor's MicroStrategy (MSTR), which remains the sole pure-play Bitcoin company trading at a premium to its BTC holdings. At last check, its market net asset value (mNAV) stood at 1.39x, though this premium has been eroding rapidly as broader market conditions worsen, the CoinDesk analysis noted.

Analysts suggest that reversing the trend will require a sustained Bitcoin rally to restore confidence in the sector's value proposition. Until then, treasury companies face a precarious balancing act: selling BTC to fund operations risks further depressing prices, while holding BTC exposes them to deeper discounts as equity markets sour.