Tariffs Drain $4Bn off Corporate BTC Treasuries💰
Happy Tuesday Dispatchers.
Corporate Bitcoin holders led by Michael Saylor’s Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) have collectively lost over $4 billion in value since US President Donald Trump's sweeping tariff announcement, raising fresh questions about the viability of cryptocurrency as a treasury asset.
The value of corporate Bitcoin treasuries has plummeted to approximately $55 billion as of April 8, down from roughly $59 billion before the "Liberation Day" tariffs were announced on April 2.
As Bitcoin struggles to maintain support at $80,000, falling more than 9% to hit lows below $75,000 on what some traders dubbed "Black Monday re-run", companies that are stocking digital gold are facing a harsh reality check.
In today's analysis, we look at:
Why Strategy halted Bitcoin purchases as it announces unrealised losses
How Bitcoin mining stocks face an existential threat from Chinese tariffs
The corporate Bitcoin holders now underwater on their investments
Whether GameStop's controversial crypto pivot can survive the downturn
What this selloff means for the future of corporate Bitcoin adoption
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Strategy Pauses BTC Shopping
Michael Saylor's Strategy, the world's largest publicly listed corporate holder of Bitcoin, took a breather from its shopping spree last week when the crypto world least expected. It stopped buying - yes, it did not ‘buy the dip’.
It was also the first time after three consecutive weeks of purchases that Saylor’s Strategy did not buy Bitcoin on a Monday.
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In an April 7 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Strategy disclosed it made no Bitcoin purchases during the week, breaking a consistent pattern of aggressive accumulation that saw the company spend more than $7 billion on Bitcoin in Q1 alone.
The company also revealed a staggering $5.91 billion unrealised loss on its digital assets for the quarter ended March 31, 2025. While Strategy expects to partially offset this with a related income tax benefit of $1.69 billion, the company warned in its filing that it "may not be able to regain profitability in future periods."
As of April 7, Strategy held 528,185 Bitcoin acquired at an average price of $67,458 per coin, with a total cost basis of $35.6 billion.
While this represents an overall unrealised gain of approximately 16.5% at current prices, data from Strategy’s purchases page on its website shows that all Bitcoin bought by the firm since November 18, 2024, is now underwater, with acquisition prices ranging from $82,981 to as high as $106,000.
Meanwhile, Strategy’s stock price crashed 15% to 268.14 since the Liberation Day after jumping 30% between March 10 and April 2.
Broader Corporate Bitcoin Fallout
Strategy isn't the only company watching its Bitcoin bet sour. Other corporate Bitcoin treasury builders saw significant erosion in both cryptocurrency valuation and stock performance since the tariff announcement.
The Bitwise Bitcoin Standard Corporations ETF (OWNB), which tracks a diversified basket of corporate Bitcoin holders, has lost more than 13% since Trump's April 2 announcement, showed Yahoo Finance data. Since March 24, the wound gets deeper — 22%.
This decline shows the market's growing concerns about the suitability of volatile digital assets for corporate treasuries.
Several companies are now facing unrealised losses on their Bitcoin holdings as the NGU (Number Go Up) ratio — which measures the difference between current Bitcoin value and a company's cost basis — has turned negative for many institutional investors.
Metaplanet (3350.T) is experiencing a 7.5% unrealised loss on its Bitcoin holdings, according to Bitcoin Treasuries data.
Its stock has fallen 20.2% amid the crypto selloff.
Semler Scientific (SMLR) is facing about a 10% loss on its portfolio.
These losses highlight a tension between Bitcoin's volatility and traditional corporate treasury management. Not everyone is surprised with this though.
David Krause, a finance professor at Marquette University, saw this coming in a January research publication: "Cryptocurrencies' high volatility and uncertain regulatory landscape are misaligned with the fundamental goals of treasury management [such as] stability, liquidity, and capital preservation."
The recent market action is forcing investors to reassess whether the spectacular gains achieved by Bitcoin-holding companies in 2024 — when surging prices pushed Strategy's shares up were worth the downside risk now being realised.
There have been someone worse hit than the corporate treasuries.
Miners Hit Harder
Bitcoin mining companies are experiencing multiple negative pressures, not only from falling Bitcoin prices but also the direct impact of Trump's tariffs on their equipment costs and operational viability.
Top miners including Marathon Digital, Riot Platforms, CleanSpark and Hut8 declined more than 7% each since the Liberation Day. These steep declines come after Bitcoin miners suffered the worst month ever in terms of revenue in March, per a JP Morgan report.
Trump’s Truth Social post about charging an additional 50% tariff on Chinese imports over and above the recently announced 34% Liberation Day tariffs worsens the threat to mining operations, as the industry depends heavily on ASIC mining equipment manufactured in China.
"The bitcoin mining industry depends exclusively on ASIC computer chips that come from China. Hikes on tariffs for these products will make production costs for miners higher and their businesses less profitable," Alexander Blume, CEO of Two Prime Digital Assets, told The Block.
This couldn’t have happened at a worse time for mining companies, as they're still adjusting to the Bitcoin halving that recently cut their block rewards by 50%. This combination of factors — tariffs, falling prices, increasing competition, and reduced block rewards — has raised legitimate questions about the financial sustainability of many mining operations, particularly smaller players with less efficient equipment or higher electricity costs.
Read: Bitcoin Miners Books Bleed Red
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The tariff-induced crypto selloff exposes a critical vulnerability in the corporate Bitcoin treasury trend: these companies haven't truly prepared for Bitcoin's inherent volatility. What was marketed as "digital gold" for corporate balance sheets is crumbling during macroeconomic stress tests.
The $4 billion evaporation from corporate Bitcoin treasuries demonstrates the precarious balance between innovation and risk management. Companies like Strategy, which poured billions into Bitcoin near price peaks, are discovering that financial engineering has limits when confronted with geopolitical reality. Their pause in Bitcoin purchases speaks volumes — when prices actually drop, the "buy the dip" adage meets the constraints of real-world treasury management.
Mining companies face a larger existential threat. The double blow of Chinese tariffs affecting ASIC equipment costs and plummeting Bitcoin prices creates a tricky situation following the halving. Smaller miners that expanded aggressively during the bull run may not survive this consolidation phase, especially as hashrates paradoxically continue climbing to all-time highs despite diminishing profitability.
For corporate Bitcoin holders, the coming months will separate true believers from momentum chasers. The NGU (Number Go Up) narrative that propelled stocks like Strategy to astronomical heights is faltering as acquisition costs for recent purchases remain underwater. This reality check forces investors to question whether Bitcoin belongs on corporate balance sheets at all, especially for companies without Strategy's financial flexibility or appetite for volatility.
The broader implications extend beyond crypto markets. If companies like Metaplanet and Semler Scientific face continued pressure on their Bitcoin holdings, they may be forced to liquidate positions to shore up core operations. Such selling pressure could exacerbate Bitcoin's downward spiral, creating a negative feedback loop for all holders.
This phase may ultimately strengthen Bitcoin's institutional adoption narrative. Those companies that can weather this storm — through appropriate risk management practices, reasonable cost bases, and sufficient operational runway — will emerge as templates for sustainable corporate Bitcoin treasuries. They'll have a chance to establish if their Bitcoin buying strategy can survive through the asset’s inevitable downturn phases.
For investors watching from the sidelines, this capitulation phase potentially marks an inflection point. The exodus of speculative corporate buyers could create precisely the conditions that favour long-term accumulation.
The tariff-induced crash won't be Bitcoin's last trial by fire. Yet it may be the most important test yet of whether corporate Bitcoin strategies represent genuine financial innovation or simply another form of speculative excess dressed up as treasury management.
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