In brief
- French semiconductor firm Sequans sold Bitcoin from its treasury to pay down debt.
- The company still holds 2,264 digital coins worth roughly $228 million.
- Sequans stock closed down 16.6%.
New York Stock Exchange-listed chipmaker Sequans (SQNS) has sold 970 Bitcoin to pay off debt just four months after pivoting to a digital asset treasury strategy, the company announced on Tuesday.
The Paris-based firm, which started buying the leading cryptocurrency in July, said that it had pared its holdings to 2,264 BTC from 3,234 of the asset. Those assets are now worth about $228 million
Semiconductor manufacturer Sequans slashed its outstanding debt 50% to $94.5 million from $189 million.
Sequans stock—SQNS—closed down 16.6% lower on Tuesday afternoon Eastern Time.
“Our Bitcoin treasury strategy and our deep conviction in Bitcoin remain unchanged,” Sequans CEO Georges Karam said.
He added: “This transaction was a tactical decision aimed at unlocking shareholder value given current market conditions.
“It strengthens our financial foundation and removes certain debt covenant constraints, enabling us to pursue a wider set of strategic initiatives to prudently develop and grow our treasury, with Bitcoin as a long-term strategic reserve asset.”
Decrypt reached out to Sequans for comment.
Sequans is one of more than 200 publicly traded companies following the approach of Nasdaq-listed Strategy, which has accumulated the world’s largest crypto treasury.
Strategy—formerly MicroStrategy—pivoted from software development to buying Bitcoin in August 2020 to generate better returns for its shareholders as its stock price floundered.
It has since spent around $47.4 billion on Bitcoin and is the largest corporate holder of the asset, accumulating 641,205 coins worth about 64 billion at today’s BTC price of roughly $100,000.
Investors can buy its shares to gain exposure to the leading cryptocurrency without having to buy and hold digital coins.
Other companies have followed Strategy’s approach, buying Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other digital coins to boost their stock prices, and are dubbed “digital asset treasuries.”
But some experts have warned of buying crypto’s inherent risk, and that it might not be appropriate for every company. The share prices of many of the firms that have bought digital assets with spare cash have dropped.
And even though Strategy’s earnings last week showed that it generated $2.8 billion in profits for its third quarter, analysts highlighted its declining multiple to Net Asset Value (mNAV), the premium at which a firm’s shares trade relative to its crypto holdings.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in September halted trading of digital advertising firm QMMM Holdings to investigate “potential manipulation” of its stock after it rose by more than 2,100% following an announcement that it was buying Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana.
In a Myriad prediction market, 95% of respondents believe that Strategy will not sell Bitcoin before the end of the year. Myriad is a unit of Dastan, the parent company of Decrypt.
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