Bitcoin Treasury Sequans Sells $100 Million in BTC to Pay Down Debt

New York Stock Exchange-listed chipmaker Sequans (SQNS) sold 970 Bitcoin to pay off debt just four months after pivoting to a digital asset treasury strategy, the company announced Tuesday.

The Paris firm, which began buying the first cryptocurrency in July, he said that he had reduced his holdings to 2,264 BTC from 3,234 of the assets. Those assets are now worth about $228 million

Semiconductor maker Sequans reduced its outstanding debt 50% to $94.5 million from $189 million.

Sequans stock—SQNS—closed 16.6% lower Tuesday afternoon Eastern Time.

“Our Bitcoin treasure strategy and our deep belief in Bitcoin remain unchanged,” said Georges Karam, CEO of Sequans.

He added: “This transaction was a tactical decision aimed at unlocking shareholder value given current market conditions.

“It strengthened our financial foundation and removed certain debt covenant limitations, allowing us to pursue a broader set of strategic initiatives to prudently develop and grow our treasury, with Bitcoin as a long-term strategic reserve asset.”

Decrypt emailed Sequans for comment.

Sequans is one of more than 200 publicly traded companies that follow the Nasdaq approach. Strategywhich has amassed the world’s largest crypto treasure.

Strategy-ex MicroStrategy-pivoted from software development to buy Bitcoin in August 2020 to generate better returns for its shareholders while its share price has soared.

It has since spent about $47.4 billion in Bitcoin and is the largest corporate holder of the asset, amassing 641,205 coins worth about $64 billion at today’s BTC price of about $100,000.

Investors can buy their 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, ethereumand other digital currencies to boost their share prices, and are called “digital asset treasurers.”

But some experts they warned to buy crypto inherent riskand that might not be suitable for every company. The share prices of many of the companies that have bought digital assets with spare cash have fallen.

And even if Strategy’s earnings last week demonstrated which 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 cryptocurrencies.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission in September arrested trade 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.