tl;dr
Michael Saylor has admitted that MicroStrategy will – at some point – sell some of its BTC stash. To the disappointment of naysayers worldwide, this news caused no ructions at all. Morgan Stanley expands its crypto offerings once more.
Market Snap
Market Wrap
That’s a nice round figure for Wall Street, IG’s own futures contract for US stocks.
Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – UK local elections
Despite searching hard, I cannot find any public statement by any of the candidates standing in the elections for Clissold Ward in Hackney on the urgent topic of cryptos.
What is wrong with these people?
Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – MicroStrategy (MSTR)
The original DATCO (Digital Asset Treasury Company) announced Q1 2026 results showing quarterly losses of $12.54 billion, largely driven by $14.46 billion unrealised loss from a markdown of it large stash of BTC.
This can have come as no surprise to anyone as there is total visibility on MSTR’s holdings of BTC and the BTC price:
https://www.strategy.com/purchases
MSTR now owns 818,334 BTC making it the largest holder in the world. With an average cost of just over $75k per BTC, the company is up on the deal, though having started in 2020 when BTC was trading at less than $12k, one might argue that its DCA purchasing might have been better structured.
Its hoard of BTC has been funded through the sale of equity and preferred shares, which carry a mighty coupon of over 10% currently, though the interest can be deferred with no accrual rights. When MSTR trades at a premium to its BTC holdings – it has been as high as 200% or more – selling equity to buy more BTC is a no-brainer. Currently sitting at close to 10% the premium has largely been a discount since the fall in prices following the ATH at $126k.
For disclosure, the CC Treasury has long held MSTR as a core asset and that is unlikely to change for it is a leveraged bet on the price of BTC with no liquidation risk. If you believe that $126k for BTC is a mere stepping stone to its true value, holding MSTR in tax-efficient wrappers is hard to ignore, though that of course is not financial advice.
However, I have always felt a little uncomfortable with the issue of preferred shares. Which leaves me in a strange position of almost agreeing with crypto-sceptic Peter Schiff, who has famously spent a decade telling everyone that BTC is overvalued, all the way up from just a couple of hundred dollars. So, the man is usually wrong, but his criticism of MSTR’s preferred shares is hard to argue with.
The big news from the investor call following the release of the results was an open admission by Michael Saylor that MSTR might in the future sell some BTC to fund the dividends on its preferred shares. He certainly didn’t mean today, nor any time soon, but I think that MSTR offloading BTC in the future is a reality that some people have preferred to ignore.
There was no discernible impact on the price of BTC which is very reassuring. MSTR will continue to accumulate BTC for now. Being transparent and open about what the future might hold is a very effective way to ensure there is no price disruption regardless of MSTR’s actions.
Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – Morgan Stanley (MS)
Morgan Stanley is adding to its suite of crypto offerings.
Fresh from the launch of its own spot BTC ETF (with the lowest fees of any provider) and the launch of its Stablecoin Reserves Portfolio providing stablecoin issuers with full and audited compliance with the GENIUS Act, the firm is rolling out cryptocurrency trading on its E*Trade platform for retail clients. Again, it has set out its stall with lower charges than regulated firms such as Coinbase and Robinhood, though Binance remains the market leader when it comes to low transaction costs.
By way of disclosure, the CC Treasury portfolio owns both Coinbase and Robinhood.
I think this move by Morgan Stanley will likely increase the number of retail crypto investors, with little cannibalisation of current investors. Seeing giant TradFi firms aggressively adopt cryptos is a signal to be welcomed, not feared by current incumbents nor investors.