- Tether and Strategy continue to make nine and 10 figure Bitcoin buys.
- But the price isn’t moving.
- Those purchases “are already priced in,” said Robert Le from Pitchbook.
You know times are tough when billion-dollar buys don’t nudge Bitcoin’s price.
Two of crypto’s largest companies — Tether and Michael Saylor’s Strategy — have been adding thousands in Bitcoin to their balance sheets. The result? Price slumps.
Big recent Bitcoin purchases — Tether confirmed on Tuesday it snapped up $735 million while Strategy posted on March 31 that it had picked up $1.9 billion — “are already priced in,” Robert Le, senior analyst at VC research firm Pitchbook, told DL News.
Such bullishness from those two firms aren’t enough of a pleasant surprise, he said: “But imagine if that was JPMorgan.”
Since it rolled out its Bitcoin treasury strategy, Michael Saylor’s firm is the largest corporate Bitcoin holder, with more than $45 billion in Bitcoin on the balance sheet.
What’s more, the company owns three of every four Bitcoin held by a corporation, according to Bitwise.
Tether has been following a similar strategy. On Tuesday, the firm announced it had picked up 8,888 Bitcoin in the first quarter.
According to Le, it will take a wild card to buck the downtrend.
The 22,048 acquisition by Strategy was the fifth largest purchase since Saylor started buying the cryptocurrency back in August 2020, said analyst James Van Straten.
“Now, think about the current market environment.”
Straten is referring to a jittery crypto backdrop since US President Donald Trump took his post. Since then, Bitcoin is down 25% from its all-time high of $108,000. The rest of the crypto market has plunged 20% over the same time period.
But it’s not contained to just crypto. Broader capital markets have also been fraught with volatility, with Elon Musk’s Tesla stock down nearly 50% since he became the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, on January 20.
Sign of strength
With Strategy and Tether’s nine and 10 figure purchases, many are “wondering why Bitcoin’s price hasn’t reacted more explosively,” Matthew Mena, analyst at investment firm 21Shares told DL News.
He sees an answer.
“What we’re seeing right now is a reflection of a maturing market.”
Mena pointed to several bullish metrics. Open interest — or the amount of Bitcoin contracts outstanding — on the derivatives exchange CME Group remains high, and implied volatility has spiked.
That’s a sign investors aren’t bracing for a crash.
Bitcoin exchange-traded funds lured $200 million in inflows last week, following $750 million the week prior, according to Mena.
“So if the price isn’t mooning despite the buys, it’s not necessarily a red flag — it may actually be a sign of strength,” he said.
‘Liberation Day’
While market watchers wait for Trump’s sweeping tariffs to go into effect on April 2, which he has dubbed “liberation day,” experts are placing their bets.
Arthur Hayes, CIO of Maelstrom foresees that crypto prices will rise, largely thanks to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. He has called for a $250,000 price tag by the end of the year.
Others aren’t so bullish.
Quinn Thompson, CIO at Lekker Capital said on X on March 30: “Has there been a single headline this weekend that’s positive for risk assets?”
Pedro Solimano is a markets correspondent based in Buenos Aires. Got a tip? Email him at [email protected].
