Bitcoin briefly reclaimed $65,000 on Monday — but could the worst of the selloff really be behind us?

Right now the answer to that question rests solely on Strategy’s shoulders. The largest public holder of Bitcoin got back to buying this week — but importantly also raised more than $335 million by issuing more common stock. Now, the question becomes: Will it be enough?

It’s an almost impossible question to answer, especially as the overall market tests whether the Iran War ceasefire will hold. For now, here’s what we learned in speaking with Strategy’s CEO — and why things might be turning for the better. Let’s dig in:

Strategy Boosts Cash Reserves

By now, we don’t need to re-hash the history of Strategy getting to this point, but after drawing down on its cash reserves to retire more than $1 billion in convertible debt, the market was waiting to see what Strategy would do.

The answer came with the latest 8-K this morning revealing Strategy sold more than $335 million in common stock while also acquiring 520 Bitcoin ($34.9 million.) The latest stock sale boosted cash to cover 9.8 months of dividends — up from just 7 — but still well short of the company’s stated goal of two years.

Importantly, Strategy’s preferred stock STRC recovered to $89 after trading as low as $83 on Thursday. Strategy CEO Phong Le admitted that the shares trading this far below their $100 par level is likely a result of the market losing confidence that Strategy will be able to deliver on paying its perpetual dividend.

“STRC has been around for 10 months. Bitcoin has been around for almost 18 years. Bitcoin is getting into adulthood. STRC is still very much not even a toddler. It’s an infant,” he told Coinage last week. “So we’ll get the product to grow up, mature and to trade around $100. And I feel reasonably confident that we can do that.”

The market, so far, is seemingly less confident. In theory, Strategy shifting from monthly to semi-monthly dividend payouts should make the product more attractive. We’ll see if more buying interest returns as the next ex-dividend date approaches (June 30.) Without that happening, Strategy will not be able to raise money by issuing new STRC shares.

It could return to selling more Bitcoin to boost cash reserves further, or continue issuing more MSTR shares. MSTR is down 30% year-to-date, trading at levels not seen since 2024.

According to Fundstrat’s Sean Farrell, we could still see Bitcoin trade down to $48,000 until the market believes the worst is over. We may get better insight on which direction we’re heading by the end of the month.

Ethereum’s Version of the Strategy Trade

Despite the issues Strategy is running into, Tom Lee’s BitMine is pressing ahead with a similar playbook built around Ethereum.

The company disclosed another 52,000 ETH purchase this week and raised roughly $273 million through the launch of its own preferred stock, BMNP. The preferred shares will start by paying a 9.5% dividend.

The company now controls roughly 4.7% of Ethereum’s total supply, putting it within striking distance of Lee’s stated goal of owning 5%.

For now, investors appear willing to give Lee the benefit of the doubt. But just like Strategy, BitMine’s success ultimately depends on the underlying asset continuing to rise. Preferred shares, dividend yields, and financial engineering can buy time. They can’t replace demand for the asset itself.

Former NY Gov. Cuomo Jumps on Tokenization

Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is now co-chairing a joint venture between OKX and ICE, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange. The goal: bringing NYSE-listed assets onchain through tokenized wrappers.

It’s another sign that tokenization is heating up. The question is no longer whether traditional finance will experiment with blockchain technology. The question is whether crypto-native exchanges and traditional exchanges end up competing with each other — or working together.

Consumer Crypto Isn’t Dead

One of the more surprising developments came from consumer trading app Fomo, which announced a $75 million Series B led by Index Ventures.

Consumer crypto has been one of the weakest funding categories over the past two years. Infrastructure, stablecoins, and institutional products have attracted most of the capital. But FOMO’s raise suggests investors still see opportunity in one corner of the market: leveraged trading.

The platform says more than 625,000 users have generated over $4 billion in trading volume while creating more than 110 million social interactions. The formula combines social features with perpetual futures trading — two of the strongest product trends in crypto today.

If Hyperliquid proved there’s still massive demand for perps, and Robinhood proved users want trading to feel more social, Fomo is effectively betting that combining the two remains one of the most compelling consumer products in the industry.

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