Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy, ticker: MSTR), the world's largest public holder of Bitcoin under the leadership of Michael Saylor, has radically shifted its tactics over the past week by temporarily halting the acquisition of the leading cryptocurrency. According to an official report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the company did not execute a single transaction to buy or sell Bitcoin. Instead, Strategy focused on strengthening its financial resilience by issuing and selling 4.8 million shares of common stock for a total of $466 million. The proceeds were directed toward replenishing the company's U.S. dollar reserve, which reached $3 billion as of July 12. These funds are critically important for meeting obligations related to dividend payments to holders of STRC preferred shares, as well as for servicing interest on the corporation's outstanding debt.

The financial context behind this decision is highly revealing. Currently, Strategy holds 843,775 Bitcoins, on which it has spent a colossal $63.69 billion since 2020. The average purchase price per coin stands at $75,476, which is approximately 17% higher than the current market price hovering around $62,500. Consequently, at the end of the second quarter, the company was forced to record an accounting impairment loss on its crypto assets exceeding $8 billion. Against this backdrop, Michael Saylor's rhetoric has noticeably shifted: in his weekly social media posts, he now emphasizes the reliability and size of the dollar reserve, mentioning Bitcoin only as a secondary point. Just a week earlier, the company sold 3,588 Bitcoins for approximately $216 million, and those funds were also earmarked to cover dividend payouts and bolster liquidity.

While Strategy takes a pause in Bitcoin accumulation, other major institutional players are demonstrating the opposite dynamics in the altcoin market. Notably, Bitmine, a company specializing in Ethereum accumulation, reported purchasing 27,801 ETH over the past week. This brought its total reserve to 5,770,038 ETH (approximately $10.2 billion), representing nearly 4.8% of the entire supply of the cryptocurrency. Bitmine Chairman Tom Lee stated that Ethereum is increasingly being perceived by the market as functional money. As a key argument, he cited the launch of the Robinhood Chain, where 27 million platform users now pay transaction gas fees exclusively in ETH, creating sustained fundamental demand. Against the backdrop of this news, Strategy's shares dropped 3.25% in premarket trading to $91.50, while the price of Ethereum corrected downward by 2%, trading around the $1,770 mark.