In the past, the hottest business on Wall Street was "hoarding coins".
The public believed that as long as Bitcoin was written into the balance sheet, these companies were steadfast long-term investors.
But this was actually just a leveraged game in a favorable market.
When assets fell below the cost line, the first player to publicly admit defeat appeared.
1. Buying at $110,000 and Selling at $60,000
Empery Digital was formerly called Volcon, initially focused on electric off-road motorcycles.
In July 2025, the company rebranded and began purchasing Bitcoin in large quantities.
At that time, Bitcoin prices were high, and the company bought about 4,000 BTC, with an average cost of around $117,600, totaling about $470 million invested.
It later increased its holdings to a peak of 4,081 BTC.
By 2026, the company repeatedly reduced its holdings, and on July 10 disclosed that it had sold 1,400 BTC, cashing out $87.1 million, with an average price of about $62,000.
Average purchase price was $117,600, and average selling price was $62,000.
Just from this 1,400 BTC, the loss compared to the cost price was about $77 million.
Currently, the company holds only 1,514 BTC, with approximately $73.9 million in cash on the books.
But why would this strategic asset, which was supposed to be held long-term, be cut when the price was almost halved?
2. The Reversal in Three Months
Behind the selling of coins is an unmanageable ledger.
As Bitcoin prices fell from their peak until February of this year, the company's Bitcoin paper losses amounted to about 46%, equivalent to approximately $220 million.
At that time, the company's total market value fell to about $135 million, and the money lost in buying coins had already exceeded the entire company's value.
This sparked internal conflicts.
In February of this year, a shareholder with 9.8% of the holdings publicly demanded the CEO's resignation and that the company liquidate Bitcoin to return cash to shareholders.
The management refused to liquidate and even privately offered to repurchase the shareholder's shares, which was rejected.
In March, the company announced plans to raise up to $1.3 billion to increase its Bitcoin holdings.
But just a few months later, the coins were still sold, and the money was used to fill three holes.
On July 7, the company used this money to pay off $10 million in debt and currently still owes $45 million.
The remaining money was used to prepare for acquiring equity in an AI data center and to pay legal fees for dealing with shareholder lawsuits.
But was the huge cash obtained from selling Bitcoin merely to pay off debts?
3. The End of the Trend is Hash Power
The most noteworthy aspect is the ultimate destination of this money.
The largest expenditure from Empery Digital’s sale of Bitcoin was $65 million spent to acquire a 25% stake in an AI data center facility in the Midwest of the United States awaiting transformation.
Co-CEO Ryan Lane led the transition, and the company announced that it would stop using the Bitcoin holdings dashboard, shifting its strategic focus to AI infrastructure projects.
From electric motorcycles to Bitcoin treasuries to AI data centers, the business trajectory of this company perfectly aligns with every hot trend.
But this is not an isolated case; peers are also doing similar actions.
In the first quarter of this year, Bitcoin mining giant MARA sold more than 20,000 BTC to repay debts; by the second quarter, another well-known institution, Strategy, also began selling coins to pay preferred stock dividends.
This is known as the "treasury model".
Its core logic is to issue bonds to buy coins, using the increase in coin prices to drive up stock prices.
But there is only one premise for this model to operate: that the coin price must not fall below the capital cost.
Once it falls below, with debt weighing down, the company can only be forced to sell coins to survive.
Currently, Empery Digital still holds 1,514 BTC and a pile of dreams about AI data centers.
It has been proven that the belief on the balance sheet has a clear price tag.
And for this company, its price tag is "liquidation at half price".
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