Bitcoin Gives Back Early Gains as Strategy Moves Toward Daily Dividends

Treasury yields pulled back from multi-decade highs while oil prices declined following reports that the U.S. and Iran are discussing a phased agreement. At the same time, roughly $14 billion worth of bitcoin options are scheduled to expire on Deribit on Friday.

Sequans Exits Bitcoin Treasury Strategy

The latest move by Sequans may appear bearish at first glance, but bitcoin bulls could view the development as another sign of speculative excess being unwound.

Paris-based semiconductor maker Sequans (SQNS) disclosed Thursday that it had sold its remaining 314 bitcoin, fully ending its bitcoin treasury strategy.

The company joined the digital-asset treasury trend during the summer of 2025. By the October 2025 market peak, Sequans had accumulated more than 3,200 BTC.

However, the company faced convertible-debt obligations and sold most of its bitcoin holdings in May to help redeem the debt. Sequans now joins companies such as Satsuma and Empery Digital, which entered the 2025 corporate bitcoin-buying wave before reversing their strategies roughly a year later.

Strategy Proposes Daily Preferred-Stock Dividends

Michael Saylor’s Strategy is proposing to switch its preferred-stock dividends to a daily accrual and payment schedule.

“Strategy is proposing daily dividends on STRF, STRC, STRK, and STRD accruing every calendar day, including weekends and holidays, and paid the next business day, with economics unchanged,” Saylor wrote Friday.

He said the proposed changes are intended to support price stability, liquidity and demand.

The proposal will go before shareholders for a vote ending Oct. 28. Daily dividends for STRC are scheduled to begin Nov. 1, while the other preferred securities would adopt the structure in January.

Strive’s ASST $29.43 high-yielding preferred stock SATA switched to daily dividends several weeks ago.

Cipher Mining Raises Barber Lake Revenue Outlook

Cipher Mining (CIFR) moved higher after announcing expanded agreements with Google-backed Fluidstack for its Barber Lake data center in Texas.

The agreements extend the lease term from 10 years to 20 years, lifting total contracted revenue to $9 billion from the previous $3.8 billion.

CIFR was up 4.3% in premarket trading.

Risk Assets Gain Ahead of U.S. Open

Risk assets moved higher ahead of Friday’s U.S. market open. Bitcoin briefly climbed to $85,000, gaining more than 0.5% over 24 hours, before falling back below that level.

Gold gained nearly 1% to trade above $4,300 an ounce, while Invesco QQQ rose almost 1% in premarket trading.

The dollar index slipped below 101, WTI crude fell to $92.50 a barrel and the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield declined 0.7% to 5.171%.

QNT, ONDO and LINK Lead Altcoin Gains

Bitcoin traded largely flat between $84,000 and $85,000 while several alternative cryptocurrencies posted stronger gains.

QNT led the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, climbing 38.2% over 24 hours. ONDO gained 28% and LINK advanced 11%, while ALGO, AERO and CC rose between 8% and 9%.

No memecoin appeared among the 10 biggest gainers, pointing to stronger performance from projects with established use cases rather than purely speculative tokens.

Yen Posts Strongest Gain in More Than Two Weeks

The Japanese yen gained as much as 0.6% to 158 per dollar, putting it on track for its strongest daily performance in more than two weeks, according to Bloomberg.

Japan’s Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said President Trump had expressed concerns about the yen’s weakness and pledged to coordinate with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

The yen has declined roughly 3.5% against the dollar since Sept. 8. Japan and the U.S. bought yen during the summer in efforts to support the currency.

The renewed possibility of intervention follows comments from Bessent, who said, “I have asymmetric information. I am the house now.”

Goldman Sachs Reportedly Earned $200M From Situational Awareness

Goldman Sachs generated roughly $200 million in fees this year from Situational Awareness, the hedge fund founded by Leopold Aschenbrenner, according to the Financial Times.

The fund expanded rapidly through leveraged positions in artificial intelligence stocks, with assets reaching about $30 billion at their peak.

A mid-July sell-off in AI stocks triggered a major deleveraging, including a large transaction involving Citadel. Situational Awareness subsequently reduced both its assets and leverage.

FxPro Views Bitcoin Pullback as Potential Pause

Bitcoin traded just above $84,000 on Friday, little changed over 24 hours after falling below that level Wednesday, according to CoinDesk data. Most major tokens moved less than 2%, while smaller assets posted larger gains. ONDO rose 27% to roughly 54 cents and Quant gained 39% to nearly $100.

Bond markets stabilized in Asia, with the 10-year Treasury yield falling two basis points to 5.17% after rising more than 20 basis points across the previous two sessions. Brent crude dropped 1% to around $105 a barrel after reports that Washington and Tehran were considering a phased agreement involving the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

FxPro chief market analyst Alex Kuptsikevich described bitcoin’s decline as a pause in the broader uptrend, even if the cryptocurrency eventually falls toward $70,000.

He said bitcoin had encountered resistance near an important previous support level and had not completed the 161.8% Fibonacci extension of the impulse that began in mid-August in a single move.

Kuptsikevich characterized the unfinished structure of the uptrend as consistent with a temporary consolidation rather than a completed move.

He also pointed to bitcoin’s 2021 cycle, when the cryptocurrency fell more than 50% from its peak before eventually reaching new highs. In his view, a potential decline toward $70,000 could hurt short-term traders without necessarily changing the broader bullish outlook.

Bitcoin enters Friday’s Deribit options expiry below $85,000, a strike that contains one of the largest concentrations of call options.

About The Author