Bitcoin Slips Under $72,000 as Strategy BTC Sale Sparks Polymarket Dispute; BitMine Adds ETH
A $20 million Bitcoin prediction market on Polymarket has erupted into a dispute after Strategy disclosed it sold 32 BTC between May 26 and May 31 to help fund preferred stock distributions. The contract asked whether Michael Saylor's treasury firm would sell any Bitcoin before May 31. It has been settled as "No" twice and challenged twice, and is now in final review.
Traders backing "Yes" cite the filing's explicit date range. "No" holders argue the information was not public before the deadline, leaving resolution to UMA's optimistic oracle process. Saylor addressed the issue only indirectly on X, saying Strategy's goal is to make STRC "the best credit instrument in the world," without referencing the BTC sale.
Strategy said the 32 BTC were sold at an average price of $77,135, raising roughly $2.5 million. Proceeds were earmarked for distributions on its Stretch preferred stock, which carries an 11.5% annual yield and a monthly cash obligation near $100 million. Saylor's messaging again emphasized Bitcoin-per-share growth rather than absolute coin count, even as critics revived a long-running jab that the firm has now recorded one of its rare sales into weakness.
Strategy shares fell 5.3% to $150.68, a 45-day low that nearly erased year-to-date gains before partially recovering. TD Cowen analyst Lance Vitanza reiterated a $400 price target, calling the reduction "economically immaterial" and noting it represents a 0.0038% trim of the firm's 843,706 BTC. Benchmark analyst Mark Palmer also said he does not expect Bitcoin disposals to become a primary mechanism for funding dividends. The equity move still underscored investor sensitivity to how Strategy's capital structure obligations could shape future BTC holdings.
In Latin America, Brazil-listed OranjeBTC moved the other way, buying 20 BTC for about $1.506 million at an average price near $75,346 while repurchasing 289,100 OBTC3 shares. The São Paulo-listed company, described as Brazil's largest corporate Bitcoin treasury, now holds 3,762 BTC accumulated for roughly $395.33 million, with a blended cost basis of $105,085 per coin. Its year-to-date BTC yield reached 2.20% for 2026, already matching the full-year 2025 figure. The mix of accumulation and buybacks reflects the per-share concentration playbook increasingly central to the corporate crypto bull thesis.
Markets sold off as the disclosure hit amid broader risk-off positioning. Crypto volumes jumped on June 1. Bitcoin dropped 2.35% below $72,000, while Ethereum fell 1.96%. US spot Bitcoin ETF products have now seen more than $1.5 billion in outflows, the largest withdrawal wave of 2026.
On-chain flow data pointed to AAVE leading mid-cap outflows at around $133,000, with Chainlink close behind near $116,000. Some demand appeared in AI- and privacy-themed tokens, but overall price action looked like coordinated de-risking rather than panic selling.
Adding to the sector rotation narrative, BitMine Immersion Technologies, described as Tom Lee's Ethereum-focused treasury vehicle, bought another 26,497 ETH for roughly $52 million as Ethereum dipped below $2,000 for the first time since late March. BitMine now holds 5,416,901 ETH, about 4.48% of circulating supply, valued at more than $10.6 billion, alongside $446 million in cash and a 203 BTC position. Lee argued current prices underestimate strengthening Ethereum fundamentals, calling the cycle an early-stage "crypto spring." The contrast with Strategy's $2.5 million BTC sale highlighted diverging capital-allocation approaches among public treasury operators.
Separately, analysts revisited a mystery outflow tied to BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust. A single seller dumped 29.21 million IBIT shares at $43.16 versus a prevailing $44.17 quote, accepting a 2.3% discount, about $29.5 million in execution costs, to secure immediate liquidity. The trade printed off-exchange at FINRA/Nasdaq TRF Carteret via an Intermarket Sweep Order with a Reg NMS exemption, a structure that analysts say does not fit a routine basis-trade unwind. The willingness to prioritize speed over price suggested the seller anticipated a further decline across digital assets.
Bitcoin was last trading near $71,394 after a 2.86% daily drop, with a market cap around $1.43 trillion and roughly $22.4 billion in 24-hour volume. With ETF demand weakening and Strategy's symbolic sale weighing on sentiment, $70,000 is now the key psychological support. A decisive break could reopen February's $60,000 wick. On the upside, a move back above $77,000, the level Strategy sold near, would improve the technical tone and restore a range-bound setup. Traders are watching for ETF flow reversals and the pace of corporate treasury accumulation; another week of net outflows paired with muted corporate buying would favor continued distribution.
