Crypto treasury companies tightened their purse strings after the Oct. 10 market crash, with one exception, said Coinbase’s David Duong.
Public companies that buy and hold Bitcoin and Ether have largely stopped accumulating since the market tumbled earlier in October, a move signaling a recent lapse in confidence.
Digital asset treasury (DAT) companies that buy Bitcoin (BTC) “have largely ghosted the post-Oct 10 drawdown and are yet to re-engage,” Coinbase Institutional global head of investment research David Duong said on Sunday.
“Over the last two weeks, BTC buying by DATs fell to near year-to-date lows and has not meaningfully recovered, even on green days,” he added.
The crypto buying slowdown signals the sector is cautious, as the values of many crypto treasury companies have been sliding toward the value of their asset holdings, while their stock prices have cooled from their massive rallies.
Bitcoin fell 9% in the Oct. 10 to Oct. 11 period, dropping from around $121,500 to lows below $110,500. It has fallen to lows of below $105,000 this month but has since recovered to $114,250, trading flat over the past 24 hours.
BitMine is still buying
Duong said the buying lull from Bitcoin buying companies is significant as they are “usually heavy hitters with deep pockets,” but their pullback since Oct. 10 “signals limited confidence on their part.”
The buying slowdown “highlights some caution from large players post leverage washout, even at current ‘support’ levels,” he added.
Duong said that the Ether (ETH) treasury company BitMine Immersion Technologies has been the “only consistent buyer” since the market dropped, with data showing it spent over $1.9 billion since Oct. 10 to buy nearly 483,000 ETH.
Ether fell alongside Bitcoin earlier this month, dropping over 15% to a low of $3,686 between Oct. 10 and 11, but has since slightly recovered to $4,130.
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BitMine’s buying, alongside “smaller contributions from other funds,” has buoyed the total seven-day purchases by ETH treasury companies into the positive, Duong said.
However, he added that if the company “slows or pauses, we worry that the apparent corporate bid could fade.”
“We think this warrants more cautious positioning in the short term,” Duong said. “The market appears more fragile when the biggest discretionary balance sheets are sidelined.”
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