Another Bitcoin treasury firm exits the market: Massive losses from hoarding coins at high prices, with the company lasting less than a year

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Written by: Protos

Compiled by: Chopper, Foresight News

11 months ago, French semiconductor company Sequans Communications launched an enterprise Bitcoin reserve plan to address delisting risks from the New York Stock Exchange. Now, this experiment has ended in disappointment.

The chip company confirmed that it has fully repaid its convertible bonds by selling its Bitcoin holdings, and also plans to gradually liquidate the remaining 658 Bitcoins. The company's Bitcoin holdings once peaked at 3,234 coins.

Previously, Sequans claimed to hold over 3,000 Bitcoins as a long-term reserve asset. But the so-called "long-term" was less than a year.

The company's stock (ticker SQNS) has fallen 77% this year, with a total decline of 97% over the past five years.

Sequans' Bitcoin reserve plan was initiated on June 23, 2025, when Swan Bitcoin and its CEO Cory Klippsten were actively promoting the project (Note: Swan Bitcoin is the exclusive operator and advisor for Sequans' Bitcoin reserve strategy). Just 18 days before the plan was implemented, the NYSE issued a delisting warning to Sequans: the company's market value and shareholders' equity both fell below the exchange's minimum threshold of $50 million.

In Sequans' latest announcement, it has fully repaid its convertible bonds.

Klippsten stated at the time, "Sequans is poised to become a leader in the corporate Bitcoin reserve space." At that time, SQNS stock was trading at $23.40, but now the opening price is only $3.98.

Bitcoin reserve strategy declared a failure at the very start

After the market bubble burst in early summer 2025, many listed companies with digital asset reserves saw their stock prices weaken collectively. The optimistic vision initially painted by Sequans has now been dashed.

Sequans CEO Georges Karam previously expressed strong confidence, believing Bitcoin is a high-quality asset with significant long-term investment value.

The company had chosen Swan Bitcoin as its partner executor and Coinbase Prime as the asset custodian. Meanwhile, Northland Capital Markets and B. Riley Securities served as co-lead underwriters, helping the company raise a total of $384 million through private placement.

Of this, only $195 million came from the sale of American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) at $1.40 per share; the remaining $189 million was in the form of convertible bonds collateralized by Bitcoin. In other words, from the very first day of the plan's implementation, the Bitcoin used as reserves was essentially collateralized to creditors.

As of October 3, 2025, Sequans held a total of 3,234 Bitcoins, with an average cost of about $116,643 per coin. As of this article's publication, Bitcoin's price has fallen to $73,000.

Just one month later, this listed company became "famous" for a negative news story: to repay part of its debt, it sold 970 Bitcoins.

This action completely violated the core principle of the hodling community. The founder of this model, Michael Saylor, left a widely quoted phrase: "Even if you're at the end of your rope, don't sell your Bitcoin." But ultimately, Sequans chose to sell its coins to pay off debt.

Since July 22, 2025, the percentage change in the modified net asset value (mNAV) of several Bitcoin treasury companies

"Bitcoin reserve strategy officially terminated"

Five months later, Sequans completely halted this plan. The company simply stated in its announcement: "The Bitcoin reserve strategy has been terminated."

The CEO Karam, who once strongly believed in Bitcoin, now says that the debt repayment marks an important turning point for the company's development. Going forward, Sequans will focus entirely on its IoT semiconductor core business and promote expansion.

All previous praise for Bitcoin's value and promises to generate long-term returns for shareholders through crypto asset reserves have been abandoned. The company now only has a plan to liquidate and cash out.

In fact, three weeks earlier, in the Q1 2026 quarterly report, the company had already signaled its exit. The risk warning section of the report explicitly mentioned the termination of Bitcoin reserve-related activities. In that quarter, Sequans' revenue was only $6.1 million, with an operating loss of $50.5 million.

According to annual report data, Sequans' net loss for 2025 was $109.3 million, with an unrealized impairment loss on Bitcoin assets alone reaching $67.4 million. The company's total accumulated loss had already reached $145.1 million.

In summary, Sequans bought high and sold low on Bitcoin, ultimately incurring losses of tens of millions of dollars.

The company initially hoped that Bitcoin reserves would enhance financial resilience and create long-term value for shareholders, but both goals failed. Currently, SQNS stock has fallen over 80% since the Bitcoin plan was launched, and more than 92% from its recent yearly high.