Strategy (NASDAQ:MSTR | MSTR Price Prediction) (formerly Microstrategy) shares are up 3% to $94.43 early Monday as a broad crypto relief rally lifts the treasury names. BitMine Immersion Technologies (NYSE:BMNR) stock is up 7% to $17, and SharpLink Gaming (NASDAQ:SBET) shares are also up 5% to $6.07. The NASDAQ 100 is up 1% alongside the bounce.
The move tracks Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) climbing back toward $65,000, trading near $64,986 after touching a July 24 low near $63,688. Ethereum (CRYPTO:ETH) is leading Bitcoin higher, which explains why the two ETH-treasury names are outrunning Strategy this session.
Today’s gains land inside a brutal one-year drawdown. Strategy stock is down 78% over the past year, BitMine shares are down 62%, and SharpLink stock is down 75%. This is a bounce within a much bigger correction.
Iran Strike Pause Flips Risk-Off Into Relief
A reported pause in the Trump administration’s Iran strikes flipped last week’s risk-off tape into a Monday relief rally. That macro shift sent traders back into equities and crypto in tandem, with Bitcoin up 1% over the past 24 hours and the NASDAQ 100 leading tech higher.
Ethereum’s leadership is the real tell for the treasury proxies. ETH is up 24% over the past month versus Bitcoin’s 9% gain, and that outperformance is flowing directly into BitMine and SharpLink shares.
Strategy Pauses Bitcoin Buying for a Fifth Week
A fresh 8-K from Strategy confirmed no Bitcoin purchases for a fifth straight week, its longest confirmed pause in nearly two years, with holdings unchanged at 843,775 BTC at an average cost of $75,476. The company raised roughly $544.5 million via at-the-market share sales of 5.43 million shares and repurchased $25 million of its STRC preferred.
Strategy’s cash reserves stood at $3.75 billion as of July 26. CEO Phong Le has repeatedly pointed to expanding institutional Bitcoin adoption from Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and Citi as the strategic backdrop for the treasury model.
BitMine and SharpLink Ride Ethereum’s Lead
BitMine is the world’s largest Ethereum treasury with over 3.73 million ETH, and chairman Thomas Lee has publicly called for a V-shaped recovery in crypto prices. The company’s fiscal 2025 net income came in at $328.16 million, or $13.39 diluted EPS, a swing from the prior-year loss.
SharpLink holds 872,984 ETH and signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with Galaxy Digital (NASDAQ:GLXY) for a $125 million on-chain yield fund. Institutional ownership of SharpLink climbed from 6% to 46%, a sharp shift in the shareholder base that helps explain today’s amplified move.
The Bull and Bear Cases Collide
On the bullish side, Galaxy Digital research head Alex Thorn has called Bitcoin a “Veblen good,” stating the firm’s trading desk is split 50/50 on whether $63,000 to $65,000 marks the cycle bottom. Thorn sees positive 6 to 12 month risk-reward with less forced-seller risk now that Strategy has rebuilt its cash cushion.
The bear case is worth noting, as well. Economist and financial commentator Peter Schiff asserted that Strategy’s common stock will “eventually be worthless,” and the buying pause combined with continued equity issuance stokes dilution concerns. Polymarket assigns a 3.5% probability to a Strategy margin call in 2026 and only 11.5% odds of reaching 1 million BTC by year-end.
What to Watch
Investors seeking more direct cryptocurrency exposure can watch iShares Bitcoin Trust (NYSEARCA:IBIT). The ETF holds Bitcoin directly rather than leveraged treasury proxies, though single-asset volatility means IBIT shares can swing hard on macro flips like today’s.
These crypto-treasury names remain deeply drawn down, so today’s rally reads as a tactical bounce rather than a confirmed reversal. Investors should consider keeping their position sizes modest until Bitcoin can hold above $65,000 with real volume and Ethereum sustains its leadership over Bitcoin.
The next anticipated catalyst is Strategy’s Q2 2026 results, where Polymarket pegs a 96.5% probability of an earnings miss given mark-to-market accounting on the BTC book. Watch for whether today’s gains hold into the close and whether ETH keeps leading BTC through the afternoon.
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