Bitcoin Steadies Near $87,500: Strategy Buy & Crypto Stocks Update

The cryptocurrency market witnessed another chapter in its turbulent journey as Bitcoin steadies near $87,500 following fresh accumulation by corporate giant Strategy, formerly known as MicroStrategy. While the leading digital asset found support around this psychological level, crypto-linked stocks displayed divergent performance, reflecting the complex dynamics shaping institutional adoption and market sentiment entering the final days of 2025.

The latest trading session painted a picture of cautious optimism mixed with underlying uncertainty. Bitcoin hovered around the $87,800 mark after experiencing significant volatility throughout December, a month that saw the cryptocurrency retreat from its all-time high of over $108,000 established earlier in 2025. Meanwhile, Strategy’s continued commitment to Bitcoin accumulation served as both a signal of institutional conviction and a reminder of the aggressive treasury strategies that have reshaped corporate approaches to digital assets.

Strategy Continues Aggressive Bitcoin Accumulation Strategy

In a move that surprised few market observers familiar with Executive Chairman Michael Saylor’s unwavering conviction, Strategy disclosed fresh Bitcoin purchases totaling 1,229 BTC for approximately $109 million during the week ending December 28, 2025. The acquisition was executed at an average price of $88,568 per coin, bringing the company’s total holdings to an impressive 672,497 BTC valued at roughly $59 billion at current market prices.

The purchase represents a continuation of what has become the most aggressive corporate Bitcoin accumulation program in history. Strategy has now spent approximately $50.44 billion acquiring Bitcoin at an average cost basis of $74,997 per coin, positioning the company as the largest publicly traded corporate holder of the digital asset by a substantial margin. This latest buy was funded through the sale of 663,450 shares of Class A common stock under the company’s at-the-market equity program, generating $108.8 million in net proceeds.

What makes this particular purchase noteworthy is its timing and strategic significance. The acquisition came after Strategy briefly paused Bitcoin purchases the previous week to bolster its cash reserves, marking a rare interruption in the company’s typically relentless accumulation schedule. During the week ending December 21, Strategy raised approximately $748 million through stock sales specifically to build reserves rather than acquire additional Bitcoin, demonstrating a maturing approach to treasury management and financial flexibility.

The company’s 2025 buying activity has been nothing short of extraordinary. Strategy made Bitcoin purchases in 41 separate weeks throughout 2025, compared to just 18 purchases in 2024 and eight in 2023. According to research data, the company acquired approximately 223,800 BTC during 2025, translating to an average buying pace of 641 Bitcoin per day and total spending exceeding $22.46 billion for the year.

Bitcoin Price Action Reflects Broader Market Dynamics

As Bitcoin steadies near $87,500, market participants are grappling with a confluence of factors that have kept the cryptocurrency range-bound between $84,000 and $90,000 for nearly two weeks. This period of consolidation follows a dramatic December that saw Bitcoin retreat from its peak, shedding more than 20% from its high as macro uncertainty and year-end profit-taking dominated trading activity.

The current price level represents both technical support and a psychological battleground for bulls and bears. Technical analysts have identified key resistance around the $90,000 level, with multiple attempts to break through this ceiling being violently rejected. Conversely, support appears solid in the $86,000 to $87,000 zone, with significant buying interest emerging whenever Bitcoin approaches these levels.

Liquidation data provides additional context for the current price action. Market intelligence suggests that a drop below $86,000 could trigger approximately $666 million in long liquidations, potentially accelerating downward momentum. Conversely, a sustained break above $89,000 might lead to roughly $663 million in short liquidations, potentially catalyzing a rapid move higher. This dynamic creates a pressure cooker environment where large market participants must navigate carefully to avoid triggering cascading liquidations.

Despite the recent pullback, Bitcoin has demonstrated remarkable resilience throughout 2025. The cryptocurrency ended the year with gains exceeding 119%, vastly outperforming traditional asset classes and cementing its position as one of the best-performing assets of the year. This performance came despite multiple challenges including regulatory uncertainty, macroeconomic headwinds, and intermittent selling pressure from both retail and institutional participants.

Crypto-Linked Stocks Display Mixed Performance

The company’s market-to-net asset value ratio, which measures enterprise value relative to Bitcoin holdings, dropped to between 0.78 and 1.06 by late December. This metric previously traded at a premium above 2.0, meaning investors historically paid more than double the value of Strategy’s Bitcoin to own the stock. The disappearance of this premium has raised concerns among some analysts about the company’s ability to continue raising capital through stock sales at favorable terms.

Coinbase, the largest regulated cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, has fared better in recent trading. The company’s shares surged 47% in 2024, reaching approximately $255 per share and achieving a market capitalization of $64 billion. Coinbase has benefited from strengthening banking partnerships, expansion of its product portfolio, and the shift to a subscription-based business model that has delivered positive earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization for six consecutive quarters.

Bitcoin mining companies have faced more significant headwinds. Riot Platforms saw its stock price decline 32% throughout 2024, closing the year around $10.50 despite expanding its hash rate capacity by 159% to reach 28 exahashes per second. The company has grappled with rising operational costs and the impact of the Bitcoin halving event, which reduced block rewards and compressed margins across the mining sector.

Marathon Digital, another major mining operation, has experienced similar challenges. While the company continues to produce substantial Bitcoin through its mining operations, the stock has struggled to maintain momentum as investors weigh the capital-intensive nature of mining against the volatility of Bitcoin prices and the ongoing reduction in block rewards.

Institutional Adoption Continues to Reshape Crypto Landscape

The story of Strategy’s fresh Bitcoin buy is emblematic of a broader trend transforming the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Institutional adoption has accelerated dramatically over the past year, with multiple publicly traded companies following Strategy’s playbook and converting portions of their treasury reserves into Bitcoin.

Twenty One Capital launched its Bitcoin treasury strategy in April 2025 and now holds more than 43,500 BTC, backed by major financial institutions including Cantor Fitzgerald, Tether, SoftBank, and Bitfinex. The company added roughly 5,800 BTC from Tether in July, demonstrating the growing interconnection between cryptocurrency infrastructure providers and Bitcoin treasury strategies.

Other notable entrants include Bitcoin Standard Treasury Company with approximately 30,021 BTC, Trump Media and Technology Group with about 11,542 BTC, and various Asia-based companies such as Metaplanet, which has earned the nickname “Asia’s MicroStrategy” for its aggressive accumulation strategy. Metaplanet now holds over 35,000 BTC and has set ambitious targets to acquire an additional 100,000 BTC by the end of 2026 and 210,000 BTC by 2027.

Publicly traded companies now collectively hold more than 1.08 million Bitcoin across 192 firms, the majority of which are based in the United States, followed by Canada, the United Kingdom, and Japan. This represents roughly 5% of Bitcoin’s total circulating supply and marks a dramatic shift from just five years ago when corporate Bitcoin holdings were negligible.

The emergence of Bitcoin spot exchange-traded funds has further accelerated institutional adoption. These investment vehicles now hold approximately 7% of all Bitcoin in circulation, providing traditional investors with regulated access to cryptocurrency exposure without the complexities of self-custody. Major asset managers including BlackRock, Fidelity, and Grayscale have launched successful Bitcoin ETF products that have attracted billions in assets.

Market Dynamics and Future Outlook for Bitcoin

As Bitcoin steadies near $87,500, analysts are divided on the near-term trajectory for the cryptocurrency. The current consolidation phase is being interpreted through multiple lenses, with bulls viewing it as healthy accumulation before the next leg higher and bears seeing it as distribution ahead of further declines.

Several factors will likely influence Bitcoin’s path forward in early 2026. Macroeconomic conditions, particularly Federal Reserve policy and the trajectory of interest rates, remain central to cryptocurrency valuations. While the Fed executed three rate cuts in 2024, guidance suggesting a slower pace of cuts in 2025 contributed to December’s market pullback and rising bond yields that competed with Bitcoin for investor capital.

Regulatory developments will also play a crucial role. The cryptocurrency industry has invested heavily in political advocacy, and the outcome of recent elections has created optimism for more favorable regulatory treatment. However, the specific contours of new regulations for stablecoins, exchanges, and custody solutions remain to be determined and could significantly impact market dynamics.

Technical factors suggest Bitcoin remains in a long-term bullish trend despite the recent consolidation. The 200-day moving average continues to slope upward, and the cryptocurrency has maintained support above key technical levels that previously acted as resistance. Historical patterns suggest that consolidation periods following major rallies are typical features of Bitcoin bull markets and often precede subsequent moves to new highs.

The evolution of the four-year halving cycle narrative also deserves attention. Traditionally, Bitcoin price movements have been closely tied to the supply reduction that occurs approximately every four years when block rewards are cut in half. However, analysts increasingly argue that this cycle has been disrupted by the emergence of spot ETFs, institutional adoption, and the maturation of cryptocurrency derivatives markets. These structural changes may create new dynamics that supersede historical patterns.

Corporate Treasury Strategies and Bitcoin Yield Metrics

Strategy has pioneered a framework for evaluating Bitcoin treasury performance that extends beyond simple price appreciation. The company emphasizes a metric called “Bitcoin Yield,” which measures how effectively the firm increases its Bitcoin holdings relative to its share count over time. Strategy reported achieving a 23.2% Bitcoin yield year-to-date for 2025, arguing this demonstrates value creation for shareholders even when the stock price declines.

This approach represents a fundamental reimagining of corporate finance. Rather than focusing on traditional metrics like earnings per share or return on invested capital, the Bitcoin yield framework prioritizes BTC accumulation per share as the primary measure of success. Proponents argue this makes sense for companies that have adopted Bitcoin as their primary treasury reserve asset and believe in its long-term appreciation potential.

Critics, however, question whether this metric adequately captures value creation. The Bitcoin yield calculation does not account for the cost of capital raised to acquire Bitcoin, the opportunity cost of alternative uses for those funds, or the risks associated with cryptocurrency volatility. Additionally, the continuous dilution of shareholders through stock offerings used to fund Bitcoin purchases raises questions about whether existing shareholders truly benefit from the strategy.

The tension between these perspectives was evident in Strategy’s stock performance throughout late 2025. Despite the company’s insistence that Bitcoin yield demonstrates strong value creation, the stock traded at or below the net asset value of its Bitcoin holdings, suggesting the market was unconvinced about the premium that should attach to the company’s operational structure and financial engineering capabilities.

Mining Sector Challenges and Opportunities

While corporate treasuries like Strategy accumulate Bitcoin through purchases, mining companies face a different set of dynamics as they produce new coins through computational work. The mining sector confronted significant headwinds throughout 2024 and into 2025, with challenges including the April 2024 halving event that cut block rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC per block.

This reduction in miner revenue, combined with the capital-intensive nature of mining operations and rising electricity costs in many jurisdictions, compressed profit margins across the sector. Public mining companies responded by expanding their operations to achieve greater scale and efficiency, investing in more advanced mining hardware, and exploring alternative revenue streams including Bitcoin treasury strategies of their own.

Some mining companies have achieved notable success by combining production with accumulation. These firms mine Bitcoin while also purchasing additional coins when market conditions are favorable, essentially adopting a hybrid approach that combines elements of production and treasury management. This strategy allows them to capitalize on their expertise in Bitcoin while building substantial holdings that can appreciate alongside the broader market.

The geographic distribution of mining operations continues to evolve. Following China’s 2021 ban on cryptocurrency mining, the industry has predominantly relocated to North America, particularly the United States. This shift has created opportunities for publicly traded miners but has also attracted increased regulatory scrutiny and concerns about energy consumption and environmental impact.

Exchange and Infrastructure Developments

The performance of cryptocurrency exchanges and infrastructure providers offers another window into the health of the broader ecosystem. Coinbase, as the largest regulated exchange in the United States, has benefited from increased trading volumes and expanding product offerings that extend beyond simple spot trading of cryptocurrencies.

The company has invested heavily in institutional services, custody solutions, and international expansion. Coinbase’s Base layer-2 network has emerged as a significant growth driver, providing lower-cost transactions while keeping users within the Coinbase ecosystem. Partnerships with major payment processors like Stripe have positioned the company to facilitate global cryptocurrency adoption for merchants and consumers.

Other infrastructure providers have also seen substantial growth. Custodians that provide secure storage for institutional Bitcoin holdings have experienced surging demand as more companies adopt cryptocurrency treasury strategies. Trading venues offering derivatives, lending, and yield-generating products have expanded their offerings to meet the increasingly sophisticated needs of both retail and institutional participants.

The regulatory environment for exchanges remains complex and varies significantly across jurisdictions. In the United States, exchanges must navigate requirements from multiple regulatory bodies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and state-level money transmission authorities. This regulatory complexity creates barriers to entry but also provides advantages to established players with existing compliance infrastructure.

Macroeconomic Factors and Bitcoin as Digital Gold

The narrative of Bitcoin as “digital gold” continues to evolve as the cryptocurrency matures. Proponents argue that Bitcoin offers similar properties to precious metals, including scarcity, durability, and resistance to debasement, while providing additional advantages including portability, divisibility, and verifiability. The fixed supply cap of 21 million coins creates programmatic scarcity that differs from gold’s unknown but theoretically unlimited supply.

However, Bitcoin’s correlation with risk assets, particularly technology stocks, has complicated this narrative. During periods of market stress, Bitcoin has often declined alongside equities rather than serving as a safe haven. This behavior suggests the market currently views cryptocurrency primarily as a risk-on asset rather than a defensive store of value.

The relationship between Bitcoin and gold remains dynamic. Gold prices surged 71% throughout 2024, vastly outperforming both Bitcoin and traditional equities as investors sought protection from inflation and geopolitical uncertainty. This performance differential has prompted debates about whether Bitcoin can truly serve as “digital gold” or whether it represents a fundamentally different asset class with distinct risk-return characteristics.

Interest rate policy exerts a significant influence on Bitcoin valuations. As a non-yielding asset, Bitcoin competes with interest-bearing alternatives, including government bonds and savings accounts. When interest rates rise, the opportunity cost of holding Bitcoin increases, potentially dampening demand. Conversely, low or negative real interest rates enhance Bitcoin’s relative attractiveness as investors seek alternatives to cash that loses purchasing power over time.

Looking Ahead: Bitcoin’s Path in 2026 and Beyond

As Bitcoin steadies near $87,500 and the calendar turns to 2026, market participants are actively debating the cryptocurrency’s trajectory. Price forecasts vary widely, with bulls targeting $150,000 or higher based on continued institutional adoption, potential inclusion in sovereign wealth funds or central bank reserves, and the ongoing maturation of cryptocurrency markets. Bears, conversely, warn of potential declines toward $10,000 or lower, citing valuation concerns, regulatory risks, and the possibility of a broader economic downturn.

The most likely scenario may involve continued volatility within an overall upward trend. Historical patterns suggest Bitcoin bull markets typically last multiple years and involve numerous significant corrections along the way. The current consolidation around $87,500 could represent a healthy digestion of recent gains rather than the beginning of a prolonged bear market.

Several potential catalysts could drive Bitcoin higher in the coming months. Additional corporate treasury adoptions following the Strategy’s playbook would remove supply from the market and validate Bitcoin as a legitimate corporate asset. Regulatory clarity that provides certainty for businesses and investors could unleash pent-up demand from participants who have remained on the sidelines due to legal uncertainty.

Conversely, risks remain substantial. A significant hack of a major exchange or custody provider could shake confidence and trigger selling pressure. Regulatory crackdowns in major markets could limit access and reduce liquidity. Macroeconomic deterioration that forces widespread deleveraging could pressure Bitcoin alongside other risk assets.

The evolution of cryptocurrency technology itself will shape Bitcoin’s future. Layer-2 scaling solutions promise to enhance Bitcoin’s transaction capacity while maintaining the security of the base layer. Developments in privacy, programmability, and interoperability could expand Bitcoin’s use cases beyond simple value transfer and store of value applications.

Conclusion

For those considering exposure to Bitcoin and cryptocurrency markets, the current environment offers both opportunities and challenges. Bitcoin’s consolidation around $87,500 could represent an attractive entry point for long-term investors who believe in the cryptocurrency’s fundamental value proposition. However, the volatility inherent in digital assets demands careful position sizing and risk management.

As 2026 unfolds, attention will focus on whether Bitcoin can break above resistance near $90,000 and $100,000 or whether support around $87,500 gives way to deeper corrections. Corporate treasury strategies like Strategy’s will continue to influence supply dynamics, while regulatory developments and macroeconomic conditions shape demand. The interplay of these forces will determine whether the current consolidation represents a pause before the next leg higher or a distribution phase preceding declines.

Regardless of short-term price action, the fundamental trends toward institutional adoption, technological improvement, and global accessibility appear intact. Bitcoin has survived numerous predictions of its demise and emerged stronger after each challenge. As the ecosystem matures and infrastructure improves, the cryptocurrency’s utility as both a medium of exchange and store of value continues to expand.

For investors, businesses, and policymakers, understanding Bitcoin’s evolution from speculative curiosity to institutional asset class represents crucial knowledge for navigating the digital economy. The story of Strategy’s Bitc</strong>oin accumulation and the broader corporate treasury trend illustrates how quickly established paradigms can shift when new technologies offer compelling value propositions.

Stay informed about the latest developments in cryptocurrency markets and institutional Bitcoin adoption. Monitor key price levels, track corporate treasury announcements, and follow regulatory developments that could shape the future of digital assets. Whether Bitcoin trades at $87,500, $150,000, or some other level in the months ahead, the fundamental transformation of global finance continues to unfold.

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