StanChart Highlights Risk of Today’s Corporate Bitcoin Holders Turning Into Tomorrow’s Forced Sellers

Standard Chartered Flags Potential Forced Selling Risk for Corporate Bitcoin Holders

According to a report from Standard Chartered analyst Geoff Kendrick, 61 publicly traded companies currently hold a combined 673,897 bitcoins, which accounts for approximately 3.2% of the total bitcoin supply as of May 2025.

These corporate bitcoin treasuries have been a source of buying support in the market. However, Kendrick warns that a sharp decline in bitcoin’s price could pressure some firms into liquidating their holdings.

A majority of these holdings come from Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy (MSTR), which owns 580,955 bitcoins.

Referencing Core Scientific’s (CORZ) experience during the 2022 bear market, Kendrick notes that forced liquidations tend to occur when prices fall more than 22% below the average purchase price. In June 2022, Core Scientific sold 7,202 bitcoins at an average price of $23,000 under creditor pressure, just 22% below their cost of production.

Kendrick cautions that if bitcoin drops below $90,000, about half of these corporate bitcoin holdings would be underwater, increasing the risk of forced sales and further market stress.