Leading figures in the Bitcoin industry have analyzed the recent market volatility caused by the sale by Strategy, the world's largest Bitcoin-holding company, as "not a bearish turn for Bitcoin but a process of the digital asset treasury (DAT) market maturing." Experts also noted that DAT companies must build business structures for generating revenue, not just holding Bitcoin.
Jason Fang, CEO of Sora Ventures, said at the "Bitcoin Seoul 2026" panel discussion hosted by Seoul Economic Daily and Decenter on Thursday, "Bitcoin has shown strong resilience over the past year," predicting that "volatility may be high over the next few days, but it will recover in the long term." The discussion was chaired by Steve Young Kim, Binance Asia-Pacific leader, with Ashish Birla, CEO of Evernorth, and Fang in attendance.
Strategy, led by Chairman Michael Saylor, sold 32 bitcoins worth $2.5 million (about 3.8 billion won) from the 26th to the 31st of last month to pay dividends. Although this amounted to 0.004% of its total holdings, the sale by Chairman Saylor—who had previously said he would "never sell Bitcoin"—increased investor anxiety, sending the price of Bitcoin tumbling to the $60,000 range for the first time in two months.
Regarding Strategy's sale, Fang noted that it was "a reasonable decision from the standpoint of company management" but "not appropriate for market sentiment." He pointed out that "it is no longer enough for a DAT to simply raise large amounts of capital and buy Bitcoin in bulk as in the past; this is now a stage where companies must manage the Bitcoin price and the market message together."
There were also voices that this sale demonstrates the need for DATs to generate cash. Birla assessed Strategy by saying, "Their strategy is merely financial engineering based on assets, and there is no actual business in operation." This means that because holding Bitcoin does not itself generate revenue, selling pressure on Bitcoin could increase if burdens such as dividend payments or debt repayment arise. He emphasized, "Some DATs run side businesses like lawn care or pharmaceutical companies to generate cash, but this is not appropriate," adding, "They must generate cash through digital-asset-related businesses."
Fang also diagnosed that the evaluation criteria for DAT companies are changing. While the key in the past was how much Bitcoin a company held, now a sustainable business model has become more important, he said. He explained, "Especially in the Asian market, there are limits to the U.S.-style approach of raising capital through issuing stocks and bonds to buy Bitcoin," adding, "The more conservative a market's regulations, the more important actual business and cash flow become."
Fisher Yu, co-founder of Babylon, who participated as a speaker, also stressed the need to move from an era of stockpiling Bitcoin to an era of utilizing it. He said, "The next step after holding Bitcoin is securing productivity," adding, "If you use Bitcoin as collateral, you can borrow stablecoins or generate additional revenue without selling the assets you hold." Citing insurers as an example, he stressed that using Bitcoin as a means of proof of reserves can increase capital efficiency by allowing companies to operate more funds while maintaining their capacity to pay insurance claims.
He also forecast that the ways Bitcoin is utilized in the financial sector will expand. Fang said, "If digital assets such as Bitcoin are combined with artificial intelligence (AI) agents, the speed of fund flows could increase by 100 times or even 1,000 times," adding, "It will be able to solve the problems of the existing financial system."
In a panel discussion chaired by Hwang Seok-jin, professor at Dongguk University's International Graduate School of Information Security, the view emerged that fears of a Bitcoin security crisis due to the development of quantum computers are excessive. Kim Tae-il, CEO of Core Security, predicted, "Response technologies such as quantum-resistant cryptography are already in place, and it will take time before the actual threat materializes."
Koo Min-woo, Korea deputy director of Chainalysis, said, "The market's concerns surrounding quantum computers and the Bitcoin threat have an element of fear marketing. I don't think it is a situation to worry much about." Baek Hoon-jong, CEO of Smashfi, said, "At the current level of technology, it is excessive to interpret this as if Bitcoin security will collapse immediately," adding, "There are still many technical challenges before a quantum computer stable enough to actually break the cryptographic system is realized."
