Standard Chartered: MicroStrategy BTC sale may boost ether

Standard Chartered’s head of digital assets research, Geoffrey Kendrick, wrote that MicroStrategy sold 32 bitcoin in the final week of May to cover preferred stock dividends. The company disclosed the sale in a Monday filing. The 32 BTC were a small portion of MicroStrategy’s reported treasury of 843,706 coins.

The filing reported the block moved at an average price near $77,135 per coin before fees and generated roughly $2.5 million in proceeds. Bitcoin traded around $67,875 on Tuesday and fell nearly 5% over 24 hours after the disclosure. MicroStrategy’s stock, ticker MSTR, dropped about 10% across two sessions following the filing.

Kendrick connected the market reaction to differences in how ether and bitcoin treasuries can generate cash. He pointed to staking rewards for ether treasuries, which currently yield about 3%, allowing ether holders to earn income by locking tokens to support the network rather than selling principal holdings. Bitcoin holdings do not earn comparable staking rewards.

In his note Kendrick projected the ETH-BTC ratio to climb from roughly 0.028 to 0.040 by year-end. He repeated longer-term ether price targets of $4,000 by the end of 2026 and $40,000 by 2030. Kendrick wrote, ‘I see yesterday as being the start of ETH outperformance v BTC.’

Market participants showed different responses to the price moves. An OTC market maker flagged $60,000 to $65,000 as key downside support and indicated longer-term funds are using time-weighted average price strategies to buy bitcoin in tranches, accumulating without calling a precise bottom.

Kendrick noted that multiples of net asset value for some ether-backed treasuries, including BitMine and SharpLink, have recently fallen below MicroStrategy’s. He said staking rewards could change treasury valuations over time. He identified two tests investors will watch: whether MicroStrategy launches a buyback large enough to offset the sold position and whether ether treasury vehicles can sustain higher capital-raising premiums as staking rewards compound. Until then, he said the ETH-BTC ratio remains the clearest metric to track relative performance.