Treasury yields retreated from multi-decade highs and oil prices moved lower after reports that Washington and Tehran were discussing a phased agreement. Meanwhile, around $14 billion in bitcoin options are due to expire on Deribit Friday.
Sequans Completes Bitcoin Exit
Sequans’ latest move may initially appear negative for bitcoin, although it also reflects the unwinding of some of the speculative corporate demand that emerged during the 2025 treasury boom.
The Paris-based semiconductor company Sequans (SQNS) disclosed that it had sold its remaining 314 bitcoin as of June 30, bringing its bitcoin treasury strategy to an end.
Sequans entered the digital-asset treasury trend during the summer of 2025 and accumulated more than 3,200 BTC by the market peak in October that year.
Convertible debt obligations later forced the company to reduce its bitcoin holdings. In May, Sequans sold most of its BTC to help redeem the debt.
The company now joins Satsuma and Empery Digital, which also participated in the 2025 corporate bitcoin treasury surge before ultimately reversing their strategies about a year later.
Saylor Seeks Daily Dividends for Strategy Preferred Shares
Strategy founder Michael Saylor said the company is seeking shareholder approval to move several preferred stocks to a daily dividend structure.
“Strategy is proposing daily dividends on STRF, STRC, STRK, and STRD accruing every calendar day, including weekends and holidays, and paid the next business day, with economics unchanged,” Saylor wrote Friday.
He said the proposed changes are designed to support price stability, liquidity and demand.
Shareholders will vote on the proposal through Oct. 28. STRC is expected to begin paying daily dividends on Nov. 1, while the other preferred securities are scheduled to adopt the arrangement in January.
Strive’s ASST $29.43 high-yielding preferred stock SATA moved to daily dividends several weeks ago.
Cipher Mining Contract Expansion Lifts Shares
Cipher Mining (CIFR) gained in premarket trading after announcing expanded agreements with Google-backed Fluidstack covering its Barber Lake data center in Texas.
The new agreements extend the facility’s lease commitments from 10 years to 20 years, increasing total contracted revenue to $9 billion from $3.8 billion previously.
CIFR was up 4.3% in premarket trading.
Bitcoin Briefly Reclaims $85K as Risk Assets Rise
Risk assets were higher before Friday’s U.S. market open. Bitcoin briefly reached $85,000, gaining more than 0.5% over 24 hours, before retreating below the level.
Gold advanced nearly 1% to above $4,300 an ounce, while Invesco QQQ was up almost 1% in premarket trading.
The dollar index slipped below 101. WTI crude traded near $92.50 a barrel, while the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield fell 0.7% to 5.171%.
QNT Leads Altcoin Rally
Bitcoin remained largely range-bound between $84,000 and $85,000 as several altcoins posted stronger gains.
QNT was the strongest performer among the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, rising 38.2% over 24 hours. ONDO climbed 28% and LINK gained 11%, while ALGO, AERO and CC advanced between 8% and 9%.
None of the top 10 gainers were memecoins, with the strongest moves instead coming from projects associated with established use cases.
Yen Gains as Intervention Concerns Return
The Japanese yen climbed as much as 0.6% to 158 per dollar, putting it on track for its strongest daily gain in more than two weeks, Bloomberg reported.
Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said President Trump had acknowledged Japan’s concerns about the weak yen and agreed to coordinate with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
The yen has fallen around 3.5% against the dollar since Sept. 8. Japan and the U.S. bought yen during the summer as authorities sought to support the currency.
Fresh intervention concerns followed remarks from Bessent, who said, “I have asymmetric information. I am the house now.”
Goldman Sachs Earns About $200M From Hedge Fund Fees
Goldman Sachs generated roughly $200 million in fees this year from Situational Awareness, the hedge fund founded by Leopold Aschenbrenner, according to the Financial Times.
The fund expanded rapidly by using leverage to invest in AI stocks, with its assets reaching approximately $30 billion at their peak.
A sell-off in AI stocks during mid-July triggered a significant unwinding of positions, including a major sale to Citadel. Situational Awareness subsequently reduced its leverage and assets.
FxPro Calls Bitcoin Decline a Pause in Uptrend
Bitcoin traded slightly above $84,000 Friday, little changed over 24 hours after dropping below the level Wednesday, according to CoinDesk data. Most major tokens moved less than 2%, while ONDO climbed 27% to around 54 cents and Quant rose 39% to nearly $100.
Treasury markets stabilized in Asia, with the 10-year yield falling two basis points to 5.17% after gaining more than 20 basis points during the previous two sessions.
Brent crude declined 1% to roughly $105 a barrel after reports that Washington and Tehran were exploring a phased agreement aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
Alex Kuptsikevich, chief market analyst at FxPro, described bitcoin’s recent decline as a pause in its broader advance. He noted that BTC had encountered resistance around a previously important support level and failed to complete the 161.8% Fibonacci extension of the rally that began in mid-August in one move.
According to Kuptsikevich, the unfinished structure of the advance leaves room for the pullback to represent a temporary pause rather than a completed uptrend.
He also cited bitcoin’s 2021 market cycle, when BTC dropped more than 50% from its peak before eventually setting new highs. A decline toward $70,000 could therefore be painful for short-term traders without necessarily changing the broader outlook, he said.
Bitcoin is heading into Friday’s Deribit expiry below $85,000, a strike with one of the largest concentrations of call options.
