Empery Digital has sold 1,635 Bitcoin for approximately $102.2 million since July, sharply reducing its freely available cryptocurrency reserves as the company redirects capital toward debt obligations, operating expenses and its expansion into AI data-center infrastructure.
Following the sales, Empery holds approximately 1,279 BTC, but 954 BTC are restricted as collateral supporting $35 million of outstanding debt, leaving only about 325 BTC unrestricted. The figures represent a significant reversal for a company that adopted Bitcoin as its primary treasury asset in July 2025 and initially sought to increase Bitcoin per share.
The latest reduction follows an already substantial liquidation disclosed in a July 10 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Empery said at the time that it had sold 1,400 BTC since May 7 at an average price of $62,200, generating approximately $87.1 million. The proceeds were earmarked for debt repayment, a planned property acquisition, elevated legal expenses and ongoing operations.
Empery’s changing balance sheet illustrates the risks facing corporate Bitcoin treasury companies when debt, operating costs and investment commitments collide with volatile cryptocurrency prices.
Bitcoin Shifts From Accumulation Asset to Funding Source
Empery’s original treasury strategy was built around increasing Bitcoin ownership while using equity and debt markets to finance purchases and share repurchases. That strategy became increasingly difficult as Bitcoin weakened.
At the end of March, Empery reported 2,989.4 BTC, including 1,096.4 BTC pledged to lenders. It sold 1,092 BTC during the first quarter for $74.7 million, realizing a $53.3 million accounting loss relative to the original acquisition cost. Another 75 BTC was sold between April 1 and May 7 for approximately $5.37 million.
The company’s filings explicitly acknowledge that Bitcoin may be sold when other funding sources are insufficient. Empery previously warned that its operating businesses and Bitcoin derivatives activity were not expected to generate enough cash to meet all financial obligations, making equity issuance, additional borrowing or Bitcoin sales potential sources of liquidity.
Its July sales were partly used to repay $10 million of debt, reducing outstanding borrowings to $45 million at that point. The latest figures indicate debt and collateral arrangements have subsequently shifted again.
AI Pivot Adds Another Capital Requirement
Empery’s Bitcoin liquidation is also occurring alongside a major strategic expansion beyond digital assets. In June, the company announced a $65 million investment in a Midwest property intended for development into a 150-megawatt AI data center. On July 23, it followed that initiative with a $20 million strategic investment in Cardinal Data Power, further increasing the capital requirements surrounding its infrastructure strategy.
That creates a markedly different investment profile from a straightforward Bitcoin treasury company. Shareholders now have exposure not only to Bitcoin prices but also to leverage, collateral requirements, legal expenses and the execution risk associated with large-scale data-center investments.
The decline to just 325 unrestricted BTC is therefore particularly significant. Although Empery still owns considerably more Bitcoin in total, most of the remaining treasury cannot be freely deployed while it remains pledged against borrowings.
Empery’s experience highlights an increasingly important distinction within the corporate Bitcoin sector. Headline BTC holdings alone do not necessarily measure financial flexibility. Debt structure, collateral restrictions and cash requirements can determine whether a treasury company is able to hold through a downturn or becomes a forced—or strategically motivated—seller.
For Empery, Bitcoin has increasingly moved from an asset it sought to accumulate into a source of liquidity supporting a broader corporate restructuring.
