Here’s what happened in crypto today

Today in crypto, Michael Saylor sits down with Cointelegraph to defend Strategy's Bitcoin sale.

Strategy's executive chairman said the ability to sell Bitcoin was necessary to continue issuing "digital credit." Meanwhile, crypto exchanges were forced to cancel tokenized SpaceX IPO offerings as Sam Bankman-Fried lost his appeal against his fraud conviction.

Bitcoin sales are necessary for Strategy's digital credit business, Saylor says

Saylor defended the company's recent Bitcoin sale, saying the ability to sell the asset is necessary to continue issuing "digital credit."

Strategy disclosed its first reported Bitcoin sale since 2022 in a June 1 filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, offloading 32 BTC in a move that appeared at odds with Saylor's long-running "never sell your Bitcoin" mantra.

In an interview with Cointelegraph at the BTC Prague conference, Saylor said that Bitcoin treasury companies must retain the ability to sell holdings when necessary to support dividend-paying securities and other Bitcoin-backed credit products. 

“If the company's policy is that we won't sell the Bitcoin, then the credit won't have value and the equity won't have value," he said, adding:

The company is in the business of selling digital credit. The credit is backed by capital. Bitcoin is capital."

Cointelegraph’s Ciaran Lyons (left) and Strategy founder Michael Saylor (right) at BTC Prague. Source: Cointelegraph

Saylor described products like Strategy's STRC preferred stock as "digital credit" instruments that use the company's Bitcoin balance sheet to support credit obligations. For Strategy, such securities have become a primary vehicle for raising capital to acquire more Bitcoin.

Major crypto exchanges cancel SpaceX IPO allocations, promising refunds

Crypto trading platforms Bybit, Binance, Bitget Wallet and MEXC canceled their tokenized SpaceX IPO campaigns as SpaceX went public on the Nasdaq on Friday.  

SpaceX’s IPO, which was reported as more than four times oversubscribed, raised $75 billion as it became a publicly traded company. SpaceX shares opened for trading at $150 on Friday, up from its IPO price of $135. It closed the day at $161.11, valuing the company at over $2 trillion.

SpaceX trading on Nasdaq on Friday. Source: TradingView

However, major crypto platforms offering tokenized access to the IPO were unable to fulfill demand for SpaceX allocations, with several blaming Kraken-owned xStocks’ inability to deliver the underlying assets.  

The failed campaigns marked a setback for crypto platforms seeking to give their users high-demand public offerings for the first time. 

“It’s disappointing that this didn’t work out in the end. We are in the process of sending out the refunds,” Bitget Wallet chief operating officer Alvin Kan said on X. 

“Yes, we have hit a setback, and trust in the industry has taken a blow, but we’ll come out of this stronger,” he added. 

Sam Bankman-Fried loses appeal

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried failed to overturn his fraud conviction and 25-year prison sentence after a three-judge panel of the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously rejected his bid for relief.

The panel described the government's case as "conservatively stated, robust," with Circuit Judge Barrington Parker writing that Bankman-Fried reassured customers their funds were safe while simultaneously using FTX "as his own personal piggy bank" to finance real estate purchases, political contributions and investments.

The ruling comes as Bankman-Fried pursues a separate bid for clemency. He recently confirmed he is "absolutely" seeking a presidential pardon from Donald Trump, though the president told The New York Times in January that he had no plans to grant one. A White House spokesperson also declined to comment on the request, referring Bloomberg to Trump's earlier remarks.

Trump has nevertheless granted high-profile pardons before, including one for Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, who was serving two life sentences plus 40 years before receiving a presidential pardon in January 2025.

Source: Toby Cunningham