Saylor Blames AI Capital Shift, ETF Outflows for Bitcoin Drop

Michael Saylor blamed a rotation of capital into artificial intelligence and more than $4.3 billion in ETF outflows for the recent slide in Bitcoin. In a post on X he wrote: “Capital markets are funding the AI buildout at historic scale. This is a capital rotation, not a Bitcoin impairment. Volatility creates opportunity.” Data from Farside shows more than $4.3 billion left Bitcoin exchange-traded funds since May 14, and the ETFs have not recorded a positive inflow day since May 13. Strategy filed an 8-K disclosing the sale of 32 BTC for $2.5 million last week, the company’s first Bitcoin sale since 2022. Strategy’s Bitcoin holdings are valued at about $53.8 billion, so the sale was small relative to the treasury, but it prompted discussion on social media. Price moves have been volatile. Bitcoin fell about 3.7% in the past 24 hours and has lost more than 13% over the last week, touching $61,559 late Wednesday before trading near $63,429. The broader crypto market capitalization declined about 3% to roughly $2.29 trillion, and liquidations exceeded $1.7 billion over the same period. Data from CoinGlass shows about $635 million of those liquidations were Bitcoin longs. Shares of Strategy have moved down alongside Bitcoin, trading around $128 after a five-day decline. The company’s preferred stock, STRC, traded below its $100 par value at about $95.35. Analysts and market observers pointed to macroeconomic uncertainty, geopolitical risks and concerns about rising energy costs as additional factors affecting demand for risk assets. Saylor and the company characterized the developments as a capital rotation toward AI infrastructure rather than a deterioration of Bitcoin’s fundamentals.