Satsuma Led by Pantera Push for Full Bitcoin Sell-Off Amid 99% Stock Crash

One of crypto’s most prolific venture capital firms is leading a push to unwind a London-listed Bitcoin treasury company—the starkest sign yet that the once-hot corporate crypto accumulation trade is unraveling.

Pantera Capital Management is among investors pressuring London-listed Satsuma Technology Plc to divest its remaining roughly $50 million in Bitcoin and return capital to shareholders, according to a Bloomberg report citing people familiar with the matter. Satsuma confirmed that some shareholders “have requested a return of capital,” without naming them.

“We are exploring options to facilitate these requests while protecting the interests of all shareholders,” Satsuma executive chairman Ranald McGregor-Smith said in an emailed statement to Bloomberg. A Pantera spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

From £164 Million Raise to a 99% Crash

The unraveling is particularly sharp given how optimistically Satsuma entered the trade. In August 2025, the company announced it had raised £164 million ($221 million) through a convertible loan note to pursue what it branded an “AI-powered” Bitcoin treasury strategy.

The round — oversubscribed by more than 63% — drew in ParaFi Capital, Pantera, DCG, Kraken, Arrington Capital, and several London institutional equity funds. Roughly $125 million of the raise was settled directly in Bitcoin, with the company accepting 1,097.29 BTC in lieu of cash, a first-of-its-kind institutional BTC subscription for a UK-listed firm.

The timing, in hindsight, was unfortunate. Bitcoin hit an all-time high above $126,000 in early October 2025 before beginning a month-long swoon that shaved nearly 40% off the price.

Satsuma’s stock has fallen more than 99% from a June 2025 peak to trade around 24 pence, and the firm’s market capitalization has dropped below the value of its Bitcoin holdings—the classic signal that a DAT vehicle has stopped functioning as a premium-bearing equity proxy for the underlying asset.

Per BitcoinTreasuries.net, Satsuma currently holds 646 BTC on its balance sheet, ranking 57th among corporate Bitcoin treasury firms—far below giants of the trade such as Michael Saylor’s Strategy Inc., which holds more than 815,000 BTC.

Pantera’s Bet Goes Sideways

The pushback is notable because Pantera has been one of the most active investors in the DAT space. The firm runs a fund dedicated to digital-asset treasury investments and had deployed more than $300 million across the category as of August 2025. Its portfolio includes Tom Lee’s Ether-focused Bitmine Immersion Technologies and Twenty One Capital Inc., the second-largest Bitcoin hoarder. Pantera owns roughly 7% of Satsuma via its Pantera DAT Opportunity Fund, according to the treasury firm’s own investor disclosures.

Tensions between Pantera and Satsuma management have been building. In December 2025, Satsuma sold almost half of its Bitcoin stash to repay some note holders who had declined to convert their notes into ordinary shares.

That move reportedly sparked friction with Pantera and other investors, who pushed for the removal of Satsuma’s top leadership. The company announced in March that CEO Henry Elder—a former UTXO Management principal—and CFO Andrew Smith had resigned. Earlier this month, Satsuma disclosed cost cuts alongside a $1.88 million Bitcoin purchase.

DAT Fatigue Spreads — Even in Trump’s Orbit

Satsuma’s unwind is not an isolated event. The digital-asset treasury model, which hundreds of companies pivoted to in the months after Donald Trump’s return to the White House, has cratered alongside the broader crypto bear market. Valuation premiums to underlying crypto holdings — the core economic rationale for these vehicles — have largely evaporated.

The same fatigue is now reaching companies with direct ties to the Trump family. On Wednesday, Alt5 Sigma Corp—an accumulator of WLFI tokens from the Trump-linked World Liberty Financial Inc.—announced plans to rebrand as AI Financial Corporation (AiFi) and change its Nasdaq ticker from ALTS to AIFC.

The company, whose chairman is Zach Witkoff (co-founder of World Liberty and son of presidential envoy Steve Witkoff), had unveiled a $1.5 billion WLFI accumulation strategy in August 2025. The WLFI token has fallen nearly 70% since it started trading the following month. Alt5 Sigma did not disclose whether it intends to divest its WLFI tokens, framing the rebrand instead as a strategic shift toward AI-driven financial infrastructure.

The pattern across both companies is telling: when the underlying token trade stops working, the vehicle built around it is quietly retooled—or dismantled—regardless of the political affiliations of its backers.

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