By Ateev Bhandari Feb 5 (Reuters) – Strategy reported a wider fourth-quarter loss on Thursday, as a turbulent period for digital assets caused the world's largest hoarder of bitcoin to record losses on its holdings. Shares of the Michael Saylor-led company fell 1.5% in after-hours trading, extending heavy selling from earlier in the day. They are down nearly 30% this year. In December, Strategy had slashed its 2025 earnings forecast, citing a weak run in bitcoin, and announced plans to create a reserve to support dividend payments. Its earlier estimate assumed bitcoin would hit $150,000 by the end of the year. Cryptocurrencies, led by bitcoin, enjoyed regulatory embrace and healthy institutional inflows through much of 2025. However, the volatile sector has now struggled for months since a record crash last October sent bitcoin nearly halving from its October 6 peak as leveraged positions were washed out. Bitcoin is currently trading at $63,140. Strategy logged a loss of $12.4 billion, or $42.93 per share, for the three months ended December 31, compared with a loss of $670.8 million, or $3.03 per share, in the fourth quarter of 2024. It held 713,502 bitcoins as of February 1, at a total cost of $54.26 billion, or $76,052 per bitcoin. Still, Saylor, who serves as Strategy's executive chairman, expressed confidence in regulatory tailwinds and corporate adoption of cryptocurrencies. "The actions by big finance, the actions by the big banks and the actions by the financial regulators are the fundamentals," Saylor told investors on the post-earnings call. U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs witnessed outflows of about $2 billion in December and $7 billion in November, Deutsche Bank analysts said in a note to clients. Selling pressure intensified after Trump nominated Kevin Warsh as the next Federal Reserve chair, which analysts have said could lead to a smaller Fed balance sheet — a negative for risk assets like cryptocurrencies. "It's above our pay grade to set financial policy. It's even above our pay grade to interpret the financial policy," Saylor said, when asked about Warsh's nomination. Shares of the company fell about 47.5% in 2025, while bitcoin prices fell 6.4%, reflecting the leveraged exposure the stock provides to the cryptocurrency. (Reporting by Ateev Bhandari in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Alan Barona)
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