MSTR, BMNR, GEMI Get Knocked Down Amid Bitcoin Crash As Retail Chatter More Than Doubles

Shares of Strategy (MSTR) AND Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) slumped on Thursday due to weaker bitcoin prices. 

Bitcoin plunged 6.3% to $83,384, hitting its lowest levels in more than two months. According to data from sosovalue Bitcoin ETF recorded $160.1 million in outflows so far this week, and if the trend follows it will be the second week in a row when there will be outflows in Total Bitcoin Spot ETF. Last week, the Bitcoin Spot ETF recorded $1.33 billion in weekly outflows. 

Shares of Strategy and Bitmine Immersion were down 11% each at the time of writing. 

Technical analysts have remained divided on Bitcoin’s near-term price action. “BTC failed to reclaim the $90,000 level again,” analyst Ted Pillows said earlier in the day. 

Major Cryptocurrencies Down 

Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL) and other major cryptocurrencies were also in the red on Thursday as investors keep a close eye on the crypto market structure bill markup in Washington.

The U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee is scheduled to hold a markup session for the CLARITY Act on Thursday. The debate could advance commodities rules even if the Banking Committee side of things is stalled.

Approval of the Agricultural Committee’s half of the crypto market structure bill could prove to be a catalyst for the market. It would greenlight Bitcoin and Ethereum to trade like "commodities".

Rates Held Steady

Bitcoin is also seeing pressures from the economic side after the Federal Reserve decided to hold its key benchmark rates steady on Wednesday as it flagged that inflation is still somewhat elevated. 

This has created concerns among investors on the overall health of the economy as well as Bitcoin’s position among riskier assets. 

How Did Stocktwits Users React?

Retail sentiment around MSTR trended in ‘bearish’ territory amid ‘normal’ message volume. 

One bearish user on MSTR wrote, “when a CEO has to spend 90% of his time trying to convince you that is a great idea to buy his stock. It means not good path to grow here”.

https://stocktwits.com/wolfofwallstreetbet/message/643342879

Another user said that MSTR CEO Michael Saylor needs to sell all his crypto and buy gold.

https://stocktwits.com/gxiong045/message/643341554

Retail sentiment around BMNR trended in ‘bearish’ territory amid ‘low’ message volume. 

Shares in BMNR have jumped 318% over the past 12 months whereas MSTR shares have fallen 58% over the same period.

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Coinbase (COIN), Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) and Robinhood (HOOD) emerged as the largest detractors across Cathie Wood’s ARK exchange-traded funds during the fourth quarter of 2025.

According to the firm’s quarterly report, weakness in crypto-linked equities weighed on performance across several ARK portfolios, including the ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW), the ARK Blockchain & Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF), and the flagship ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK). ARKW dipped more than 14% over the last three months of 2025, ARKK fell more than 10%, and ARKF was the worst hit – down over 16%.

The report said the underperformance across the three ETFs occurred during a period of heightened volatility. October saw one of the worst cryptocurrency crashes, with over $19 billion liquidated in a single day. It also noted that trading activity declined thereafter on centralized crypto exchanges such as Coinbase.

Crypto Stocks Weigh On ARK Portfolio

COIN’s stock was the single largest detractor in ARKF, falling 2.31% over the quarter. BMNR’s stock declined 1.48%, while shares of Robinhood slid 1.26%. All three ranked among the bottom five contributors to fund performance during the period.

The same was reflected in the other two portfolios. In ARKK, Coinbase and Bitmine also ranked among the five largest detractors, with COIN down 2.07% and BMNR down 1.45% during the quarter. Both stocks again appeared among the weakest performers in ARKW, where Coinbase declined 1.82% and Bitmine fell 1.47%.

How Are COIN, BMNR & HOOD Stocks Doing So Far This Year?

COIN’s stock dipped 1.28% in pre-market trade on Thursday, with retail sentiment on Stocktwits improving to ‘bullish’ from ‘neutral’ over the past day. So far this year, the stock is up 10%, according to TradingView.

In comparison, BMNR’s stock has gained more than 16% in 2026. The shares edged 0.49% higher in pre-market trade. Like Coinbase, Bitmine also saw retail sentiment improve to ‘bullish’ from ‘neutral’ over the past day.

Retail sentiment around HOOD’s stock, on the other hand, remained in ‘bearish’ territory over the past day. Shares were trading flat early on Thursday morning, with the company clocking a gain of just 3.6% so far this year.

Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) chairman Tom Lee said OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Ethereum (ETH) founder Vitalik Buterin are slated to attend Thursday’s shareholder vote and annual general meeting.

“We have a great lineup of speakers. We have Vitalik, who is the founder and creator of Ethereum and we have Sam Altman from OpenAI speaking,” he said in an interview with Korean outlet Sampro TV on Wednesday. “We're going to lay out our roadmap for 2026, which includes the four pillars of growth beyond just staking income that'll render growth for Bitcoin.”

BMNR’s stock was down 1.3% in overnight trade ahead of the AGM scheduled for 12:00 p.m. ET. Retail sentiment around the company trended in ‘bullish’ territory amid ‘high’ levels of chatter.

Vitalik’s outlook for 2026 was positioned as a “rebellion” against centralized tech giants, and avoid hype like political meme coins. It will be interesting to see his take on a publicly listed company keeping Ethereum in its coffers.

Meanwhile, Altman’s Worldcoin (WLD) project is the primary treasury asset of Eightco (ORBS). BMNR pitched in $20 million during the company’s $270 million strategic fund raise, and the ORBS’ stock is the company’s first ‘moonshot’ investment.

If Shareholders Vote No, The Company Won’t Grow

Lee said the upcoming shareholder vote was pivotal because Bitmine is running out of authorized shares to buy more Ethereum. The company has proposed to increase its authorized shares from 500 million to 50 billion.

Lee said that without shareholder approval, the company can’t issue new shares, which means it can’t buy more Ethereum or make any acquisitions. He positioned it as the company essentially stagnating without a catalyst. “If you don't vote in favor of increasing the shares, the company will stop growing,” he said, noting that for the proposal to pass, it need 50.1% votes.

Ethereum’s price edged 0.3% lower in the last 24 hours, holding ground above $3,300. Retail sentiment around the leading altcoin on Stocktwits dipped to ‘bearish’ from ‘neutral’ over the past day.

Is Bitmine Looking To Acquire Another Crypto DAT?

Lee added that the reason the size of the increase is so large is that the process doesn’t have to be repeated. He said it's a time-consuming and expensive endeavour, which would require another full shareholder campaign if repeated. 

“There's no organic reason to go to 50 billion shares, but for share splits, we're going to need it in the future and we’re going to need it for future acquisitions. We may acquire another financial institution,” he said, hinting that Bitmine may have plans to buy a digital asset treasury (DAT) in the future.

Dilution Is Not A Concern

The primary concern shared on social media around the increase in authorized shares to 50 billion centers on dilution. However, Lee said it's a non-issue. “The only way somebody is diluted is if you issue shares below asset value,” he said. “Bitmine has never issued stocks below investment values. So it has never diluted a single share.”

Lee explained that the management only benefits if the share price rises and issuing stock below the net asset value (NAV), which would hurt management financially. 

The other argument against the proposal has been that BitMine also has the option to wait until BMNR’s share price is higher. Lee called the idea of delaying authorization “a really bad take.” He stated that it could take months for the stock price to be higher and share authorization campaigns are also not instantaneous. In the interim, the cost of repeating a shareholder campaign would add up, and the company would miss growth opportunities due to the delay.