Bitcoin’s Institutional Split: Corporate Accumulation Hits a Record as a Crypto ATM Giant Collapses

Bitcoin sinks to $76,400 amid rate cut hopes fading and geopolitical tensions, while Strategy adds 25,000 BTC and Bitcoin Depot files Chapter 11.

Bitcoin is caught in a tug-of-war between polar extremes. The price has sunk to around $76,400, down 2% on Monday and 5.6% for the week, sliding beneath its 200-day moving average for the first time in months. Disappointing US inflation data — consumer prices rose 3.8% in April — have all but extinguished hopes for near-term rate cuts, while fresh geopolitical tensions between Washington and Tehran add another layer of risk aversion. Yet beneath the surface, the world of institutional Bitcoin is telling two very different stories: one of record-breaking accumulation by a corporate giant, and the other of a once-dominant retail player crumbling into bankruptcy.

Strategy, the software firm formerly known as MicroStrategy, has added nearly 25,000 Bitcoin to its coffers over the past week. The purchase, worth roughly $2 billion, was funded almost entirely through the sale of preferred and common stock. That brings the company’s total holdings to 843,738 tokens — more than 4% of the maximum supply that will ever exist. With that haul, Strategy has overtaken BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust, which held approximately 817,000 units as of its last filing. The move underscores a relentless appetite for Bitcoin among a small but powerful cohort of corporate treasuries.

In stark contrast, Bitcoin Depot, once the largest operator of Bitcoin ATMs in North America, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and immediately switched off its entire network of nearly 9,300 kiosks across the US, Canada and Australia. CEO Alex Holmes cited a “increasingly hostile regulatory environment.” Multiple US states have imposed transaction caps and stricter compliance rules; Connecticut issued a cease-and-desist order in April, and attorneys general in Massachusetts and Iowa have sued the company for allegedly facilitating crypto fraud. The broader context is grim: losses from crypto ATM scams hit $389 million last year, a 58% jump from 2024.

The financial implosion was swift. Bitcoin Depot’s quarterly revenue collapsed 49% year over year, gross profit plunged 85% to just $4.5 million, and a $12.2 million profit swung to a $9.5 million loss in a single quarter. Cash reserves dwindled from $65.6 million in December to $44 million by March. Legal judgments totaling $20 million added to the strain. The business model — charging customers commissions of 8% to 20% per transaction for the convenience of buying Bitcoin at supermarkets and gas stations — proved unsustainable once regulatory pressure and fraud allegations choked volumes.

The broader institutional landscape mirrors this divergence. Spot Bitcoin ETFs saw net outflows of $1.26 billion last week, snapping a six-week streak of inflows. The pullback has been violent: roughly $584 million in long positions were liquidated within 24 hours, and the Fear & Greed Index has sunk to 29, deep into “fear” territory. Yet even as ETF capital retreats, the US government is quietly preparing to become a permanent holder. The proposed CLARITY Act, currently sitting in the Senate Banking Committee, aims to create a legal framework for a strategic Bitcoin reserve, safeguarding the state’s existing cache of about 328,000 tokens from political whiplash. A vote on the regulatory blueprint is expected this summer.

What emerges is a market split along fault lines. On one side, well-capitalized institutions like Strategy and the US government are accumulating Bitcoin with conviction, treating it as a strategic asset. On the other, the retail-facing infrastructure — ATMs, high-fee intermediaries — is folding under regulatory heat and shifting consumer behavior. The collapse of Bitcoin Depot may mark the end of an era for cash-to-crypto convenience, but it also highlights how the center of gravity in this asset class continues to shift toward balance sheets and policy rooms, far from the kiosk at the corner store.