French Chipmaker Sequans Plans $200 Million Share Sale to Build Bitcoin Treasury

Sequans Communications (NYSE: SQNS), a Paris-based semiconductor agency listed on the New York Inventory Trade, has filed to lift as much as $200 million by way of an at-the-market fairness program, with proceeds directed primarily towards Bitcoin purchases beneath its long-term treasury technique.

The brand new program helps the primary section of Sequan’s efforts at establishing its treasury basis. Sequans intends “to make use of it judiciously to optimize treasury,” CEO Dr. Georges Karam stated in a assertion on Tuesday.

Its newest SEC submitting permits the corporate to subject American Depositary Shares at its discretion. ADSs are certificates that permit U.S. buyers to commerce shares of overseas corporations on American exchanges.



In July, Sequans additionally raised $189 million by way of secured convertible debentures and warrants, bringing complete current financing to roughly $376 million.

To this point, Sequans already holds greater than 3,000 Bitcoin, value about $331 million at present costs, making it one of many largest company holders of Bitcoin in Europe, behind solely Germany’s Bitcoin Group SE. It has additionally set an formidable goal of 100,000 by 2030.

‘Scalable if tailor-made’

Elevating fairness to purchase Bitcoin “definitely dilutes current shareholders, and it ties the corporate’s valuation extra on to Bitcoin’s volatility,” Dan Dadybayo, analysis and technique lead at Unstoppable Pockets, advised Decrypt.

However these prospects largely rely on execution, he argues.

“Fairness-funded BTC purchases act much less like speculative punts and extra like leveraged publicity: shareholders settle for dilution in change for long-term alignment with Bitcoin’s development,” he stated.

Nonetheless, “smaller corporations can innovate utilizing structured financing, choices methods, or BTC-backed offers to build up successfully. The mannequin will not be copy-paste, however scalable if tailor-made,” Dadybayo stated.

Dadybayo provides the chance is not with short-term worth swings, however on “whether or not the corporate can keep operational self-discipline and keep away from overextension throughout downturns.”

Whereas Sequans can “accumulate BTC at scale relative to its measurement,” he notes that it lacks “the monetary cushion to soak up extended drawdowns with out shareholder ache.”