Original author: Protos
Original translation: Chopper, Foresight News
11 months ago, the French semiconductor company Sequans Communications launched a corporate Bitcoin reserve program to address the delisting risk from the New York Stock Exchange. Now, this pilot has ended in disappointment.
The chip company confirmed that it has fully paid off its convertible bonds by selling the Bitcoin it held and plans to gradually liquidate the remaining 658 Bitcoins. The company's Bitcoin holdings peaked at 3,234 Bitcoins.
Sequans previously claimed to aim to hold over 3,000 Bitcoins as long-term reserve assets. However, this so-called "long-term" lasted less than a year.
The company's stock (ticker: SQNS) has already dropped by 77% this year, with a cumulative drop of 97% over the past five years.
The Bitcoin reserve program for Sequans was initiated on June 23, 2025, when Swan Bitcoin and its CEO Cory Klippsten were actively promoting the project (Note: Swan Bitcoin is the exclusive operator and advisor for Sequans' Bitcoin reserve strategy). Just 18 days before the plan was implemented, the New York Stock Exchange had issued a delisting warning to Sequans: the company's market value and shareholders' equity both fell below the exchange's minimum entry threshold of $50 million.
Sequans' latest announcement, has fully paid off its convertible bonds
Klippsten stated at that time, "Sequans is expected to become a leader in the corporate Bitcoin reserve track." At that time, the SQNS stock price was $23.40, but now the opening price is only $3.98.
Bitcoin Reserve Strategy Declared a Failure Right at the Start
After the market bubble burst in early summer 2025, numerous publicly listed companies that had laid out digital asset reserves saw their stock prices weaken collectively, and the promising vision that Sequans once projected has now vanished.
Sequans CEO Georges Karam had previously stated emphatically, believing that Bitcoin is a quality asset with extremely high long-term investment value.
At that time, the company chose Swan Bitcoin as the cooperation execution party, with Coinbase Prime serving as the asset custodian. Meanwhile, Northland Capital Markets and B. Riley Securities acted as joint bookrunners, assisting the company in completing a private placement financing totaling $384 million.
Out of this funding, only $195 million came from American Depositary Shares sold at $1.40 per share; the remaining $189 million was secured convertible bonds backed by Bitcoin as collateral. This means that from the very first day of the plan's implementation, the Bitcoin used as reserves by Sequans was essentially pledged to creditors.
As of October 3, 2025, Sequans held a total of 3,234 Bitcoins, with an average holding cost of about $116,643 per Bitcoin. As of this article's publication, the Bitcoin price has fallen to $73,000.
Just one month later, this publicly listed company became "famous" due to negative news: to repay part of its debts, the company sold 970 Bitcoins.
This action completely violated the core principle of the corporate hoarding Bitcoin faction. The originator of this model, Michael Saylor, famously said, "Never sell your Bitcoin, even when you're desperate." But Sequans ultimately chose to sell Bitcoin to repay debts.
Since July 22, 2025, the adjusted per-share net asset value (mNAV) changes percentage of several Bitcoin treasury companies
"Bitcoin Reserve Strategy Officially Terminated"
Five months later, Sequans completely halted this plan. The company simply stated in its announcement: "The Bitcoin reserve strategy has been terminated."
The once optimistic CEO Karam now states that this debt repayment is a significant turning point in the company's development, and in the future, Sequans will focus entirely on its core business of IoT semiconductors and drive business expansion.
All past praises for the value of Bitcoin and the commitment to create long-term returns for shareholders through crypto asset reserves have been abandoned; the company is left only with a plan to liquidate assets.
In fact, three weeks prior, in the first quarter 2026 financial report, the company had already released a signal of exit. In the risk warning section of the financial report, it clearly mentioned the termination of Bitcoin reserve-related businesses. That quarter, Sequans' revenue was only $6.1 million, with an operating loss of $50.5 million.
According to annual report data, Sequans had a net loss of $109.3 million for the full year 2025, including an unrealized impairment loss of $67.4 million from Bitcoin assets, bringing the total cumulative loss to as high as $145.1 million.
In summary, Sequans bought high and sold low in Bitcoin, ultimately incurring tens of millions of dollars in losses.
The company originally hoped to enhance its financial risk resistance through Bitcoin reserves and create long-term value for shareholders, but both major objectives have failed. Currently, the SQNS stock price has fallen over 80% compared to the day the Bitcoin program was initiated, and has dropped 92% from the peak price in the last year.
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