Nakamoto sells 600 BTC to pay down $45 million Kraken debt as reserve liquidation grows

Earlier today, Nakamoto Inc. (Nasdaq: NAKA) delivered news of its sale of roughly 600 Bitcoins and related derivative positions to attend to a $45 million Kraken loan. 

That news could not have been timed worse, as it becomes yet another headline of a publicly traded Bitcoin treasury firm being forced to offload some of its stash due to falling prices and mounting debt obligations.

The $48 million in net proceeds that Nakamoto raised from the sales went to settling some of the debt it owes to Kraken’s parent entity, Payward Interactive. They also restructured the remaining $165 million USDT loan into two tranches: 

• A $60 million loan due on December 4, 2026.
• Another $105 million extended to June 30, 2027.

Will Nakamoto sell BTC again?

Nakamoto’s Bitcoin stash is now down to about 4,467 Bitcoins, down nearly 100 tokens from the 5,342 BTC that the firm held at the end of 2025. The reduction occurred across multiple sales rounds, which is often a worrying sign for the market in general.

First, it sold 284 Bitcoins in March for $20 million to cover working capital and interest costs on the same Kraken loan. Tyler Evans, Nakamoto’s chief investment officer, framed the transaction as balance-sheet discipline.

“Through this refinancing, we have reduced overall debt, extended the majority of our maturity profile into 2027, and improved the overall flexibility of our debt,” Evans said in the company’s statement.

The restructured loan that Nakamoto is servicing carries an interest rate between 7.75% and 8.0%, contingent on Nakamoto maintaining a minimum 2,000 Bitcoin balance in a separately managed Bitwise account.

The company said the paydown and rate reduction should come to about $4 million in annual interest savings.

Why are Bitcoin treasury companies selling Bitcoin?

Nakamoto is not the only reserve firm selling Bitcoin to service debt. In fact, that list continues to grow as BTC struggles at roughly 50% the valuation from its October 2025 highs.

Fold Holdings (Nasdaq: FLD) got off some of its Bitcoins for $45 million. It used $20 million to eliminate all secured debt and directed the rest toward operations, according to Cryptopolitan’s earlier reporting.

Strategy (Nasdaq: MSTR), the largest corporate Bitcoin holder, sold 32 BTC between May 26 and May 31 for $2.5 million, its second sale ever and a break from Michael Saylor’s buy-and-hold reputation, Cryptopolitan reported.

The pressure is even more intense on smaller firms. London-listed Satsuma Technology is under investor pressure from Pantera Capital to liquidate its remaining stack after its stock fell more than 99% from peak levels, according to Cryptopolitan.

Empery Digital’s investors also forced Bitcoin sales to fund share buybacks.

What next for Nakamoto? 

Nakamoto’s press release also noted that the board authorized a share repurchase program of up to $25 million, running through December 31, 2026. The company also disclosed that it is back in the clear with Nasdaq as of June 9 after the exchange confirmed NAKA met the minimum $1 bid-price requirement.

That compliance came after a 1-for-40 reverse stock split in May, which collapsed roughly 696 million shares into about 17 million, according to BitcoinTreasuries.net’s analysis. Nakamoto’s market capitalization sits around $1.9 billion against a Bitcoin treasury valued at approximately $280 million at current prices.

As for when Nakamoto may be forced to sell Bitcoin again, all eyes turn to December when the $60 million tranche matures, assuming BTC prices stay under pressure until then. The other option would be to pledge additional collateral from its remaining 4,467 BTC.

Another important bit of context is that the Kraken loan requires Nakamoto to maintain a 2,000-BTC minimum balance in a Bitwise-managed account to qualify for the lower interest rate. That condition means that Nakamoto does not have infinite wiggle room on how it deploys or sells its BTC stash.

For the broader treasury sector, the pattern is clear: companies that leveraged up during Bitcoin’s run above $100,000 are now selling into a weaker market to meet obligations they took on at higher prices.

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