France-based Sequans continues to unwind BTC position to recommit to IoT

Sequans Communications (NYSE: SQNS) trimmed down its Bitcoin treasury to 314 coins during the second quarter and wiped out its convertible debt, the French chipmaker said Tuesday, August 4, as CEO Georges Karam steers the company back toward its IoT semiconductor business.

According to the Paris-based company’s preliminary second-quarter results, it held 1,514 BTC worth $103.2 million as of the end of March.

How many Bitcoins did Sequans Communications sell in three months?

The company reportedly held 314 BTC, which was valued at $18.4 million as of June 30. Sequans Communications had spent months boxed in by collateral rules.

Back in March, it had 1,217 BTC worth $82.9 million locked up, pledged as security against its convertible notes. 

But it has now sold 1,200 coins over the quarter, changing that math. The company booked a realized net gain of $5.3 million on the second-quarter sales, a turnaround from the $11.7 million realized loss it took in the first quarter when it was dumping coins into a falling market.

Sequans is not ranked number 73 among public company holders of Bitcoin per BitcoinTreasuries.net. Its 314 BTC are now worth $20 million.

Why did Sequans Communications sell its Bitcoins?

Karam shared insights into what led to the sales, positioning it as capital-structure housekeeping. A number of companies offloading their holdings usually point to the need to divest and refocus on another sector, with AI and data centers emerging as the new areas of focus. For Sequan, it was to focus on their core IOT strategy.

Karam stated that they fully redeemed their convertible debt in May and closed the quarter with $21 million in cash, up from $10.6 million three months earlier, and no debt on the books.

In the first quarter of 2026, Sequans had a $29.3 million unrealized impairment on the Bitcoin holdings, and this led to a $76.2 million net loss. The second-quarter impairment was far smaller, at $3.0 million.

Product sales carried the quarter

The chip business, which Karam is now pushing to the front, had a better three months. Revenue reached $7.5 million, up 23.2% from the first quarter and above the company’s own guidance, though still down 8.4% from a year earlier because the 2025 figure included one-off licensing money from a Qualcomm deal. Strip that out, and revenue climbed 84.2% year over year.

Karam said product sales made up the bulk of the total and rose more than 80% from a year earlier. He pointed to over 40 design-win projects now in mass production, which he put at 55% of a $300 million three-year product pipeline, and to a first drone customer for the company’s RF transceiver technology. 

Gross margin slipped to 32.9% from 37.7% in the prior quarter, a drop the company attributed to more low-margin hardware in the mix.

Investors liked the read as SQNS traded at $2.87 in pre-market on Tuesday, up 17.62% from Monday’s close, according to Google Finance, though the stock remains far below its 52-week high of $13.90.

From 370 coins to a full retreat

Sequans has now reversed the treasury play it started barely a year ago. Karam began buying Bitcoin in July 2025 with 370 coins, built the pile toward a peak above 3,300, having floated a target of 3,000 coins funded by up to $200 million in share sales. 

The selling started in November 2025, when the company offloaded about 970 coins to redeem half its convertible debt. A further 1,025-coin sale followed in the first quarter of 2026.

Sequans is not the only company letting go of a sizeable part of its Bitcoin holdings. MARA Holdings, Riot Platforms, Hut 8, and Cango, among others, have all cut Bitcoin exposure in recent months. Even Strategy, the largest corporate holder, sold 1,638 coins for about $104.7 million in late July to fund dividends and build cash.

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