Empery Digital Pivots From "Bitcoin Treasury" to "Bitcoin ATM": Sells 1,400 $BTC to Plug an AI Data Center Hole 🏗️

Publicly traded Empery Digital Inc. disclosed in an SEC filing this week that it has sold 1,400 BTC since May 7 at an average price of about $62,200 per coin, generating approximately $87.1 million in gross proceeds. Of that total, $10 million was applied on July 7 to retire outstanding debt, with the remainder earmarked for a previously announced property acquisition, legal expenses tied to stockholder litigation, and general operating costs. The filing shows that as of Thursday the company held 1,514 BTC, currently valued at nearly $96.5 million, alongside approximately $73.9 million in cash, with $45 million still outstanding on its debt facility.

The $65 million deal, announced on June 30, covers a 25% ownership stake in a private entity acquiring a Midwest facility slated for conversion into a state-of-the-art AI data center. Co-CEO Ryan Lane said, "Going forward, we plan to continue to allocate capital to similar hyperscaler-anchored opportunities." The company also stated it has no plans to accumulate additional bitcoin and may sell further BTC to fund future opportunities, marking a reversal from its origins as one of the hastily formed SPAC deals during the 2025 digital asset treasury company frenzy, a cohort whose share prices have largely collapsed 90% or more from 2025 highs.

The stockholder litigation referenced in the filing was previously outlined in Empery Digital's quarterly report for the period ending March 31, though specific legal costs were not detailed in this week's disclosure. The filing does not specify a timeline for completing the property acquisition or resolving the pending litigation. Decrypt reached out to Empery Digital for comment regarding the sale and whether it impacts the firm's treasury strategy going forward but did not immediately receive a response.

The disclosure comes amid a broader pattern of corporate Bitcoin holders treating their crypto reserves as liquidity sources to meet conventional financial obligations. The most prominent example is Strategy, which has drawn on its $54 billion BTC stash to fund dividend payments for its preferred share offerings, an effort aimed at addressing concerns that had weighed on both MSTR common shares and STRC preferred shares in recent weeks.

Separately, President Donald Trump said Thursday he will not sign a bipartisan housing bill that includes a multi-year ban on the issuance of a U.S. central bank digital currency. Unless the president actively vetoes the legislation before midnight, however, it will automatically become law. "I will not sign the housing bill," Trump wrote on Truth Social, describing his move as a "protest" over the Senate's failure to pass the SAVE America Act. Empery Digital (EMPD) stock has ticked up about 2% on the day so far Friday, per data from Yahoo Finance.