Strategy Inc. MSTR (formerly known as Microstrategy) gained on Friday after Standard Chartered said recent weakness in bitcoin reflects investor uncertainty over the company’s evolving strategy rather than any deterioration in its balance sheet.

In a note, Geoffrey Kendrick, Standard Chartered’s global head of digital assets research, maintained the bank’s end-2026 bitcoin price target of $100,000.

He argued that Strategy’s recent actions have created short-term uncertainty but do not alter bitcoin’s medium-term outlook.

The comments come after Strategy sold 3,588 bitcoin for about $216 million last week, its largest disposal to date, while adopting a Digital Credit Capital Framework that includes a bitcoin monetization program, a USD reserve, share buybacks and preferred stock support.

Strategy shifts away from its “never sell” approach

Kendrick said Strategy appears to be moving beyond its long-held commitment to never selling bitcoin, with investors still trying to understand the implications of that strategic shift.

“Strategy’s actions are muddying bitcoin’s near-term prospects,” Kendrick wrote.

He added that “The company appears to be moving away from its ‘never sell bitcoin’ mantra toward a more complex approach, and clear communication of that pivot will determine how quickly the pressure on bitcoin lifts.”

Strategy currently owns 843,775 bitcoin, representing more than 4% of the total supply that will ever exist.

According to Standard Chartered, the company’s business model has evolved as its market net asset value multiple has declined toward 1.0, limiting its ability to issue shares and buy additional bitcoin under its previous strategy.

Instead, Kendrick said Strategy is increasingly positioning bitcoin as collateral supporting STRC, its perpetual preferred stock that pays a 12% annual dividend.

STRC pricing remains key to bitcoin outlook

Standard Chartered said investor concern intensified after STRC fell well below its $100 par value, reaching an intraday low of $71.25 on June 26 following Strategy’s announcement that it had sold 32 bitcoin the previous week.

The preferred security currently trades around $90, while Strategy holds a USD reserve of $2.55 billion, equivalent to roughly 17.4 months of dividend coverage.

The company has also introduced a bitcoin monetization program that allows it to sell bitcoin from time to time and raise up to $1.25 billion to support reserves, dividend payments, interest obligations, and share repurchases.

Kendrick argued that if investors gain confidence in the framework, Strategy may not need to sell bitcoin at all.

He compared the mechanism to a central bank promising to do “whatever it takes” and, through credibility, avoiding intervention altogether.

He added that STRC remains heavily overcollateralized and should eventually trade back toward its $100 par value.

Analysts divided after bitcoin sale

Strategy’s recent sale of 3,588 bitcoin raised approximately $216 million and came alongside an $8.32 billion digital asset loss reported for the second quarter of 2026.

JPMorgan analysts said formalizing bitcoin sales introduces “avoidable two-way risk” by making Strategy both a buyer and seller of bitcoin.

Grayscale Head of Research Zach Pandl disagreed, arguing the sales strengthen Strategy’s balance sheet and help bitcoin establish a more durable price floor.

Wall Street remains broadly constructive on the stock despite differing views.

Citi maintained a Buy rating and a $260 price target, while Mizuho lowered its target to $213 but reiterated an Outperform rating.

Kendrick said the recent volatility should not change investors’ longer-term outlook.

He described the recent episode as “noise rather than a signal about bitcoin’s medium-term direction,” adding that at current levels bitcoin is “a screaming buy”.

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Nvidia stock (NVDA) traded higher on Friday as investors looked past reports that one of the company’s largest customers is stepping up development of its own artificial intelligence processors.

The stock was up about 2.3% at around $207 at the time of writing after trading lower in premarket activity.

Meta advances custom AI chip efforts

The latest development came after Reuters reported that Meta Platforms plans to begin manufacturing a new in-house artificial intelligence chip from September, citing an internal company memo.

The processor, code-named “Iris,” forms part of Meta’s multi-generation Meta Training and Inference Accelerators (MTIA) program and is intended to support the artificial intelligence systems powering Facebook and Instagram.

According to Reuters, testing of the chip took six weeks and uncovered no major issues, marking progress for an initiative that has faced challenges since it began more than five years ago.

The report said Meta is working with Broadcom on the chip’s design, while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. will manufacture the processors.

Meta’s goal is to lower its computing costs and reduce dependence on third-party chip suppliers by using silicon tailored to its own workloads.

However, Reuters reported that the new chip is intended to augment, rather than replace, the large volumes of graphics processing units Meta continues to purchase from Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices.

Meta has previously introduced several generations of MTIA chips and has said they could eventually replace GPUs in some servers while expanding into AI training workloads.

To date, custom chips have primarily been used for inference, the process of generating responses from trained AI models.

Competitive pressure continues to build

The report represents another example of a broader trend across the artificial intelligence industry, where major technology companies are increasingly investing in custom silicon to optimize performance and reduce infrastructure costs.

While those efforts have raised concerns about Nvidia’s long-term market share, custom processors have so far complemented rather than displaced the company’s graphics processors in many large-scale AI deployments.

Nvidia continues to dominate the market for AI accelerators, particularly for training frontier models, even as hyperscalers pursue greater control over portions of their computing infrastructure.

Wall Street remains constructive

Morgan Stanley reiterated its Overweight rating and $288 price target on Nvidia following the company’s recent non-deal roadshow with senior executives.

The investment bank said Nvidia conveyed confidence in an accelerating and increasingly diversified growth story that could appeal to both growth- and value-oriented investors.

Morgan Stanley also maintained Nvidia as its top pick within the semiconductor sector.

Earlier this week, TD Cowen reaffirmed its Buy rating and $275 price target after meeting with Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang, Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress, and Head of Investor Relations Toshiya Hari.

According to the brokerage, Nvidia executives said demand for AI computing infrastructure remains strong, pointing to constrained compute availability, rising rental prices for legacy GPUs, expanding enterprise AI adoption, and cloud agreements signed at premium pricing.

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SoFi stock has rebounded in recent weeks, climbing from its year-to-date low of about $15 to around $19 today. Even so, the shares remain roughly 42% below their all-time high. CEO Anthony Noto has attributed much of the weakness to the broader pullback in fintech stocks. 

With the company’s earnings due later this month, the key question is whether SoFi can extend its recovery or resume its downtrend.

SoFi stock has underperformed the market despite strong growth

SoFi Technology has lagged the market this year, with its stock falling by nearly 30%, while the Nasdaq 100 has jumped by 18%. 

This retreat happened even as the company published strong results and launched new products in its goal to become the go-to app for financial services. It relaunched crypto trading, launched a new stablecoin (SoFiUSD), Coach, a new AI solution offering financial advise, and a new Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) solution.

SoFi’s finances have done well this year. Its last financial results showed that its net revenue jumped 41% in the first quarter to $1.1 billion, higher than what analysts were expecting. This growth happened as the number of members jumped 35%, while its products rose 39%. Its new members rose by a record 1.1 million in Q1 to 14.7 million.

Most importantly, the company’s growth is expected to continue in the foreseeable future. Its upcoming results later this month are expected to show that its revenue jumped 30% to $1.12 billion. These are solid numbers for a company in the financial services industry, and one that has not made any major acquisitions recently. 

The annual revenue is expected to jump to $4.68 billion this year followed by $5.78 billion next year. Also, its profits are expected to keep rising, with the earnings per share reaching 59 cents this year, followed by 81 cents next year.

READ MORE: Why Cathie Wood is doubling down on this $18 stock

CEO Noto believes the stock has dipped because of sector weakness

In a CNBC interview this week, CEO Anthony Noto argued that the ongoing SoFi weakness is primarily because of its sector. Indeed, most fintech stocks like PayPal, Shift4 Payments, and Coinbase have all dropped this year.

Another reason is that the company diluted its shareholders earlier this year, raising $1.58 billion by issuing 57.7 million new shares. In total, the company raised over $3.8 billion in six months.

Investors are also questioning SoFi’s business after Muddy Waters published a highly bearish report. It accused the company of inflating the fair value of its loan portfolio, underreporting its losses, and having hidden debt. SoFi denied those allegations. 

Finally, there have been concerns about its valuation, with its forward price-to-earnings ratio being 31, and its PEG ratio rising to 9.12. The company justifies its valuation by using the Rule of 40, which stands at 72%. It was the 18th consecutive quarter of having a score higher than 40%.

SoFi Technologies stock price analysis

SoFi stock chart | Source: TradingView

The daily chart shows that the SoFi stock has jumped from $15 to $18.72 today. It has already crossed the 50-day moving average, while the Relative Strength Index (RSI) has been in an uptrend after bottoming at 21 a few months ago. It stands at 60 today, and the uptrend is continuing. As such, this RSI suggests that it has more upside before it gets to overbought levels.

The risk, however, is that it has slowly formed a rising wedge pattern, which may lead to more downside. In this case, it may be ideal to wait for the stock to cross the upper side of the wedge for confirmation of the bullish breakout. A move above that level will point to more gains towards $25. 

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