Michael Saylor (마이클 세일러), co-founder and chairman of Strategy, published an essay urging “disciplined expansion” of bitcoin. The remarks come as large amounts of money leave spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds and Strategy itself sells 32 bitcoins, shaking market confidence.

Cointelegraph reported on Thursday that Saylor wrote in the essay: “The bitcoin-based layer should be treated as sacred infrastructure, and innovation should be achieved through higher layers, custody systems, credit instruments and financial infrastructure.” He stressed that bitcoin should move away from a structure that depends only on spot ETF inflows and be integrated more deeply into corporate finance, collateral structures and capital markets.

The essay is drawing attention as it coincides with a sharp drop in the bitcoin market. Spot bitcoin ETFs recorded net outflows of $1.42 billion, $1.26 billion and $1.0 billion in each of the last 3 weeks of May, and $1.4 billion has already flowed out this week.

The bigger shock was Strategy’s sale of 32 bitcoins. It was the first sale since a tax-related transaction in 2022, and it was aimed at securing funds for preferred stock dividends. The amount was small, but shares of MSTR fell sharply as the narrative of “never sell” broke down. Delphi Digital said, “The market’s reading that it is an ‘infinite accumulation vehicle’ no longer works.”

Experts are offering cautious outlooks. Some analysts, including Bitget Wallet, cited $1.8 billion in recent liquidations, a sharp drop in funding rates and a decline in open interest as they mentioned the possibility of the price sliding to the $55,000 to $57,000 range. They also said it would be difficult to regain rebound momentum if institutional re-entry is not confirmed.