Coinbase, Strategy lead losses as Trump's bill underdelivers on crypto taxation

Shares of crypto-related firms plunged Wednesday morning, with Coinbase Global Inc. and Strategy Inc. leading losses in US pre-market trading. The declines came amid political letdowns in Washington as President Donald Trump’s tax and spending “Big, Beautiful Bill” narrowly passed the Senate floor.

Coinbase stock was down more than 15.6% to $335 as of Wednesday’s pre-market session. Meanwhile, shares of Michael Saylor’s Strategy Inc., heavily exposed to Bitcoin, dropped over 30%, trading at $373.30, per data from Google Finance. 

The slump contrasts with the US equities market at large, where the S&P 500 index rose to 6,210 points, a modest 0.19% gain from the previous day.

Crypto provisions from Trump’s budget bill underwhelm 

Investors are still finding their footing from the fallout from President Donald Trump’s reconciliation budget bill, which narrowly passed in the Senate on Tuesday. The legislation is now headed to the House for a final vote, and conservatives are poised to finalize the package before the July 4 deadline, supposedly set by the US president.

A recent estimate from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected the House-passed version would increase the federal deficit by approximately $2.8 trillion. That outlook, combined with missed opportunities for the crypto industry, could have contributed to the pessimism driving crypto-related businesses’ shares lower.

Pro-crypto lawmakers failed to include tax provisions in the budget package that were intended to benefit stakers, miners, and retail users of digital assets. The amendment, led by Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), was not ready in time to be included in Tuesday’s deliberations.

“More than 24 hours into the Senate’s amendment process, there’s still no sign of Senator Lummis’s crypto tax proposal,” wrote Fox News correspondent Eleanor Terrett on X, “at this point, the window to get something to the floor may have closed.”

By the time Vice President JD Vance cast the deciding vote to pass the legislation, crypto amendments were already left behind. “It’s a missed opportunity. We just ran out of time,” one industry policy leader told reporters.

Coinbase and crypto companies endure share dump 

Coinbase shares had been on an upward trajectory ahead of this week’s decline. The stock hit a record high of over $380 on June 26. Institutional holders, however, appeared to take profits near the top.

Ark Invest, led by Cathie Wood, sold off nearly $43.8 million worth of Coinbase shares on Monday, following an earlier sale of $12.5 million last Thursday. The selloff came just days after the Senate passed the GENIUS Act, the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins bill, the crypto legislation now heading to the House.

The selloff in Strategy Inc. shares may come as a surprise to some, given the company’s reported gains tied to its Bitcoin holdings. On June 30, Strategy disclosed the purchase of 4,980 BTC for approximately $531.9 million, acquired at an average price of $106,801 per coin.

This latest acquisition brought Strategy’s total Bitcoin holdings to 597,325 BTC, valued at over $14 billion in unrealized gains for the second quarter of 2025, as reported by Cryptopolitan yesterday. The company financed its recent purchases through the sale of Class A shares and preferred equity units STRK and STRF.

On Monday, New York Attorney General Letitia James wrote a letter to Congress to rally them against the GENIUS Act, arguing that it lacks the proper safeguards to protect consumers and the US financial system.

James asked lawmakers to slow the bill’s passing in an eight-page letter addressed to the Senate. She lambasted the proposal for leaving “room for foreign issuers of US dollar-denominated and backed stablecoins to operate,” which she said could enable the “Tether loophole.”

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