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    Inside the $87 million BTC sell-off driving a Bitcoin treasury pivot into AI data centers

    Nasdaq-listed Bitcoin treasury company Empery Digital has added a completed AI-infrastructure investment to its strategy, closing a $20 million preferred-equity stake in Cardinal Data Power while a much larger property commitment remains conditional.

    The company said it signed and closed the Cardinal investment on July 20, taking an approximately 8% stake in the Hunt Properties-affiliated developer. The deal formed part of an approximately $70 million Series A intended to support Cardinal’s proposed West Texas data-center campus. Its future capacity, conversion of a campus letter of intent into a binding lease, and power-delivery dates remain projections.

    The closed investment confirms a broader capital-allocation shift, although Empery has not said its recent Bitcoin sales directly funded Cardinal. The company had already signaled the change on June 30, when it discontinued its treasury dashboard because it said NAV reporting based on Bitcoin holdings no longer fully reflected total company NAV.

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    Jul 4, 2026 · Liam ‘Akiba’ Wright

    A July 10 filing said Empery sold 1,400 BTC from May 7 through July 10 at an average price of $62,200, generating approximately $87.1 million in gross proceeds. It used part of the proceeds to repay $10 million of debt and generated cash intended for a separate Midwest property acquisition, stockholder-litigation expenses, and operations.

    As of July 10, Empery reported 1,514 BTC, approximately $73.9 million of treasury cash, and $45 million outstanding on its debt facility. The company’s July 23 filing on Cardinal did not provide newer quantitative treasury balances.

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    Jul 14, 2026 · Liam ‘Akiba’ Wright

    A separate Midwest transaction is a $65 million Empery investment commitment through EMHU, an entity pursuing the property acquisition. Under the EMHU agreement, Empery had contributed $2.9 million and committed another $62.1 million upon the contemplated property closing. The acquisition remained expected in the third quarter, subject to due diligence and other conditions, while the prospective tenant arrangement was still a non-binding letter of intent rather than a definitive lease.

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