BTCS sells ETH below cost to defend $64M Aave loan as ether slides

What happened

BTCS, a Nasdaq-listed company that holds ether as a treasury asset, has sold part of its ETH stack below its original purchase price to keep a $64.1 million loan on the Aave lending protocol within safe limits. The disclosure came in a quarterly filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission dated November 12 and was reported by crypto.news and Crypto Daily on November 13.

According to the filing, 46,676 ETH worth about $99.3 million at an ether price of $2,127 secured the company's borrowings as of November 9, covering roughly 155% of outstanding debt including accrued interest. Applying Aave's 80% liquidation threshold for ETH collateral to those figures produces an estimated health factor of about 1.24 and a liquidation level near $1,717 per ETH, assuming the loan balance, collateral holdings and protocol settings remain the same.

BTCS said its ether sales were executed below original cost basis and described them as part of its collateral management strategy. The filing does not specify how much ETH was sold to support the Aave position, nor how much of the reported losses stemmed from those sales. The company said it had not experienced any full or partial liquidation of its DeFi borrowings through November 11.

Ether traded near $1,932 on November 13, down about 5.6% over 24 hours according to crypto.news price data; Crypto Daily put the price near $1,940, roughly 4% lower on the day, about 13% down over the week and around 22% down over the month. At the crypto.news level, ETH would need to fall roughly another 11% to reach the estimated liquidation price.

Why it matters

BTCS is among a group of companies that fund treasury operations by pledging ether as collateral, so its defensive sales add supply to a market where buyers are already cautious, as Crypto Daily noted. Aave tracks each position with a health factor that compares collateral value, adjusted for the applicable liquidation threshold, against the amount owed. Once the measure falls below 1, other participants can repay the debt and receive the collateral, so borrowers facing that outcome must add assets, repay debt or sell holdings. BTCS chose to sell. If nearby support gives way, other leveraged treasury firms could face the same arithmetic and follow with sales of their own.

What the data shows

The filing records $30.6 million in realized digital asset losses during the first nine months of 2026, arising from ETH sales used to manage borrowing positions and from accounting losses recognised when ether was moved into liquidity pools. BTCS reported a net loss of about $49.5 million for the period, against a $52.2 million profit a year earlier. At September 30 the company held roughly $463,000 in cash and cash equivalents, down from $1.53 million at the start of 2026, while cash, stablecoins and liquid digital assets totalled $142.6 million on November 9. Total debt stood at about $82 million, made up of the $64.1 million Aave position and $17.9 million in convertible notes.

Between January 1, 2025 and November 11, 2026, BTCS borrowed about $152.4 million in stablecoins through Aave and repaid around $89.4 million, mainly in Tether's USDT and Aave's GHO. As of November 9 it cited variable annual rates of approximately 6.54% for USDT and 4.5% for GHO. At September 30 its total ether exposure was 59,856 ETH, including 49,571 ETH carried at fair value and 10,285 ETH tied to liquidity pool positions.

Crypto Daily's chart read put the 50-day moving average near $2,320 with the 200-day average close by, both above the current price. It flagged momentum measures with RSI near 25, a reading it describes as oversold, and MACD below its signal line. The outlet identified support around $1,850, with resistance near $2,280 and then $2,400.

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