Happy Friday guys!

I'm not gonna, it’s been a rough one. Bitcoin shed 14% in a week, institutional money is heading for the exits, and geopolitics aren’t helping. But rough weeks are when paying attention matters most. Here’s what happened and why it matters.

1. Record ETF Exodus: 13 Straight Days, $4.4 Billion Gone

US spot Bitcoin ETFs just set the longest outflow streak since they launched in January 2024 having 13 consecutive days of net redemptions from May 15 through June 3, totaling $4.33 billion and roughly 59,000 BTC. The single worst week saw $3.4 billion leave, the largest weekly outflow ever recorded. BlackRock’s IBIT, the crown jewel of the ETF cohort, saw over $1.26 billion exit in a single day.

Bloomberg’s Eric Balchunas noted that year-to-date flows have now flipped negative, though lifetime net inflows still sit near $55 billion. The ETF bid was the structural floor under Bitcoin’s price for most of 2024 and 2025 and right now, that floor is gone.

2. Strategy Sells Bitcoin for the First Time Since 2022

Michael Saylor’s Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) disclosed in an 8-K filing on June 1 that it sold 32 BTC between May 26 and May 31 at an average price of $77,135, raising $2.5 million to fund distributions on its STRC preferred stock.

It’s a tiny amount, the company still holds 843,706 BTC, but the symbolism is enormous. Strategy’s entire pitch for five years has been “buy Bitcoin and never sell.” That promise was the spine of the MSTR-as-leveraged-Bitcoin-proxy thesis. With the position now roughly $12,000 per coin underwater versus current prices, and Jim Cramer hinting Saylor “murdered Bitcoin,” the market is watching closely whether this was a one-off accounting move or a hairline crack in the diamond-hands narrative.

3. Strait of Hormuz Standoff Escalates, Risk Assets Take the Hit

The geopolitical backdrop got worse this week. Iran broke off negotiations with the US and threatened to fully close the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for what Tehran calls ongoing ceasefire violations.

The strait has been effectively blocked since February when the US and Israel launched air operations against Iran. Oil prices are elevated, risk appetite has cratered, and Bitcoin is trading like a high-beta macro asset, not a safe haven. The convergence of sticky inflation, Hormuz uncertainty, and a Fed in no rush to cut rates created a toxic cocktail for anything on the risk spectrum and why we are seeing Bitcoin fall.

4. Mining Difficulty Set to Drop 9% as Miners Pivot to AI

Bitcoin’s mining difficulty is projected to fall roughly 9% around June 13 from ~139 trillion to ~126 trillion, one of the largest downward adjustments of 2026. The hashrate has slipped below 975 EH/s after previously touching 1 ZH/s, and several publicly listed miners are redirecting energy and compute capacity toward AI and high-performance computing as an alternative revenue stream.

The logic is as follows: miners already control the two things AI infrastructure needs — massive power allocations and sites built for heavy compute. With BTC margins tightening at current prices, diversifying into AI workloads smooths out Bitcoin’s boom-bust revenue cycle. For miners who stay, a difficulty drop means each unit of hashrate earns a slightly larger share of block rewards, a small but welcome tailwind

5. Bitcoin Weekly Concept: Conviction Is Forged in Weeks Like This

I'm not going to sugarcoat it, this was a tough week. A 14% drop, record ETF outflows, geopolitical chaos, and the loudest "Bitcoin is dead" chorus we've heard in months. If you're feeling uneasy, that's normal. Every long-term holder has sat exactly where you're sitting right now, watching red candles and wondering if the thesis still holds and I want to assure you it does.

Bitcoin's fundamentals haven't changed: there are still only 21 million coins, the network is still producing blocks every ten minutes, and no government or CEO can print more of it. What changes in weeks like this is who's holding it. Weak hands sell to strong hands. Short-term traders rotate out and the people who understand what they own, who've done the work to learn why Bitcoin exists, they stay.

That's where conviction comes from. Not from buying when the charts look pretty, but from holding when everything around you says don't. The best Bitcoiners I know didn't build their conviction during bull runs. They built it during weeks exactly like this one.

If you want to go deeper, I've put together resources at bitcoinadvisory.co to help you do exactly that. Diamonds aren't made in calm weather.

Touch some grass, turn off the screens, and spend time with loved ones.

See you all next week,

Stephan