China Signals Subtle Treasury Pullback: Banks Urged to Ease US Debt Exposure

Dual signals for dollar and crypto: Saylor loads up BTC while China gently pulls off treasuries.

Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) under Michael Saylor bought 1,142 BTC for around $90 million at an average price of $78,815 during a dip below $70,000 in the first week of February 2026, so continuing its relentless Bitcoin accumulation. Funded by the sale of 616,715 MSTR shares for $89.5 million, this brings total holdings to 714,644 BTC at an overall average cost of $76,056 per coin. Wall Street remains very bullish even in light of unrealized losses nearing $5 billion under fair-value accounting: Highlighting MSTR's leveraged BTC exposure and emerging AI analytics as major growth levers, Cantor Fitzgerald, BTIG, Canaccord, and Mizuho maintain Buy ratings with an average target of $209 (implying about 63% upside), February 2026 analyst reports Backed by a solvency buffer that CEO Phong Le claims can survive BTC as low as $8,000 for years, Saylor's "Bitcoin-first" treasury strategy rolls on with weekly ATM equity-funded purchases.

Bloomberg claimed on the same day (February 9, 2026) that Chinese authorities advised significant commercial banks to stop new US Treasury acquisitions and progressively reduce current holdings in their investment portfolios totaling roughly $298 billion in US currency assets, citing concentration risk and US debt volatility. The instruction excludes China's official state Treasury holdings (~$683 billion, already at an 18-year low), sets no forced-sale quotas, and seems cautious rather than escalatory. Markets responded little: DXY dropped 0.3% to 0.5% to about 107.8, ten-year Treasury yields increased 3 to 5 bps to 4.35% on expected supply pressure, whereas short-term dollar softness supported gold and anti-debasement trades.

These simultaneous events provide a fascinating macro backdrop—Saylor gambling high on Bitcoin as a treasury asset amid dollar weakness, while China's deliberate diversification from US debt supports the multi-year "sell America" narrative without causing alarm. Long-term, systematic Chinese trimming could slowly burden the USD (maybe helping US exports), but Fed buying power and domestic demand should limit downside. While MSTR volatility provides high-conviction BTC-proxy exposure for those betting on crypto recovery, traders should monitor DXY 107 support, JPY/CNY volatility, and any acceleration in reported sales that might drive Fed rate-cut expectations.