The Corporate Bitcoin Treasury Surge: 191 Public Companies Now Hold BTC on Their Balance Sheets
In August 2020, a struggling business intelligence company made a $250 million bet that seemed reckless at the time. Today, that company—now rebranded simply as "Strategy"—holds 671,268 Bitcoin worth over $60 billion, and its playbook has spawned an entirely new corporate category: the Bitcoin Treasury Company.
The numbers tell a remarkable story: 191 public companies now hold Bitcoin in their treasury reserves. Businesses control 6.2% of total Bitcoin supply—1.3 million BTC—with $12.5 billion in new corporate inflows in 2025 alone, surpassing all of 2024. What started as Michael Saylor's contrarian thesis has become a global corporate strategy replicated from Tokyo to São Paulo.
The Strategy Playbook: How One Company Rewrote Corporate Finance
Strategy's transformation from enterprise software vendor to "Bitcoin Treasury Company" represents one of the most dramatic corporate pivots in modern finance. The mechanics are deceptively simple: raise capital through convertible debt and equity offerings, buy Bitcoin, repeat.
But the financial engineering underneath is sophisticated. Strategy introduced a proprietary metric called "BTC Yield"—measuring the rate at which Bitcoin per share increases relative to share dilution. This creates what analysts call a "procyclical leverage flywheel": rising Bitcoin prices boost the company's market cap, enabling it to raise more capital at premium valuations to buy even more Bitcoin.
The numbers are staggering:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Total BTC Holdings | 671,268 BTC |
| Total Cost Basis | ~$50.33 billion |
| Average Purchase Price | ~$75,000/BTC |
| Current Value | ~$60 billion |
| Share Price Growth (Since Aug 2020) | +1,204% |
In Q2 2025 alone, Strategy raised $10.5 billion through stock and STRC instruments, channeling proceeds directly into Bitcoin purchases. The company's "21/21 Plan" targets $42 billion in capital raises over three years—split evenly between equity and debt—for further accumulation.
The Global Copycats: From Tokyo to Brazil
2025 marked the year Strategy's playbook went global. Companies across geographies and sectors adopted the model, creating a new asset class of Bitcoin-focused public vehicles.
Metaplanet: Asia's MicroStrategy
Tokyo-listed Metaplanet emerged as the most aggressive Asian adopter. The company acquired 35,102 BTC through 2025, with a Q4 purchase of 4,279 BTC for $451 million alone. That position now exceeds Tesla's 11,509 BTC holdings.
Metaplanet isn't stopping there. The company set targets to acquire 100,000 BTC in 2026 and 210,000 BTC by 2027—roughly 1% of Bitcoin's total 21 million supply. The strategy earned it the nickname "Asia's MicroStrategy."
Twenty One Capital: The Crypto-Native Treasury
Jack Mallers' Twenty One Capital went public on the NYSE in late 2025 as a purpose-built Bitcoin treasury company. Backed by Tether, Bitfinex, and SoftBank, the firm launched with 43,514 BTC—over $4.7 billion in holdings.
Unlike Strategy, which pivoted from software, Twenty One was built from the ground up as a Bitcoin holding vehicle, representing a new generation of crypto-native public companies.
Bitcoin Standard Treasury: Adam Back's SPAC
Bitcoin pioneer Adam Back's Bitcoin Standard Treasury (BSTR) is set to list via SPAC with approximately 30,021 BTC—worth roughly $2.67 billion. The vehicle represents an attempt to create a "pure" Bitcoin treasury without the operational complexity of Strategy's legacy software business.
OranjeBTC: The Brazilian Experiment
In October 2025, OranjeBTC debuted on Brazil's B3 exchange with 3,675 BTC as its core asset. Backed by Itaú BBA and the Winklevoss twins, the company reflects growing interest in Bitcoin treasuries across emerging markets.
The Mining-Treasury Hybrid Model
Bitcoin miners occupy a unique position in the treasury landscape. Marathon Digital (MARA) maintains 50,639 BTC—acquired through a combination of mining production and market purchases.
The mining-treasury model offers advantages: companies generate Bitcoin through operations rather than relying solely on capital raises. However, it also exposes them to operational risks—energy costs, hardware depreciation, and mining difficulty adjustments—that pure treasury companies avoid.
Hyperscale Data exemplifies the hybrid approach, combining AI data center operations with Bitcoin mining and a disciplined dollar-cost averaging strategy for additional purchases.
The Risk Profile: When Leverage Meets Volatility
The Bitcoin treasury model isn't without substantial risks. 2025's volatile price action—marked by sharp rallies and deep corrections—left Strategy's stock down more than 60% from year highs, even as Bitcoin holdings remained unchanged.
The Leverage Trap
Strategy's model creates mechanical dependencies:
- Liabilities grow with each capital raise
- Liquidity risk grows as debt obligations accumulate
- Reliance on BTC price grows as the model compounds
The convertible debt financing Strategy relies on creates specific dangers. If stock prices fall below conversion thresholds, notes become unattractive to convert, forcing the company to repay debt in cash rather than equity. A severe Bitcoin price drop could trigger margin calls, potentially forcing sales at depressed prices and creating a catastrophic feedback loop.
Premium Compression
By late 2025, investors showed reluctance to pay premiums for leveraged Bitcoin exposure. Concerns over dilution, rising debt costs, and Bitcoin's sideways performance made it harder for treasury companies to raise low-cost capital without pressuring existing shareholders.
Strategy's annual interest payments are forecast to reach $48 million by year-end 2025, rising to $87 million in 2026. Preferred stock dividends add another layer: from $217 million in 2025 to a projected $904 million in 2026.
The ETF Challenge
The launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs from BlackRock, Fidelity, and others created new competition for treasury companies. Investors can now access pure Bitcoin exposure without corporate overhead, leverage risk, or dilution concerns.
This challenges Strategy's core value proposition: why accept corporate complexity when you can hold Bitcoin directly through a low-cost ETF?
Risk Mitigation: The USD Reserve Strategy
Recognizing these vulnerabilities, Strategy announced a significant pivot in late 2025: building liquidity reserves. The company established a $2.19 billion USD Reserve—covering 21 months of dividend and interest payments.
The reserve serves one critical function: buying time. If markets seize up or equity issuance becomes prohibitively expensive, Strategy can meet obligations without forced asset sales or punitive financing terms.
This represents an evolution in treasury company thinking—acknowledging that pure Bitcoin maximalism creates fragility that prudent reserves can mitigate.
Small Business Adoption: The Quiet Revolution
While mega-treasury companies dominate headlines, small businesses are leading Bitcoin adoption by volume. Data shows:
- 75% of business Bitcoin users have fewer than 50 employees
- Median allocation: 10% of net income
- No regulatory or technical barriers prevent U.S. businesses from holding Bitcoin
The establishment of the U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve in March 2025 eliminated fears of potential corporate bans, providing regulatory clarity that enabled broader adoption.
The 2026 Outlook: Digital Credit and Beyond
Strategy appears to be preparing another evolution: digital credit. Rather than holding Bitcoin as passive reserves, the company is exploring ways to deploy holdings as productive capital.
The model would use Bitcoin as collateral for lending, financing, and structured credit markets. Interest income and fees from these activities could create recurring revenue streams, reducing reliance on equity issuance or debt financing.
This represents a maturation of the treasury model—from simple accumulation to active treasury management.
What Treasury Proliferation Means for Markets
The corporate treasury phenomenon has structural implications for Bitcoin markets:
Supply Dynamics: With businesses now controlling 6.2% of total Bitcoin supply and treasury companies accounting for 76% of business purchases since January 2024, significant portions of supply are effectively removed from circulation.
Institutional Legitimacy: CoinGecko tracks 164 institutions holding 1.716 million BTC worth $156 billion—8.17% of total supply. This institutional base provides price support and market stability.
Corporate Finance Innovation: The treasury model has introduced new financial instruments—convertible notes, preferred stock, BTC yield metrics—that didn't exist in traditional corporate finance.
Whether the model survives the next bear market remains an open question. The leveraged structures that amplify gains also magnify losses. But the 191 companies that have adopted treasury strategies in 2025 represent a permanent shift in how corporations think about reserve assets.
Bitcoin is no longer a speculative curiosity for corporate treasurers. It's a strategic choice—with all the risks and rewards that entails.
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