Public companies holding Bitcoin as a treasury asset now number 119, collectively controlling approximately 1.16 million BTC — over 5% of Bitcoin's total supply. At current prices near $65,000 per coin, those holdings carry a market value of roughly $75 billion. The model, popularized by Strategy...
"When I gave this speech in October 2022, Bitcoin traded near $20,000... Today, our BTC and USD reserves exceed debt by ~$48 billion. Thank you to everyone who believed, endured, and took the long view." — Michael Saylor, Executive Chairman, Strategy Inc.
Public companies holding Bitcoin as a treasury asset now number 119, collectively controlling approximately 1.16 million BTC — over 5% of Bitcoin's total supply. At current prices near $65,000 per coin, those holdings carry a market value of roughly $75 billion. The model, popularized by Strategy Inc. (formerly MicroStrategy) beginning in 2020, has spawned imitators across three continents, from Tokyo-listed Metaplanet to GameStop.
The thesis is under stress. Strategy Inc., the largest corporate holder with 847,363 BTC acquired at an average cost of $75,651, sits approximately $9.8 billion underwater as of June 21, 2026. Bitcoin treasury firms shed $62 billion in combined market capitalization during the June 2026 rout, according to Bloomberg. Nakamoto Holdings, founded by former Trump crypto advisor David Bailey, executed a 1-for-40 reverse stock split after its shares collapsed 99% from peak. Marathon Digital sold 15,133 BTC for $1.1 billion in March 2026 to manage liquidity.
The introduction of FASB fair-value accounting rules (ASU 2023-08), effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2024, has added a structural dimension to the volatility. Strategy reported a $12.54 billion net loss in Q1 2026, driven almost entirely by unrealized Bitcoin markdowns flowing through its income statement. The same rules that produced a $12.7 billion cumulative gain when adopted in Q1 2025 now produce symmetrical losses.
As of June 2026, 119 public companies hold Bitcoin on their balance sheets, according to BitcoinTreasuries.net. The top five holders account for the vast majority of corporate BTC:
| Company | Ticker | BTC Holdings | Approx. Value (June 2026) | |---------|--------|-------------|--------------------------| | Strategy Inc. | MSTR | 847,363 | ~$55.1B | | Twenty One Capital | XXI | 43,514 | ~$2.8B | | Metaplanet | 3350.T | 40,177 | ~$2.6B | | MARA Holdings | MARA | 36,303 | ~$2.4B | | Bullish | BLSH | 24,300 | ~$1.6B |
Public companies collectively control over 5% of Bitcoin's 21-million-coin cap, according to data compiled as of April 2, 2026. Strategy alone holds roughly 4% of all Bitcoin that will ever exist.
The concentration is notable. Strategy's 847,363 BTC dwarfs the second-largest holder by a factor of nearly 20:1. This creates a single-entity dependency that has no precedent in commodity markets — no single corporation controls 4% of the global gold or oil supply.
Strategy Inc. has spent a cumulative $64.10 billion acquiring Bitcoin at an average cost basis of $75,651 per coin, according to SEC filings through June 21, 2026. At Bitcoin's current price near $65,000, the position carries an unrealized loss of approximately $9.8 billion.
The company's buying pace has decelerated. In the week ending June 21, Strategy purchased just 520 BTC for $34.9 million — down from 1,587 BTC the prior week and 1,550 BTC the week before that. The $34.9 million purchase represented less than 11% of the $335.5 million raised from its at-the-market (ATM) equity offering program that same week. The remainder went to its USD Reserve, which stood at $1.4 billion.
The capital-raising machine remains active but is shifting priorities. Strategy raised $25.3 billion in capital during 2025, making it the largest equity issuer among U.S. public companies for a second consecutive year. In 2026, it has raised over $7.3 billion via equity and preferred offerings through Q1 alone.
Strategy's market capitalization cratered from $102.2 billion to approximately $45.6 billion during the June rout — a 55% decline, according to CryptoNews. The stock's decline exceeds Bitcoin's own drawdown, illustrating the leveraged exposure embedded in the model.
Metaplanet (3350.T): The Tokyo-listed company has emerged as the most aggressive second-mover. Metaplanet holds 40,177 BTC and has set a public target of 100,000 BTC by year-end 2026 — a 380% increase from its prior goal of 21,000 BTC. To fund the acquisition, the company filed for ¥555 billion ($5.3 billion equivalent) in perpetual preferred shares. The company's longer-term target is 210,000 BTC by end-2027, which would place it in the "1% Club" of entities holding at least 1% of total Bitcoin supply.
At 40,177 BTC, Metaplanet has reached 40% of its 2026 target. Achieving the remaining 60,000 BTC at current prices would require approximately $3.9 billion in additional capital deployment — a significant test of Japanese capital markets' appetite for a single-asset treasury thesis.
Twenty One Capital (XXI): Co-founded by Tether and led by CEO Jack Mallers, Twenty One completed its reverse merger from Cantor Equity Partners in December 2025 and began trading on NYSE. The company holds 43,514 BTC ($2.7 billion), representing 0.207% of total supply. Unlike pure treasury plays, Twenty One pairs its holdings with Bitcoin-native financial services — capital markets advisory, lending, and media. It remains majority-owned by Tether Investments and Bitfinex.
MARA Holdings (MARA): Marathon's relationship with its Bitcoin treasury has been more transactional. The miner sold 15,133 BTC for approximately $1.1 billion between March 4-25, 2026, reducing its stack by 28% from 53,822 BTC. The company's revised 2026 policy explicitly permits Bitcoin sales "during liquidity stress or market crises," per its 10-K filing. MARA subsequently purchased 1,000 BTC in June 2026, bringing holdings to 36,303 BTC. The company is simultaneously pivoting toward AI infrastructure, according to CoinDesk reporting.
Nakamoto Holdings, founded by David Bailey — Donald Trump's crypto advisor during the 2024 presidential campaign — represents the model's downside risk in concentrated form.
The company formed through a merger with healthcare firm KindlyMD in May 2025. The stock rallied 30% on announcement. It subsequently collapsed. By December 2025, Nasdaq notified the company that its shares had traded below the $1 minimum bid threshold for 30 consecutive business days. The company had 180 calendar days — until June 8, 2026 — to regain compliance.
In January 2026, KindlyMD changed its name to Nakamoto Inc. On May 20, the board approved a 1-for-40 reverse stock split, effective May 22. The stock traded at approximately $0.15 pre-split — a 99% decline from its $34 peak in mid-2025, according to CoinDesk.
Nakamoto sold 284 BTC ($20 million) to replenish working capital. The company retains 5,058 BTC on its balance sheet. Post-reverse-split, the stock dropped an additional 67%, per AMBCrypto.
The Nakamoto case illustrates a structural vulnerability: smaller treasury companies lack the capital-raising infrastructure to weather drawdowns. Without Strategy's ATM program or Metaplanet's access to Japanese preferred share markets, a company's Bitcoin position becomes illiquid ballast on a sinking equity.
GameStop has taken a distinct approach. The company holds 4,710 BTC ($315 million) but has deployed 4,709 BTC — 99.98% of its position — as collateral in a covered-call strategy executed through Coinbase Prime.
The mechanics: GameStop sold over-the-counter call options against its Bitcoin with strike prices initially ranging from $105,000 to $110,000 per coin, collecting premium income. Because Coinbase's agreement grants the right to re-hypothecate, commingle, or sell the pledged Bitcoin, GameStop was required under GAAP to reclassify the BTC from its balance sheet and replace it with a digital asset receivable, per its 10-Q filing.
In practical terms, GameStop holds an IOU from Coinbase, not Bitcoin in direct custody.
With Bitcoin holding well below strike prices throughout the contract period, options expired worthless, and GameStop retained the premiums. As of May 2, 2026, subsequent contracts referenced 4,709 BTC at a lower $80,000 strike with May 29 expiration. New contracts have since been entered.
This strategy generates income but caps upside — and introduces counterparty risk through the re-hypothecation clause. It represents an implicit acknowledgment that passive Bitcoin holding produces no yield, distinguishing GameStop's approach from the pure accumulation model.
FASB Accounting Standards Update 2023-08, effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2024, requires companies to measure crypto assets at fair value with changes flowing through net income each reporting period.
The impact on Strategy's financials illustrates the rule's double-edged nature:
The previous accounting treatment — impairment-only, where declines triggered write-downs but recoveries produced no reportable gain — had made Bitcoin positions appear perpetually impaired. Fair value corrected this asymmetry but created a new problem: multi-billion-dollar income statement swings driven entirely by quarter-end spot prices.
Tax consequences compound the volatility. As of March 31, 2026, Strategy reversed a $2.42 billion deferred tax liability from prior unrealized gains, recorded a $1.73 billion deferred tax asset for current unrealized losses, and established a $2.23 billion valuation allowance against domestic net deferred tax assets.
FASB has two additional digital asset projects on its 2026 agenda: whether specific stablecoins qualify as cash equivalents, and accounting treatment for wrapped tokens and staking receipt tokens.
The corporate Bitcoin treasury model embeds several structural risks that traditional treasury management avoids:
Leverage amplification. Companies that issue equity or debt to acquire Bitcoin create leveraged exposure. Strategy's 55% market cap decline versus Bitcoin's smaller drawdown demonstrates that corporate structures amplify Bitcoin's downside more reliably than its upside. Equity dilution, preferred share obligations, and debt servicing create fixed claims against a volatile asset.
Concentration risk. Strategy alone holds roughly 4% of all Bitcoin. A forced liquidation — triggered by covenant breach, margin call, or liquidity crisis — would represent a supply shock with no historical analogue. No corporate treasury in any other asset class carries comparable systemic weight.
Liquidity mismatch. MARA's March 2026 sale of 15,133 BTC at distressed prices highlights the gap between theoretical portfolio value and executable liquidity. Selling $1.1 billion in Bitcoin over three weeks required a 28% reduction in holdings.
Accounting-driven behavior. FASB fair-value rules may incentivize quarter-end window dressing. Companies face pressure to manage Bitcoin price exposure around reporting dates rather than on fundamental investment merit.
The corporate Bitcoin treasury model has scaled from a single-company experiment to a category holding over $75 billion in assets. That scale creates both significance and fragility. Strategy's $9.8 billion unrealized loss, Nakamoto's 99% equity collapse, and MARA's forced sales demonstrate that the model functions well as a momentum trade in rising markets but carries structural vulnerabilities in declining ones.
FASB fair-value accounting has made these dynamics visible in a way the prior impairment-only regime did not. The $12.54 billion loss Strategy reported in Q1 2026 is, in one sense, a paper loss — unrealized and potentially reversible. In another sense, it is a regulatory fact embedded in the company's income statement, affecting tax positions, equity valuations, and capital-raising capacity.
The next test is duration. Strategy's slowing purchase pace and growing USD Reserve ($1.4 billion) suggest a shift toward capital preservation. Metaplanet's ambitious 100,000 BTC target requires capital markets to continue funding a thesis that has, so far in 2026, produced negative returns. Twenty One Capital's Tether-backed structure provides insulation but concentrates counterparty risk.
The data shows that corporate Bitcoin treasuries have moved from proof-of-concept to stress test. The outcome will depend less on conviction and more on balance sheet mechanics — specifically, whether these companies can service their capital structures at Bitcoin prices below their aggregate cost basis.