The year 2025 marks a turning point in corporate finance strategy: never before have so many listed and unlisted companies bet on Bitcoin to strengthen their balance sheets. Since the very first operation carried out in August 2020 by MicroStrategy - now renamed Strategy - Bitcoin has gradually established itself as a form of alternative asset in its own right, with a valuation dynamic that has reinforced the most daring in their choice.
Strategy has led the way by becoming the emblem of the movement, today accumulating more than 555,000 bitcoins under the impetus of its emblematic leader Michael Saylor. A model that has won over : 101 listed companies and 26 private companies now hold Bitcoin in cash, and the movement accelerated in 2025 with the remarkable arrival of Semler Scientific, Metaplanet and Blockchain Group, which saw their share prices soar after making their purchases official.
Strategy remains the figurehead, but a new player is now making news. In April, a merger between fund manager Twenty One Capital and SPAC Cantor Equity Partners created a listed company called Twenty-One (stock symbol: XXI), which bills itself as the most direct exposure to Bitcoin on the financial markets.
Its ambition is clear: to challenge Strategy's leadership by embodying the purest version of what a "Bitcoin company" can be. This rise of Bitcoin treasuries raises questions: in this analysis, we review the reasons why the multiple on adjusted net worth (mNAV) has become a strategic indicator, the right indicators to follow to evaluate this type of strategy, and the risks involved in such a dependence on Bitcoin.
>> Report The Big Whale - Bitcoin Treasury Companies: at the heart of a unique business model
MSTR's strategy for building a BTC treasury Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, has built its Bitcoin strategy using a wide range of financial tools: Cash from its software business, equity fundraising, bond issues and, more recently, preference shares.
The first 40,000 bitcoins were purchased using the company's cash, but subsequent acquisitions have been financed through debt or dilution. Notably, in June 2021, the company launched a $500 million secured note issue at a fixed rate of 6.125% backed by its Bitcoin holdings, before converting them into convertible bonds with a face value of $1.01 billion with a conversion price set at $183.19 per share - a 103% premium.
Since the start of 2024, Strategy has stepped up its strategy with more than $8 billion raised via convertible bonds, enabling it to acquire a further 119,824 bitcoins. In all, since January 2024, the company has accumulated 366,300 bitcoins, a third of which was funded by debt and the remaining two-thirds via issues of ordinary shares and preference shares, such as STRK and STRF. In total, Strategy now holds 555,450 bitcoins, acquired at an average price of $68,550, for an investment of around $38 billion.
The financial package is particularly favourable: the average rate paid on the $8.214 billion of debt is just 0.421%, representing an annual interest cost of around $34.6 million. A charge fully covered by the company's cash reserves, which stood at $38.1 million at the end of 2024.
To achieve its current holding of 555,450 bitcoins, Strategy has combined three sources of funding: corporate cash, debt via convertible bonds, and share issues.
Michael Saylor initiated the strategy in the summer of 2020 by directly mobilising the company's cash while the price of Bitcoin was still low (less than $12,000). He then continued to buy throughout the bear market and the stabilisation phase in 2023, mainly relying on equity raises.
When Strategy established itself as the benchmark in Bitcoin treasuries, he increased his exposure by mobilising debt and convertible bonds, cleverly anticipating the rate cuts that began in 2024. This allowed the company to issue low-yielding debt, and investors did not hesitate to subscribe.
Today, holders of convertible bonds issued by Strategy find themselves very largely in appreciation - provided they bought them at the issue price of $1,000.
The fact that these bonds are now trading at a high premium reflects the strong confidence of investors in the company's strategy. Many anticipate continued share price appreciation, which will make converting the bonds into ordinary shares particularly profitable.
XXI's strategy for building BTC cash Twenty One is the most ambitious new entrant to the Bitcoin cash universe. This "Bitcoin native" company came into being through a merger with Cantor Equity Partners, a Cantor Fitzgerald-backed SPAC.
When it floats on Nasdaq under the symbol "XXI" (the filing is still under review), the company will have a valuation of around $3.6 billion, based on Bitcoin's spot price in April 2025, and will hold more than 42,000 Bitcoins, making it the third-largest Bitcoin treasury in the world.
Supported by institutional heavyweights such as Tether, Bitfinex and SoftBank Group, Twenty One plans to raise $585 million in convertible bonds and shares to acquire more Bitcoins.
At the helm, Strike CEO and Bitcoin enthusiast Jack Mallers wants to maximise Bitcoin exposure per share and is proposing new performance metrics such as Bitcoin Per Share (BPS) and Bitcoin Return Rate (BRR), which reflect Bitcoin performance rather than traditional financial metrics.
The funding strategy is based on a combination of debt, free cash and a private equity fundraising (PIPE). Tether and Bitfinex provided the bulk of the initial bag - 33,942 BTC, or more than 80% of the total - while the remainder came from available cash and capital raised. Tether has also committed to transferring its bitcoins at cost.
On the debt side, XXI has issued $385 million of covered convertible bonds, convertible at $13 per share. A further $200 million was raised via the issue of 20 million shares at $10 each under the PIPE.
The merged entity will also have $100 million in cash in its trust account. With a total of 341 million shares outstanding and a spot price of $84,863 for one bitcoin, the valuation of the combined entity reaches $3.6 billion.
Metaplanet's strategy for building cash in BTC Metaplanet Inc, a Tokyo-listed company active in the hotel business and Bitcoin-related activities, has established itself as an atypical and daring player in the crypto treasury landscape. Since April 2024, the company has implemented an aggressive Bitcoin accumulation strategy, mobilising mainly share sales to finance its purchases.
To date, Metaplanet holds 5,555 Bitcoins, acquired at an average price of $86,671, representing a total investment of $481.5 million. Most of this amount - 84% - has been raised through share issues, resulting in dilution of its historical shareholders by more than 367%. At the same time, the company issued zero-coupon bonds, representing 15% of the total financing, and took out a loan to cover the final percentage.
This strategic choice has propelled Metaplanet's capitalisation, which now has a net worth of $574.89 million, at a valuation 3.25 times greater than its net asset value.
Despite heavy use of dilutive leverage, the company benefits from a strong balance sheet, with its assets covering its debt at an impressive 15.64 times. The strategy has therefore paid off so far, both in accounting terms and on the stock market.
The Blockchain Group's strategy for building up cash in BTC French group The Blockchain Group has also embarked on a Bitcoin cash strategy, joining the small but growing circle of European companies exposed to the digital asset. Alongside its software activities, the company has set up a bitcoin accumulation model based primarily on the issue of convertible debt.
To date, Blockchain Group has raised €48.6 million via a convertible bond issue, with the conversion price set at €0.54 per share. This financing has enabled the acquisition of 580 bitcoins.
A further 40 bitcoins have been purchased through equity fundraising: 25 BTC were financed by the issue of 8.3 million shares between 5 November and 4 December 2024, at an average price of €0.27, for a total amount of €2.26 million. The first 15 bitcoins were purchased through a capital raising of €1 million.
The current value of its Bitcoin portfolio is estimated at €57.715 million, representing a debt coverage ratio of 1.18x. This strategy, based mainly on debt (93.55% of Bitcoin financed by bonds), remains measured but enables Blockchain Group to rank among the European listed companies with the greatest exposure to Bitcoin.
The importance of mNAV, why treasury companies outperform Bitcoin Companies holding Bitcoin in treasury share a key commonality that drives their valuation: the net asset value premium, or mNAV (multiple Net Asset Value). This indicator measures the difference between a company's market value and the value of its assets - in this case, its bitcoin portfolio. It reflects how much a company is trading above the simple sum of its bitcoins.
But why does such a multiple exist? It's market perception that's behind it. Investors value these companies above their actual holdings for several reasons.
Firstly, they offer indirect access to Bitcoin, sometimes simpler and more securely regulated than buying the asset directly. Secondly, these companies provide leverage on Bitcoin's price movement: via debt or conversion mechanisms, potential gains are amplified.
This strategic positioning explains why many companies exposed to Bitcoin outperform the asset itself in bullish periods.
Since the start of the year, all companies holding Bitcoin in cash have significantly outperformed the asset itself.
Even Strategy, despite being the worst performer in the group, is up +38.67%, almost four times the rise of Bitcoin, which is up just +10.40% over the same period. Metaplanet did even better with +64.5%, outperforming by a factor of six. But the prize goes to France's The Blockchain Group, whose shares soared by +337.36%, crushing Bitcoin with a 33.7-fold outperformance. The newly created company CEP (future XXI), meanwhile, has outperformed Bitcoin by a factor of 20.
This phenomenon is explained by the famous mNAV multiple, which gives these companies a much higher valuation than their mere holdings of bitcoins. They represent institutional leverage on digital gold and serve as a proxy for exposure for investors unable or unwilling to hold Bitcoin directly. In bull markets, this leverage comes into full play and explains the impressive stock market momentum of these "Bitcoin companies".
Despite a lower mNAV premium than its competitors, The Blockchain Group recorded the best performance for Bitcoin. A performance that serves as a reminder that mNAV not only reflects the relative valuation of assets, but also the efficiency with which the investment provides access to Bitcoin.
Concretely, this coefficient measures how many dollars of exposure to Bitcoin an investor gets for each dollar invested in the stock. In the case of The Blockchain Group, each dollar invested corresponds to $0.48 worth of Bitcoin held by the company. For Strategy, the figure is $0.469, for Twenty One $0.408, and for Metaplanet just $0.307. In other words, TBG offers the best "net exposure" to Bitcoin among its peers.
The calculation of Twenty One's mNAV is based on its current valuation relative to the spot price of Bitcoin, which makes it possible to accurately estimate the actual share of Bitcoin per share. These differences between companies highlight the importance of this ratio for investors looking for effective leverage on the king asset.
KPIs for monitoring the success of the Bitcoin treasury strategy In the Bitcoin ecosystem, and even more so in the world of companies specialising in Bitcoin treasuries, certain key performance indicators (KPIs) have become essential for measuring the success of a strategy. Three metrics dominate: Bitcoin Yield, Bitcoin Gain and Bitcoin Cash Gain.
Bitcoin Yield represents the percentage change in the number of Bitcoins returned per fully diluted share. It indicates the extent to which a company has been able to increase its holding of BTC per share, and therefore directly reflects the ability to enrich the shareholder in bitcoins. This indicator is particularly sensitive to dilution: the more shares a company issues without acquiring a proportionate volume of bitcoins, the lower the Bitcoin Yield. Conversely, if the number of BTC grows faster than the number of shares, this indicator automatically improves. It is therefore a crucial signal for assessing the quality of strategic execution.
The Bitcoin Gain corresponds to the increase in the total number of bitcoins held over a given period. It is calculated by multiplying the number of Bitcoins held at the start of the period by the Bitcoin Yield recorded during the same period. The higher the yield, the greater the Bitcoin Gain. This indicator makes it possible to quantify in concrete terms a company's ability to increase its exposure to Bitcoin, independently of the price of the asset, and therefore to judge the effectiveness of its accumulation strategy over time.
The Bitcoin Gain in fiat currency is the translation in dollars (or euros) of the gain in bitcoins. It is calculated simply by multiplying the Bitcoin Gain by the spot price of Bitcoin at the time of valuation. This indicator makes it possible to estimate the real monetary value of the accumulation of bitcoins over a given period. It is an essential metric for traditional investors, who reason in fiat terms and seek to measure the accounting and stock market value creation of a company's Bitcoin strategy.
All the companies involved in a Bitcoin cash strategy have posted remarkable performance indicators since the start of the year. Their Bitcoin Yields are all positive, reflecting a net increase in the number of Bitcoins held per diluted share. At the same time, their Bitcoin Gains - both in terms of BTC volume and monetary equivalent - are significant, confirming the effectiveness of their accumulation strategies.
The only exception is The Blockchain Group, which has not acquired any new bitcoins since 26 March. As a result, its statistics for the current quarter remain empty, but this in no way detracts from the strength of its year-on-year performance.
The risks associated with these strategies The Bitcoin cash strategy has profoundly transformed the equity markets, creating a new investment class for players - both individuals and institutions - who wish to gain leveraged exposure to Bitcoin, without going through traditional on-chain channels. By buying shares in these companies, they gain indirect access to the world's rarest asset. But like any ambitious strategy, this one involves risks, some of them major over the long term.
The first lies at the very heart of the model: full or near-full exposure to Bitcoin. If the asset were to collapse or lose its status as a store of value - a highly unlikely but not impossible hypothesis - all the assets of these companies would evaporate, potentially dragging their valuation down to zero. This extreme scenario is not very realistic, but it cannot be totally ruled out.
More concretely, the issue of debt remains a very real threat. Most of the companies concerned hold little cash and must honour their obligations as they fall due. If there is no income, there is a risk of default. For the time being, managers, like Michael Saylor in 2021, have managed to roll over the debt - by issuing new bonds or raising more capital through share issues. But this leads to the model's biggest risk: dilution.
As the price of Bitcoin climbs, the effort to accumulate becomes more and more expensive. To maintain a stable or even increasing ratio of Bitcoin per share, companies have to buy more BTC than the issue of new shares dilutes. Each investor expects to see his share of Bitcoin per share increase over time. This assumes that the Bitcoin yield remains higher than the dilution rate. At Strategy, the average dilution since 2020 is 24.61%, while the BTC yield remains above this level today, but is showing signs of slowing. The aim is now to maintain a target yield of around 15%.
If the mNAV premium collapses, demand for equities will fall, blocking the capital inflows needed to fund new Bitcoin purchases. Without an alternative to generate returns - either in Bitcoin or in cash from existing holdings - these business models could be seriously undermined in the long term.
The Big Whale's analysis Strategy shook up the equity markets by setting an unprecedented precedent: combining Bitcoin, the world's rarest asset, with a listed stock. Since then, many companies have followed Michael Saylor's lead, applying the Saylor playbook to the letter. Market capitalisations have soared, significantly outperforming the Bitcoin price, as in the case of The Blockchain Group, which is posting average premiums of more than twice its net asset value.
All these companies are based on similar financial mechanics: equity issuance is the main leverage, supplemented by debt, most often in the form of convertible bonds. Eventually, these bonds are converted into shares, increasing dilution. A few cash reserves or loans complete these set-ups.
The objective is clear: maximise leverage, capture the mNAV premium, and accumulate as much BTC as possible by capitalising on the growing craze for corporate adoption of Bitcoin. So far, the strategy has produced spectacular performances, both in accounting and stock market terms.
But there is an underlying risk that could undermine this momentum: permanent dilution. Bitcoin Treasury Companies remain, for the most part, speculative bets. In a bear market, their valuations often fall more sharply than the price of Bitcoin itself, and fundraising comes to a virtual halt. Acquisitions of BTC then become impossible, and the strategy grinds to a halt.
In the long term, this continuous dilution represents a major obstacle to the sustainability of the model. If it is not controlled or counterbalanced by sustainable sources of return - whether Bitcoin revenues or cash generation from existing holdings - the consequences could be severe for the companies involved. The model is reaching its limits, and its future will depend on its ability to reinvent itself.
>> The Big Whale Report - Bitcoin Treasury Companies: at the heart of a business model unique in the world
