For much of the past two years, publicly listed companies competed to raise capital to buy $BTC and presented themselves as leveraged alternatives to holding the asset directly.
The model worked quite promisingly for a while, and their shares traded comfortably above the value of the $BTC on their balance sheets. Some experienced massive growth within months. However, Scorpions’ immortal song has come to life – there’s a wind of change.
Who Is Selling?
Although we have talked extensively about Strategy’s change of attitude over the past several months, the company remains the largest corporate holder and the pioneer of the entire move, so we can’t skip it. It began accumulating $BTC roughly six years ago. It increased the rate and size of its purchases after the US presidential elections in late 2024. The market became accustomed to hearing new multi-million- (and sometimes billion-) dollar accumulations every Monday.
However, it all changed with a tiny sale in Q2 and a significantly larger one in early July of over 3,500 units. The company has made no new acquisitions for weeks now, while focusing on rebuilding its USD reserve. On the plus side, it didn’t sell in the past couple of weeks either. Nevertheless, analysts are adamant that the first sale changed everything, even though it’s apparent (for now) that Strategy has not abandoned Bitcoin.
Satsuma Technologies, though, did. The UK-listed $BTC treasury company proposed selling all of its remaining $BTC, returning most of the proceeds to shareholders, delisting from the London Stock Exchange, and effectively dismantling the treasury vehicle. The firm had already sold 579 $BTC in December last year to raise approximately $50 million to address convertible loan obligations. Now, shareholders have approved plans to dispose of the remaining 668 $BTC.
Recent reports suggested that Bitcoin miners have disposed of a record 32,000 units in the first quarter of the year, further intensifying the selling pressure.
Separately, Jack Mallers stepped down as CEO of Twenty One Capital earlier this week to focus on Strike. Although this doesn’t necessarily mean that the firm will sell its $BTC holdings, it originally promoted itself as a passive Bitcoin holder.
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Mallers’ departure, in which he said there are too many differences between himself and the Board of Directors, hints at a major restructuring. It serves as another example of a major treasury vehicle being forced to rethink how it creates value beyond $BTC exposure.
Who Might Follow?
Metaplanet, described as Asia’s Strategy, joined the trend a couple of years ago and made some major $BTC acquisitions. Its stock benefited immensely, as its business transformed. However, the late 2025 market crash and subsequent bear cycle have not been kind, with the same stock plunging by nearly 90% at one point. It halted its Bitcoin acquisitions for months before returning with a 2,823 purchase in early July.
It has remained silent since then, but there’s no sign that its strategy has changed or that it might need to dispose of some crypto holdings soon.
Perhaps the most vulnerable companies are the smaller ones, trading below net asset value, carrying expensive debt, lacking meaningful operating revenue, or facing shareholder pressure to unlock their crypto holdings. Nakamoto Inc. is among those that stand out, as it already sold about 5% of its $BTC position in March, and another 600 units in June.
Despite the evident trend change, none of the above means that the corporate Bitcoin treasury is finished. However, it marked the end of a period in which every treasury announcement involved another purchase. Now, uncertainty dominates, just like the market phase, but those who survive will likely be the strongest companies generating operating revenue and managing their liabilities. The weakest may have to sell and restructure.
