Bitcoin Treasury Companies Explained: Model, mNAV, Risks

Short answer: A bitcoin treasury company is a listed company that holds bitcoin as its main reserve on its balance sheet and deliberately buys more of it, usually with money from new shares, bonds or preferred stock. Its goal is more bitcoin per share. The largest is Strategy with 849’327 BTC (as of Nov 6, 2026).

You want bitcoin in a normal brokerage account, without a wallet or seed phrase, and you come across names like Strategy, Metaplanet or The Smarter Web Company. Their shares swing more than bitcoin; sometimes they cost twice their bitcoin, sometimes less than the coins on the balance sheet. This article explains how bitcoin treasury companies work, where their money comes from and which three numbers tell you what you're really buying with the stock.

What is a bitcoin treasury company?

The "treasury" is a company's cash reserve, the money it doesn't need for day-to-day business. Normal companies park it in dollars, euros or government bonds. A bitcoin treasury company invests this reserve in bitcoin, because it considers bitcoin the better money in the long run.

MicroStrategy started it in August 2020 by buying 21’454 BTC for $250 million. CEO Michael Saylor wanted to protect the cash reserve from currency debasement. Step by step, the software company became a bitcoin holding company, which since February 2025 has called itself simply "Strategy".

Today there are three groups of companies with bitcoin on their balance sheet:

In the narrow sense, "bitcoin treasury company" means the first group. At Tesla or Coinbase, the car business or the exchange drives the share price. At Strategy or Metaplanet, it is driven almost entirely by bitcoin. ETFs, exchanges and governments also hold large amounts, but they aren't treasury companies: they don't issue shares to buy more bitcoin. How much the US spot ETFs hold and when money flowed in and out is shown in the article Bitcoin ETF flows and holdings. Which countries hold bitcoin and where their coins came from is in the article Countries with bitcoin reserves.

Who holds how much bitcoin?

The list of treasury companies is long, and holdings are very unevenly distributed. Strategy alone holds more bitcoin than all other listed companies combined; how the company got there is shown in the profile Strategy stock (MSTR). How a younger holder grows almost entirely through preferred stock is shown in the profile Strive stock (ASST).

Source: company announcements, collected on the treasury overview. All 59 tracked holders are listed there with live values.

Together, listed companies hold 1’174’919 BTC, which is 5.59% of the 21 million bitcoin. Strategy has 72% of that. How big 21 million is and why there will never be more is explained in Why there are only 21 million bitcoin.

How the business model works

A treasury company usually earns little or nothing from its actual business. It buys bitcoin with money from the capital markets. It has four tools for that:

The preferred shares have become an asset class of their own, Digital Credit. How the best known of them works is shown in the article on STRC (Stretch).

The goal is always the same: the bitcoin holdings should grow faster than the number of shares. Then the amount of bitcoin attributable to each individual share rises. Strategy calls this figure "BTC Yield": the growth of bitcoin per share over a period.

mNAV: the most important number for bitcoin treasury companies

mNAV (multiple of net asset value) tells you how much the market pays for one euro of bitcoin inside the company. An mNAV of 2× means: for bitcoin worth €1, you pay €2. An mNAV of 0.8× means: you get it at a 20% discount. When a premium is too high is worked out in the article mNAV explained.

Why mNAV decides the business model

As long as the stock costs more than the bitcoin behind it, the company can sell new shares at a high price and buy bitcoin with the proceeds. Every existing shareholder then has more bitcoin per share than before. If mNAV is below 1×, it reverses: new shares dilute, and bitcoin per share falls.

That's exactly what happened in 2026. Many treasury stocks fell below an mNAV of 1×. In October 2026, Metaplanet bought back its own shares instead of issuing new ones, and has held about 96 million treasury shares since. Every company's mNAV is shown on the treasury overview in the "Listed companies" section.

Rule of thumb: a treasury company grows in bitcoin per share only as long as the market has more faith in it than in bitcoin itself. If that premium disappears, what's left is a company with bitcoin, debt and costs.

The catch: debt and preferred stock come first

The simple mNAV compares market value with all of the company's bitcoin. But not all the bitcoin belong to the common shareholders. Bonds and preferred stock are served first. Ignore that, and Strategy at 0.80× looks cheap.

How each issuer's debt and preferred stock stack up is shown in the capital structure on the Digital Credit page.

Worked example: €10’000 in bitcoin or in MSTR

What do you get for your money? A comparison at the prices of Nov 12, 2026 (bitcoin €64’567 or about CHF 59’640, MSTR €103.38 or about CHF 95.50):

Gross, the stock looks cheaper than bitcoin. Net, you get about 15% less bitcoin than by buying directly, but without your own custody and with leverage. Whether that's worth the premium to you is your decision. How to buy bitcoin directly is shown in the guide to buying bitcoin.

What happens when bitcoin falls?

Leverage works both ways. If bitcoin rises, the common shareholders' net bitcoin grows faster than the price. If bitcoin falls, it shrinks faster, because the debt stays the same.

For Strategy, a 50% drop in bitcoin would mean: the bitcoin are worth €27.4 billion, while the claims ahead stay at €17.9 billion. €9.5 billion would be left for the common shares, 74% less than today. Only below about €21’100 per bitcoin (about CHF 19’500) would the bitcoin holdings be smaller than debt and preferred stock combined.

For comparison with the Power Law model: the floor on Nov 12, 2026, was about €60’640 (CHF 55’980). If bitcoin stood exactly on the floor, Strategy would have about €33.6 billion left net. The floor is a model value, not a guarantee; how it is derived is in the methodology and in the article Bitcoin Power Law explained.

How low bitcoin could fall on a given day according to the model, you can calculate for your own date in the floor calculator.

When does it get dangerous?

A price drop alone doesn't force any treasury company to sell. It gets dangerous with three things:

1. Loans with bitcoin as collateral. If the price falls, the lender demands more collateral or sells it. This applies, for example, to Smarter Web and Metaplanet's credit line.
2. Bonds falling due while the share price is low. Convertible bonds aren't converted when the stock is below the conversion price. Then the company has to repay in cash.
3. Ongoing dividends. Preferred stock costs money every year. Strategy's software business doesn't cover it. If the capital markets stop providing new money, what's left is the cash reserve or selling bitcoin.

The risks of bitcoin treasury companies

On the accounting side, things have improved: since 2025, US companies value their bitcoin at market value (accounting standard ASU 2023-08). Before that they could only book losses, never gains. In return, profits and losses now swing fully with the price. How German HGB, the Swiss Code of Obligations (OR) and IFRS value the same bitcoin is compared in Accounting for bitcoin in a company.

What happens when a custodian or an exchange fails is shown by the history from Mt. Gox to FTX in the article When a crypto exchange goes bust.

Treasury stock, ETF or bitcoin directly?

If you want to hold bitcoin yourself and without a counterparty, the treasury stock is the wrong tool. How self-custody works step by step is in the guide Storing bitcoin safely and in the academy under Understand and secure.

A treasury stock fits better if you deliberately want leverage on bitcoin, can live with the swings and keep the position small. It doesn't replace a bitcoin reserve. How the stock and bitcoin have performed since 2020 depending on when you bought, and what taxes in Germany, Austria and Switzerland change, is compared in the article Buy a bitcoin stock or bitcoin?.

Bitcoin treasury companies in Europe

There are treasury companies in Europe too, though much smaller than in the US and Japan. A comparison with figures, debt and risks is in the article Bitcoin treasury in Europe:

• Capital B (Paris, Euronext Growth): 3’538 BTC, financed mainly through convertible bonds denominated in bitcoin (as of Oct 15, 2026).
• The Smarter Web Company (London): 2’850 BTC, since October 2026 with the preferred stock MORE, which pays a weekly dividend (as of Nov 9, 2026). More in the profile of The Smarter Web Company stock.
• H100 Group (Stockholm): 3’506 BTC (as of Oct 13, 2026).
• BTC AB (Stockholm): 174 BTC, debt-free, with a preferred stock in kronor (as of Sep 30, 2026).

The overview does not yet track any listed treasury company from Germany, Austria or Switzerland. Many of the stocks mentioned can also be traded on German venues, but often with little volume. Pay attention to the home exchange and the spread between bid and ask.

All articles on individual companies are collected in the Treasury companies category.

Checklist: how to check a treasury company

1. Bitcoin holdings with a date. Are they reported regularly, with a source?
2. mNAV gross and net. Subtract debt and preferred stock before you say "cheap".
3. Bitcoin per share over time. Has it grown, even after all the new shares?
4. Maturities. When do bonds and loans have to be repaid, and is bitcoin pledged for them?
5. Ongoing costs. How much in dividends and interest does the company pay per year, and where does the money come from?
6. Custody. Who holds the coins, and are there audit reports?