Bitcoin reached a record-high price of $124,457 on Aug. 13, 2025. The stock prices of corporate Bitcoin treasury companies, however, are nowhere near their all-time highs. While the selling point of Bitcoin treasury firms is that their stocks perform better than Bitcoin, do they actually live up to that promise?
Summary
- Bitcoin treasury companies may have positive mNAV and other metrics, but their stock prices perform badly
- Experts outline lack of investor confidence, value dilution, and more interest in Bitcoin itself as key factors of treasuries’ underperformance
- As long as Bitcoin treasuries keep risk management in check, they are not going to collapse
Bitcoin and Ether prices’ spike
Bitcoin did it again, reaching an all-time high for the sixth time this year. That’s an unprecedented ATH streak within a single year. The price spike can be explained by massive spot Bitcoin ETF inflows and a U.S. inflation report that raised expectations for September rate cuts.
Shortly after hitting $124.45 thousand, the BTC price dropped below $120,000, which can be attributed to a profit-taking sales spike. Bitcoin trading volume grew by 31%. Short seller liquidations amounted to $130 million within several hours.
The new breakout may not impress the community in terms of price progress. When Bitcoin reached its record price for the last time on July 15, it was $123,193, only a thousand dollars below the latest peak.
While moderate, the achievement is undeniable. It fits with the increasingly popular narrative that this cycle is different, and the logic of the traditional four-year cycles may no longer apply.
Ether has been ripping horizontally since July. When Bitcoin reached a new record price, ETH spiked too but missed its 2021 high of $4.8 thousand by just $100. Nonetheless, Ether posted a 20% gain in 7 days, compared to Bitcoin’s ~2% increase.
Bitcoin treasuries’ stock underperformance
Assets that notably didn’t break new highs that day were the stocks of Bitcoin treasury companies. Advocates for corporate treasuries often argue that these stocks offer exposure to BTC upside without directly holding the asset. One reason some investors prefer the stock route is regulatory clarity, trading shares is still a more straightforward option in many jurisdictions than buying Bitcoin itself.
The crypto space is divided on how to view Bitcoin treasury firms. Some see them as crypto’s Trojan Horse entering Wall Street. Others argue it’s the opposite, Wall Street’s Trojan Horse convincing bitcoiners to buy stocks.
Treasury companies typically use traditional tools like issuing debt to finance Bitcoin acquisitions. They sell shares to buy more BTC. The more Bitcoin they hold, the more appealing their stock becomes due to a rising Bitcoin-per-share metric. These stocks are generally expected to trade at a premium to the company’s net asset value (NAV). Lately, though, that hasn’t been the case.
At the moment Bitcoin hit its all-time high, the common stock of the pioneering treasury firm Strategy (MSTR) was down 16% from its own peak. MSTR hasn’t posted a new high since November — a stark contrast to Bitcoin’s six ATHs in 2025. Strategy copycats with less experience and weaker risk frameworks have seen even steeper declines. Some are down 17% (Cantor), others 50% (Metaplanet and Nakamoto), or even 80% (Sequans).
Commenting on the performance gap between Bitcoin and these firms, Bitget Wallet’s CMO Jamie Elkaleh notes that while some stocks like Strategy and Metaplanet still trade at a premium to their Bitcoin net asset value (mNAV), recent price declines “indicate concerns over leverage, dilution risks, and overvaluation during speculative peaks.” He adds that it signals “a need for these companies to demonstrate stronger fundamentals beyond Bitcoin price speculation to regain investor confidence.”
Chief Analyst at Bitget Research, Ryan Lee, believes that “when there is a cooldown in the price of the coin, investors may then rotate capital to associated stocks to take advantage of lagging share prices.”
On top of dilution and investor skepticism, Bitcoin treasury companies may face pressure from a new wave of treasury ventures focused on other cryptocurrencies, from Ether to Official Trump or WLFI. Meanwhile, the ETF space continues to show stronger alignment with BTC performance. For example, BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF, IBIT, closely mirrored Bitcoin’s rally and saw a spike on the same day as BTC’s new ATH.
Tackling the risks
Some critics of Bitcoin treasury companies warn that a lack of robust risk management mechanisms may lead to situations in which such firms will have to sell their bitcoins in order to cover their commitments. This, in turn, may cast a shadow on the entire corporate treasury space and turn investors away from such companies, including those with better strategies.
Bitget Research’s Ryan Lee doesn’t think that Bitcoin treasuries are doomed to collapse, though:
“The likelihood of Bitcoin treasury companies collapsing is very low because the underlying coin has passed its bubble stage and is considered a viable asset now backed by real-world capital and regulations. As a tech-focused commodity, many things help shape how valuable it currently is and why its scarcity and sustained demand will directly benefit any firm with exposure to the coin.
What should be a major concern among treasury companies is their risk management strategies and the size of debt they are exposed to in buying BTC. As a volatile asset, the current price breakout does not mean Bitcoin cannot print wide fluctuations as much as any financial asset. So long as Bitcoin treasury firms manage their risk and debt profile to account for this volatility, they may be able to escape a collapse born out of market uncertainty.”
Elkaleh adds that “survival depends on maintaining investor trust, managing debt, and adapting to market corrections, with consolidation likely for weaker players.”
One of the signs that Bitcoin treasuries are not going to collapse soon is that Ark Invest bought $170 million worth of shares of the fresh Bitcoin treasury Bullish launched by Peter Thiel, who himself invested millions in the Ethereum treasury firm Bitmine.
