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2025 has been quite the year for digital asset treasury (DAT) companies, especially Bitcoin and Ethereum treasury vehicles. These publicly-traded firms, who accumulate digital assets on their balance sheets, offer retail investors who purchase their shares indirect crypto exposure.
However, a recent report found that retail investors have lost around $17 billion by investing in Bitcoin treasury stocks. According to the firm, the hype surrounding BTC treasuries seems to be coming to an end, with retail investors forced to deal with the losses.
In its market report last week, 10x Research said that the “age of financial magic” is coming to a close for Bitcoin treasury companies. According to the Singapore-based research firm, these treasury companies conjured billions in “paper wealth” by issuing overvalued shares to investors.
According to the analytics firm, it made sense for the treasury firms to offer their shares at a premium as the price of Bitcoin continued to increase. 10x Research noted that the once-celebrated premiums to net asset value (NAV) was an illusion that has left investors with losses while “executives walked away with the gold.”
10x Research mentioned that investors who purchased the overvalued stocks during the Bitcoin treasury boom have collectively lost about $17 billion. According to the research firm, the declining volatility and profits is forcing the treasury companies to make a hard pivot from marketing-driven momentum to real market discipline.
The next act won’t be about magic — it will be about who can still generate alpha when the audience stops believing.
Unsurprisingly, the performance of Bitcoin-linked stocks has been quite disappointing over the past few months. For example, Strategy’s (previously known as MicroStrategy) MSTR stock has declined by over 20% since August.
The Michael Saylor-led firm announced its latest purchase of Bitcoin between October 6 and October 12. The 220 BTC buy — at an average price of $123,561 — brought Strategy’s holdings to 640,250 BTC (worth about $47.38 billion).
As of this writing, the price of BTC stands at around $106,799, reflecting no significant movement in the past day. Following the market-wide crash on October 10, the premier cryptocurrency has struggled to sustain any positive momentum. According to data from CoinGecko, the value of Bitcoin has dropped by more than 4% in the last seven days.
