The Evolution of Bitcoin Treasury Companies: Building a New Financial Framework

With over 160 publicly listed companies now holding nearly a million BTC as part of their core treasury strategy, the initial experiment has transformed into a global standard. However, the question shifts from the implementation of the BTC treasury model to what comes next in terms of challenges and opportunities. The first phase, characterized by narrative and replication, saw companies like MicroStrategy raise equity at a premium to NAV, convert it into BTC, and never sell, thus transforming into a proxy for Bitcoin. But for this model to thrive, companies must justify NAV multiples above one through more sustainable means. The next steps for bitcoin treasury firms involve leveraging yield as an edge, possibly through BTC-backed lending or novel financial products, employing risk-weighted leverage by pledging BTC as collateral for USD loans, and developing complementary business models that provide operating cash flow. As the reflexive phase ends, companies are professionalizing their strategies, aiming to generate Bitcoin yield without diluting per-share exposure and creating business lines tied to broader digital asset infrastructure. Those that succeed may justify premiums above NAV, institutionalize their shareholder base, and become equivalents of tech giants or energy majors in the bitcoin-native space. The future game is not about buying bitcoin but about building a financial architecture to sustain mNAV above one, cycle after cycle, potentially becoming the equity layer of a new monetary system.