Bitcoin Treasury Stocks: Why Premiums Don’t Always Add Up

Public companies are increasingly turning into bitcoin treasury vehicles, raising capital to buy BTC and hold it on their balance sheets. With bitcoin gaining recognition as a potential global reserve asset and seeing rising institutional demand, this trend may appear justified. However, many of these companies lack a real business plan beyond accumulation.

Why would investors buy shares in a company trading at a premium to its bitcoin holdings when they could simply buy BTC or a bitcoin ETF? Unless the company can generate yield or build a business around its holdings that investors can’t replicate, there's little reason to pay a premium.

Some firms try to justify premiums with the concept of "bitcoin yield"—growing BTC per share by issuing equity and buying more bitcoin. But this doesn’t add real value. Investors seeking maximum exposure should just own bitcoin directly.

Worse, many of these companies use leveraged strategies, issuing convertible debt to speed up BTC accumulation. This exposes them to full downside risk if bitcoin drops, while offering limited upside—creditors convert debt to shares when prices rise, capturing gains that would otherwise go to shareholders.

Without a scalable business model—like brokerage, structured products, or collateralized lending—a company’s bitcoin strategy is unsustainable. Simply holding bitcoin or lending it for yield does not justify long-term premiums.

For these companies to thrive, bitcoin must be more than just an asset—it must be integrated into a business that generates revenue. Without that, any premium will eventually collapse, and acquisition by more capable firms becomes likely.

Bitcoin is now the benchmark. To beat it, companies need more than a treasury strategy—they need a real Bitcoin business.