In 2020, he made a wager of $250 million, which was later followed by a wager of $64 billion in corporate vaults. How it happened and the actual playbook.
A business intelligence software company that no one in the enterprise IT world had ever heard of used $250 million of its cash flow to buy Bitcoin in August 2020. The CEO summarized it succinctly: "It was an assured loss of real value to keep dollars on hand. The supply of bitcoins was fixed. The math was straightforward, he said, "that's why it's math.
It seemed like everyone was scratching their heads over Michael Saylor's mind. Today, the company officially renamed Strategy (previously MicroStrategy) with a Bitcoin inspired logo, owns 846,842 BTC with a value of $33.1 billion. GameStop did it. Trump Media did it. It's a Japanese hotel firm that did it. It's a healthcare equipment company. The idea that was off the wall in 2020 turned into a corporate finance template.The idea that went off the wall in 2020 turned into a corporate finance template.
The template's mechanics — and the places it can go wrong.
The original logic
In 2020 Saylor made a simple point: The Federal Reserve was embarking on its largest balance sheet expansion since the Great Depression, in order to support pandemic stimulus. That money on the balance sheets of corporations was to be undermined in its purchasing power. Since Bitcoin was a store of value with a hard limit of 21 million coins that can be created and with their code-based monetary policy, they were, in this regard, superior to dollars.
This seems a natural conclusion today. It was really controversial in 2020. It was the first time a Fortune 500 CFO had done it. There was no clarity in regulation. The accounting treatment was harsh — as per the current accounting rules, businesses were required to take a loss when the prices of bitcoins dipped, but not a profit when prices bounced back. The first move had to be a stroke of either faith or folly, depending on your perspective.
The other companies' math came when the price of Bitcoin went from $11,000 when they bought it in early 2020 to more than $69,000 in 2021, and then to $122,000 in 2025. From August 2020 to December 2025, Strategy's stock price increased by 1,204%. Their argument was made at the performance.
The playbook: how companies are actually funding these purchases
Most businesses don't simply use their current money to purchase Bitcoin. Under Strategy's stewardship, a capital markets machine was developed that was uniquely geared to continue to purchase market instruments. It's worthwhile to know, as it's what sets apart the serious players from the opportunists.
The basic idea is to sell equity or debt and then use the proceeds to purchase bitcoins; as bitcoins increase in value, the investor(s) will use this change in valuation to demand more terms for the next capital raise. In October 2024, Strategy announced the “21/21 Plan” $42 billion in capital raises ($21 billion of equity and $21 billion of fixed income) aimed specifically at acquiring more Bitcoin in the next three years. In March 2026, they doubled it to the "42/42 Plan" — $84 billion. The Strategy raised $25.3 billion, or the most among all US public companies in 2025. Not only in the crypto industry. All of them.
The instruments were creative, to say the least: the first, called STRK (8% Series A Perpetual Strike Preferred Stock), was a financial instrument that would raise money to buy Bitcoin without diluting common shareholders at unfavorable prices, and the second, called STRC (Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Stretch Preferred Stock), was the same, except it would raise money at a later date. The model only works when the market capitalization of the strategy is higher than the value of the bitcoins. When it doesn't, they pursue the alternative of preferred stock rather than equity. It has a flexible capital structure based on a single asset.
All this made it much more appealing for other businesses to alter an accounting method. In Q1 2025, FASB's new fair value accounting standard permitted firms to revalue Bitcoin to market—so gains are recorded when the price of Bitcoin goes up rather than when it drops. In the old impairment-only model, the treatment of impairment was far from even. That barrier was eliminated with the new standard. As a result of its adoption of the new rules, Strategy had a $12.7 billion cumulative uplift to retained earnings. In Q1 2026, when Bitcoin started to decline from its all-time highs in October 2025, the same rule resulted in a $12.5 billion loss. Fair value is a two-sided affair.
Who followed
The present-day companies that have got Bitcoin can be classified into three categories as well as knowing the difference is important.
The first category: Companies built specifically for the purpose of Bitcoin treasury. The original is Strategy. Twenty One Capital, which was part of the “Bitcoin accumulation vehicle” designed by Tether and SoftBank that went public in December 2025, has 43,514 BTC in its portfolio. By the end of the 18 month period, listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Metaplanet had developed from around 100 BTC to more than 40,000 BTC, earning a reputation as the "Asian Strategy. It has a 2027 goal of 210,000 Bitcoin, and in early 2025, it brought on Eric Trump to its strategic advisory board.
The second group: companies that spent the cash in their treasuries opportunistically. In early 2021, Tesla bought $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin and still has approximately 11,509 BTC. In 2025, GameStop's board unanimously approved Bitcoin as a treasury asset, raised $1.3 billion using convertible notes and acquired approximately 4,710 BTC (then) that they subsequently placed into a covered call strategy with Coinbase in 2026. Trump Media & Technology Group has raised $2.5 billion to buy Bitcoin. Both Block, Inc. and Coinbase have substantial holdings of BTC in their treasuries.
The third category is that of Bitcoin miners who keep their production instead of selling it. MARA (previously known as Marathon Digital) currently manages approximately 38,689 BTC, but 15,133 BTC worth $1.1 billion were sold in early 2026 to settle debt when the company shifted its focus to AI infrastructure. This bucket includes Riot Platforms, Hut 8 and CleanSpark.
The implications of this on the supply of the Bitcoin.
At the start of 2025, 61 publicly listed companies had implemented Bitcoin treasury strategies. Together, they held 848,100 BTC, which constitute 4% of all of the Bitcoin held in corporate vaults. Corporate treasuries have bought around 131,000 BTC in Q2 2025, up 18% from the previous quarter. The private companies were always the biggest buyers of Bitcoin over the past three quarters when compared to ETFs.
Only about 4% of the total supply of Bitcoins is in circulation. A total of more than 1.13 million BTC are held by the top 100 public companies. It's over 5% of a fixed supply of 21 million that's in corporate hands and won't be traded or put on exchanges.
Add in ETF related holdings, and the post-halving diminishing of new supply and the available amount of Bitcoin trading hands is much smaller than the headline market cap number would suggest. That was a definite factor in the price action of 2025.
The areas where it gets complicated.The places where it gets complicated.
Metaplanet has amassed a 40,177 BTC position with an average price of around $97,000 per bitcoin. Bitcoin are presently trading significantly below that. It's highly under water on a mark-to-market basis. The company is clearly gambling on the potential long-term gains outweighing its current losses. This could be true. It might not be. The strategy is one that will take time and requires continued capital — neither of which is a given.
The situation of MARA is an example of a different risk. The company went on a Bitcoin mining frenzy, and once it shifted gears towards AI infrastructure, it had to sell off 15,133 BTC to pay off its debt. The Bitcoin treasury assumed the role of a liquidity provider when the strategy adjusted. It can be easy to be convinced in the long-term but not so easy in the short-term.
The fair value accounting change not only increases the attractiveness of Bitcoin treasury strategies, but also renders earnings statements wildly volatile. A 20% price swing quarterly, whether Bitcoin is up or down, is the biggest factor on any company's income statement. CFOs who will follow this practice will be on earning calls where the first question will always be about the price of Bitcoin, not about the business.
Is this a moment or a trend?
Truthfully: yes, maybe both. The corporate case for allocation has been stronger than ever in 2026: The fixed supply, liquidity 24/7, increasingly favorable accounting, and growing regulatory clarity provided by the GENIUS Act and CLARITY Act. Those that bought in low and hung on have, in the majority of cases, been better off than they would have been with cash.
However, the companies now coming in for $63,000 – $126,000 per coin have a much different risk / reward situation than Saylor had with $11,000 per coin. The story has been verified. The narrative adoption easy money capture has been picked up. From here, it is uncertain whether Bitcoin's price will continue to rise or fall, but what happens next will be the result of these unknown factors.
There's one thing that's not something you'll find in the brochure: Strategy's business is enterprise analytics software. It still is. The Bitcoin strategy was so popular that it overshadowed the business of the company and was almost as important as the stock price. It's either a feature or a bug — depending on your point of view — but it does tell you something about how fully the company has embraced a single asset. That's a very nice read in terms of vision or recklessness, depending on what Bitcoin will become in the next ten years.
