The MicroStrategy playbook sounded elegant in theory: issue equity, buy Bitcoin, watch the stock price ride BTC’s momentum. Now dozens of public companies have copied the strategy, pouring an estimated $42.7 billion into crypto assets in 2025 alone.

By March 2026, roughly 40% of publicly traded Bitcoin treasury firms were trading below their net asset value. In English: investors could buy shares of these companies and get less Bitcoin exposure than if they’d just bought Bitcoin directly.

The equity financing treadmill

These firms raise cash through at-the-market (ATM) offerings and hybrid equity instruments, then use the proceeds to buy Bitcoin. When the stock trades at a premium to the underlying BTC holdings,…