Remember when every random company decided they were suddenly a “bitcoin treasury” firm? Yeah, that party’s officially over, and the hangover is brutal.
A new report from 10x Research just dropped some sobering numbers: retail investors have lost around $17 billion betting on these bitcoin treasury stocks. Ouch. That’s like losing the GDP of a small country because you thought a vape company pivoting to crypto was the next big thing.
Here’s what happened: Throughout 2025, we watched everything from European soccer investment firms to energy companies announce they were going “full bitcoin.” Their stocks would immediately rocket to the moon faster than you could say “Michael Saylor.” Speaking of Saylor, his MicroStrategy playbook from 2020 became the template everyone tried to copy.
The strategy seemed foolproof: struggling penny stock company + bitcoin announcement = instant stock price magic. Hundreds of firms jumped on this bandwagon, and for a while, it worked like a charm.
But here’s where things get spicy. These companies weren’t just holding bitcoin – they were selling their shares at massive premiums compared to what their actual crypto holdings were worth. It’s like selling a $10 bill for $15 and somehow convincing people it was a good deal because “blockchain.”
The 10x Research analysts put it perfectly: “They conjured billions in paper wealth by issuing shares far above their real Bitcoin value—until the illusion vanished.” Basically, these companies were financial magicians, and retail investors were the audience getting sawed in half.
The report’s authors declared that “the era of financial magic is over,” which is probably the most polite way to say “the jig is up” in finance speak. Now these companies actually have to, you know, do real business stuff instead of just riding bitcoin’s coattails.
What’s particularly brutal is that retail investors – regular folks, not Wall Street pros – got caught holding the bag. While company executives cashed out during the hype, everyday investors watched their “revolutionary” investments crumble back to reality.
The NAV premiums (that’s the fancy term for how much extra people were paying above the actual bitcoin value) have completely collapsed. It’s like paying $50 for a concert ticket that’s actually worth $20, except the concert was just someone playing Spotify through a megaphone.
Now, this doesn’t mean every bitcoin treasury company is doomed. The smart ones might actually pivot to legitimate strategies instead of just being glorified crypto ETFs with extra steps. But the days of easy money from slapping “bitcoin treasury” on your business plan are definitely over.
The lesson here? When everyone’s doing the same “revolutionary” thing, it’s probably time to be skeptical. Especially when that thing involves companies completely changing their business model overnight to chase the latest trend.
As for those $17 billion in losses? Well, consider it expensive tuition in the school of “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” Class dismissed.