In the summertime of 2020, Michael Saylor — then-CEO of what was, on the time, known as MicroStrategy (MSTR) — decided that will upend the monetary technique of his publicly-traded firm and ripple throughout company boardrooms for years to come back.
Initially created as a enterprise intelligence software program agency, the corporate now referred to as Technique was sitting on over $500 million in money. However Saylor noticed that cash not as a cushion however as a melting block of ice. With inflation ticking up and rates of interest close to zero, holding {dollars} appeared riskier than ever.
So as a substitute of parking that money in bonds or inventory buybacks, Saylor went all in on bitcoin . He known as it the world’s “apex asset” — scarce, decentralized, and, in his view, structurally proof against inflation. By August 2020, MicroStrategy had bought its first 21,000 bitcoin for $250 million. The corporate saved shopping for. The transfer wasn’t simply uncommon — it was unprecedented. And it marked the beginning of the digital asset treasury technique: utilizing crypto, primarily bitcoin, as a company reserve asset.
That playbook gained new momentum in 2024 when Wall Road lastly opened the door to mainstream crypto investing. After years of back-and-forth with regulators, the SEC accredited spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in January, adopted by spot ether ETFs in Could. Institutional entry exploded.
Additionally in Could, publicly-traded medical system maker Semler Scientific introduced that it had bought bitcoin as a part of a brand new company treasury technique modeled immediately on Technique’s. The choice got here as a shock from a healthcare firm with no ties to digital property, however firm chairman Eric Semler had been a long-time observer of the crypto-ecosystem and the corporate stated the asset’s long-term potential made it a better place for idle capital than fiat. Different companies adopted with small-cap tech companies and even non-tech producers disclosing digital asset holdings in earnings stories.
Technique — now rebranded as a bitcoin improvement firm (with Saylor serving as its govt chairman) — noticed its inventory surge greater than 350% in 2024 as demand for bitcoin soared. After surviving by a tough 2022 when bitcoin plunged as little as the $15,000 vary, Saylor’s and Stategy’s early guess paid off.
However not everybody who tried the technique noticed lasting outcomes. For instance, Semler Scientific, regardless of early investor enthusiasm and the buildup of greater than 5,000 bitcoin, has seen its shares tumble 54% this 12 months, now sitting under the extent at which they stood previous to the corporate shopping for bitcoin. In September, it agreed to merge with one other struggling bitcoin treasury firm, Try (ASST), however the shares of each have sunk even additional.
Unfold to altcoins
Being attentive to Saylor’s success, consideration widened past bitcoin. Ether got here first, with Joe Lubin and Tom Lee every helming corporations dedicated to accumulating ETH tokens. Hypothesis about future altcoin ETFs — together with for Solana, XRP and others — sparked even additional curiosity in diversifying company crypto treasuries. Some companies, trying to differentiate or align with rising networks, started accumulating different tokens. Nasdaq-traded Trident Digital, for instance, added XRP to its treasury in June 2025.
The technique, although, was additionally exploited. A flood of penny shares and obscure microcap companies started utilizing bitcoin as a headline device, not an funding thesis. These corporations had no actual publicity to digital property as a enterprise — no mining rigs, no blockchain merchandise. However they noticed what occurred to Technique’s inventory and tried to copy it. The method turned acquainted: problem a press launch touting a pivot to crypto, announce a small bitcoin or solana buy, and watch the inventory briefly spike. In lots of circumstances, it labored — for a day or two.
Amid collapsing inventory costs, some treasury corporations have been pressured to change components of their technique — even to the purpose of promoting crypto to lift money for share buybacks. Ethereum-focused ETHZilla (ETHZ), as soon as praised for constructing an ether-based company treasury, disclosed final week that it bought roughly $40 million in ETH from its reserves. It has used a part of the money to purchase again its personal inventory, as the corporate’s market worth fell under the worth of its crypto holdings and has pledged to proceed repurchases, if wanted. It’s a reminder that value swings can minimize each methods, even for corporations holding what they think about “exhausting property.”
Nonetheless, for all the businesses which have tried, nobody has matched what Technique has finished. Its stability sheet now holds greater than 641,000 BTC – 3% of the full provide. Michael Saylor, as soon as a distinct segment enterprise software program govt, is now one in every of bitcoin’s most recognizable advocates. And whereas loads of different CEOs have dabbled within the digital asset treasury method, none has earned the identical degree of credibility.
Whether or not the technique turns into a fixture of recent finance or fades as a speculative bubble stays unclear. For now, it’s Michael Saylor’s recreation — everybody else is simply making an attempt to play it.
