Imagine this, when your company is facing a crisis of bankruptcy, all you need to do is issue more shares for purchase, or simply announce that Bitcoin will be used as an asset reserve, and you can easily defeat the annoying short sellers, moving from the brink of delisting back to the center of market attention. If this were true, would you do it?

As $MSTR once again became the annual buzzword in the investment circle, Bitcoin is rapidly taking over the balance sheets of global enterprises. In this new capital game centered around Bitcoin, some are chasing after trends, some are poorly imitating, while others are discovering new business opportunities, transforming into the orchestrators behind the scenes creating "price miracles."

MSTR Going Global

By 2024, MSTR's stock price had skyrocketed by 477%, ranking second among U.S. tech companies with a market value exceeding $5 billion, second only to AppLovin. The Bitcoin investment also brought the company a book profit of up to $13.14 billion, propelling its market cap to briefly surpass $100 billion, becoming a star enterprise in the U.S. stock market.

As of April 2025, the company held a total of 528,185 BTC, with a holding cost of about $33.14 billion, an average purchase price of $66,385, and based on Bitcoin's current price of around $81,400, the total market value is approximately $43 billion, accounting for over 2.5% of the global circulation.

Related Reading: "The unchanging strategy of "issuing bonds to buy coins," why did MSTR's premium suddenly soar?"

As early as August 2020, when the crypto market was nearing the end of a bear market, MicroStrategy first purchased 21,454 BTC in the $10,000 range, initiating the "Bitcoin Treasury Reserve Strategy" and becoming the first publicly listed company to massively allocate corporate funds into Bitcoin.

Since then, the company continued to accumulate during the downturn, from 2020 to 2022, and steadily increased its holdings in 2023. With Bitcoin entering a bull market from 2024 to 2025, MicroStrategy further accelerated its accumulation, forming a clear path of "bear market accumulation, bull market acceleration." The frenzy of the stock price was like a stone thrown into a pond, creating ripples. Companies have begun to ask themselves: If we can't beat Bitcoin, why not just buy it?

According to data from Bitcointreasuries, as of April 16, 2025, a total of 178 entities collectively hold over 3.16 million BTC, with publicly traded companies holding approximately 665,636 BTC, and this number is rapidly growing. This "micro" trend is sweeping the globe, involving 26 U.S. listed companies, 22 Canadian listed companies, and 8 Chinese (including Hong Kong) listed companies, including some previously undervalued, little-noticed edge enterprises.

Image Source: bitcointreasuries.net

Represented by Gangya Holdings, a group of traditional companies that were originally on the sidelines are reconstructing their business narratives through Bitcoin allocation.

This was originally a low-profile fringe company mainly engaged in wholesale and retail of prepaid products such as SIM cards and vouchers. In February 2025, the company first spent $96,150 to purchase 1 Bitcoin. Upon the news, the company's stock price surged by 93%.

After tasting the sweetness, Gangya continued to increase its position for three consecutive days, becoming the first listed company in Greater China to officially write Bitcoin into its balance sheet.

GameStop, the retailer that gained fame during the 2021 "retail investor battle," announced on March 27, 2025, that it would issue $1.3 billion in zero-coupon convertible bonds to purchase Bitcoin. Due to the related rumors, the stock price rose by over 18% in pre-market trading. Following suit, Japan's Metaplanet, since emulating MicroStrategy's Bitcoin purchase in April 2024, has seen its stock price soar by about 4000%, with a 2025 target set at 10,000 Bitcoins.

In addition to high-profile companies like GameStop, Gangya Holdings, and Metaplanet, an increasing number of publicly traded companies worldwide, originally unrelated to the crypto sector, are quietly replicating the MicroStrategy model, making a bold bet on Bitcoin as a hedge against inflation and a gamble on the future.

For example, Eric Semler, the CEO of the US medical company Semler Scientific, stated, "Not holding Bitcoin is irresponsible to shareholders." Moreover, the board of directors of the Indian company Jerking has agreed to heavily invest in Bitcoin. KULR Technology directly allocated 90% of the company's cash reserves to gradually buy Bitcoin. Canada's cannabis company LEEF Brands issued a $5 million bond to support Bitcoin, while Hong Kong's Boyaa swapped $50 million worth of Ethereum for Bitcoin.

Related Read: "Public Companies Flocking to Buy BTC: Top 15 Profit Rankings Revealed, Who Grew Nearly 30x?"

From healthcare to cannabis, from North America to Asia, companies from different industries are being swept up by the same trend, diving headfirst into a field they may have been completely unfamiliar with. As a result, Bitcoin is becoming an increasingly prominent player on many companies' balance sheets.

The "Golden Finger" Behind the Price Miracle

When capital meets a political lever, it always gives rise to many "price miracles." This trend, represented by MicroStrategy, is far more complex than it seems on the surface. Starting with the market frenzy sparked by the reelection of the "Cryptocurrency President" Trump, everything began to heat up rapidly.

With the Trump administration promoting the Bitcoin Strategic Reserve Plan and the SEC repeatedly relaxing cryptocurrency regulations, these policies acted as a tailwind, propelling the Bitcoin price to nearly reach its historical high of $110,000. As the crypto industry and politicians take advantage of each other, the undercurrents behind the scenes are often unknown to many.

In this global stock market turmoil intertwined with crypto market frenzy, UTXO Management and Sora Ventures seized the opportunity, transforming into the "market makers" of the capital market, successively pushing various "meme stocks" to the forefront.

Leverage Effect

If you have recently paid attention to the Hong Kong or Japanese stock markets, you may be puzzled by the sudden soaring of several peculiar companies.

A budget hotel operator, a gaming company relying on Texas Hold'em, and an old telecom company selling data plans, all seemingly lacking any remarkable business highlights, yet their stock prices skyrocketed in a short period by several multiples or even thousands of percentage points. What kind of magic potion did these originally failing "terminal stocks" take?

Let's first look at the most typical case, Metaplanet. This company was originally named Red Planet and was a budget hotel operator. In 2024, CEO Simon, a Harvard graduate and former executive at Tokyo Goldman Sachs, renamed the company to Metaplanet after selling off most of the hotel business. This CEO also serves as the Chairman of Red Planet Hotels and the head of a Thai real estate company.

In addition to its core BTC strategy, Metaplanet is redeveloping its remaining hotel into "The Bitcoin Hotel" and is set to open in the third quarter of 2025, aiming to provide a one-stop service for companies from financing, operations to Bitcoin education.

Metaplanet Business Scope (holding btc, btc education, btc-themed hotel), Image Source: Metaplanet

Under this series of capital operations, Metaplanet became the "first publicly listed company in Japan to hold cryptocurrency," accumulating approximately 3050 BTC in a short period of time and issuing a 2 billion yen bond in 2024 to continue accumulating positions. Its stock price also skyrocketed over 4000% from a long-term low of below 50 yen.

In April 2024, Jason Fang, the founder of Sora Ventures, wrote on his personal Twitter account: Metaplanet is the "first Asian MicroStrategy" and, through partnerships with UTXO Management, Mark Yusko, and others, helped Metaplanet include Bitcoin on its balance sheet, becoming the first publicly listed company in Japan to hold cryptocurrency.

This was Jason Fang's first time bringing Sora Ventures to the forefront in his capacity as a board member of Metaplanet. In fact, Sora has been very aggressive on the "MicroStrategy replication" path.

A similar operation seemed to have occurred in the same year with the Hong Kong stock game company Boyaa Interactive.

Founded in 2004, Boyaa focuses on card games like Texas Hold'em. Its founder Zhang Wei, a graduate of Shenzhen University, saw the stock price rise from 5.35 Hong Kong dollars to 15.16 Hong Kong dollars fueled by Chinese gamers' enthusiasm. However, as the hype faded, the company quickly fell to the bottom, hovering below 1 Hong Kong dollar for years. On November 14, 2023, Boyaa announced a $100 million investment in cryptocurrency, focusing on Bitcoin and Ethereum.

In November 2024, the company suddenly announced the conversion of 14,200 ETH on its balance sheet into 515 BTC, increasing its total holdings to 3,183 BTC, surpassing Japan's Metaplanet in one stroke, and its stock price surged ninefold within a year. Subsequently, in December, Sora Ventures announced the establishment of a $150 million fund, which is specifically dedicated to promoting Asian public companies' adoption of a Bitcoin treasury strategy, with Boyaa Interactive being its first pilot.

Another noteworthy detail is that in July 2024, Boyaa publicly announced a $1 million investment in UTXO Management for the Bitcoin ecosystem fund, aiming to increase Boyaa's transformation exposure through BTC Inc.'s resources such as "Bitcoin Magazine".

It's not only Sora Ventures walking the "Replication Road". In the two cases mentioned above, we can also see the shadow of another "good helper" — UTXO Management.

Behind the promotion of Metaplanet's adoption of a Bitcoin strategy, UTXO Management also played a key role. Its partner, Dylan LeClair, served as Metaplanet's Bitcoin Strategy Director, Tyler Evans as an independent director at Metaplanet, and UTXO is Metaplanet's main investment institution.

Furthermore, this year, the two institutions joined hands once again and orchestrated another "price miracle" in the Hong Kong stock market.

In early 2025, Sora Ventures and UTXO Management jointly invested approximately 126 million Hong Kong dollars to acquire over 70% of Hong Asia Holdings, officially taking control.

Hong Asia Holdings was originally a company that sold data cards and ran traditional distribution, with extremely low profits, long ago categorized as a "penny stock" in the Hong Kong stock market (stock price below 1 Hong Kong dollar). After the acquisition, the company was renamed Moon Inc., underwent a thorough "encryption" transformation from the board to the management team of Hong Asia Holdings, and swiftly established a "Bitcoin-centric" financial asset strategy.

Image Source: http://1723.HK

However, as of the time of writing, the company only holds 28.88 BTC in its account. Hong Kong financial commentator Li Ming bluntly stated, "With this amount of holdings, it doesn't even qualify as a test." Nevertheless, after the company's initial announcement of purchasing 1 BTC, the stock price rapidly soared from 0.29 Hong Kong dollars to 0.38 Hong Kong dollars, an increase of approximately 31%. As of April 17, 2025, the price closed at 4.84 Hong Kong dollars, a 32.5% drop from the 52-week high, but still a 1669% increase from the early year price of 0.29 Hong Kong dollars.

Ailing companies are often the target of low-cost, high-return transformation. "Trash shell companies" such as Metaplanet and Hongya Holdings, whose stock prices were in a long-term slump before the Bitcoin strategy was implemented, were not targeted by Sora and UTXO for their business activities, but rather for their cheap shell resources and the potential capital amplification effect.

The Behind-the-Scenes Hero of Trump's Pro-Crypto Policy

In the global stock market of 2024, Sora Ventures and UTXO Management, like two highly skilled chess players, made frequent moves.

In 2024, Sora Ventures joined hands with UTXO Management to launch a $2 million Sora TTP Fund, betting on the TTP ecosystem under the Ordinals protocol, becoming the world's first decentralized index fund based on Ordinals, attracting participants such as the founders of BTSE and Origin Protocol. With the help of UTXO and Bitcoin Magazine's promotion, the $PIPE token skyrocketed by 150% in one month.

The story of Sora Ventures began in Hong Kong in 2017, where founder Jason Fang accumulated rich experience at the BTSE exchange and established this investment firm focusing on the Bitcoin ecosystem. Initially, Sora mainly focused on early-stage Web3 investments, managing assets exceeding $100 million. By 2024, the company's ambitions began to emerge: to vigorously promote Asian listed companies to adopt Bitcoin as a core financial strategy.

Left: Photo of Eric and Simon, Right: Core member of Metaplanet; Image source: X, Metaplanet

So, what's the story behind UTXO?

The story of UTXO Management starts in Tennessee, USA, as the investment arm of BTC Inc. (Bitcoin Magazine and organizer of Bitcoin conferences). They initially focused on allocating Bitcoin assets to high-net-worth clients and had invested in over 60 mining and early-stage project companies as early as 2013.

With the approval of the Bitcoin ETF in 2024 (BlackRock recommended a 5% allocation, signaling to traditional capital that Bitcoin is "allocatable"), UTXO immediately sensed the opportunity of institutional capital and began to transform. UTXO's hedge fund, 210k Capital, emerged as a new star in this transformation, with a heavy investment in Strategy and "Bitcoin financial asset stocks" such as Metaplanet, achieving an annual return of 164% and ranking among the top five in the HFR.

Its Chief Investment Officer, Tyler Evans, proudly stated: "80% of our portfolio is concentrated in Bitcoin-related stocks, with Metaplanet and Strategy being the main sources of returns." These companies have provided institutional investors (such as the Wisconsin Teachers' Retirement Fund and the Abu Dhabi Sovereign Wealth Fund) with the most comfortable entry into Bitcoin through "Bitcoin Securitization."

Meanwhile, The Smarter Web Company, invested in by UTXO Management, plans to IPO on the UK's Aquis Exchange, referred to as the "UK version of Metaplanet," with its Bitcoin treasury model penetrating the European market. Behind UTXO's series of moves is the well-resourced parent company BTC Inc.

Back in 2024 during the election campaign, Trump publicly supported the cryptocurrency industry for the first time as a presidential candidate at the Bitcoin 2024 conference organized by BTC Inc. CEO David Bailey personally organized a high-profile fundraising dinner with a ticket price as high as $844,600 per person, raising $25 million in campaign funds.

In his speech, Trump praised BTC Inc. as the "backbone of the Bitcoin community." During the campaign, BTC Inc. continuously reported on Trump's crypto policy stance through Bitcoin Magazine, garnering support from a large number of crypto industry voters.

As the organizer of Bitcoin Magazine and the world's largest Bitcoin conference, BTC Inc., leveraging its influence in the industry, helped shape more strategic directions around Bitcoin development for the government during Trump's campaign.

Following a successful campaign, BTC Inc. continued to provide a stage for crypto policy through its organized conferences. From December 9 to 10, 2024, at the Abu Dhabi Bitcoin MENA conference, Eric Trump, Trump's son, served as the keynote speaker, predicting that Bitcoin would reach $1 million and emphasizing that his father would become the "most pro-crypto president in history."

From supporting Bitcoin policies during the campaign to public appearances at various conferences, and to the implementation of mining and financial projects, the two parties maintain a close cooperation within the Bitcoin ecosystem. This long-term, complementary interaction has become a noteworthy phenomenon in the current crypto industry.

「There Will Be More and More MicroStrategy in the US Stock Market」

As Michael Saylor has said, the US stock market is also seeing an increasing number of "micro" strategy companies. Breaking down these "micro" strategy companies carefully, one will find that their underlying motivations are not all the same. Not every company is deeply integrating Sora and UTXO like Metaplanet; some companies are more like "borrowing coins," optimizing their balance sheets by holding Bitcoin, or acting out of market value management considerations.

Why Are US Stock Market Companies Buying Bitcoin?

Among the US stock market companies buying Bitcoin, GameStop is perhaps a typical representative. The former offline video game retail giant is trying to rejuvenate its business through a "crypto-holding transformation," using Bitcoin hedging to alleviate inflation pressures and improve its financial statements, more out of "wanting to buy" rather than "having to buy."

The announcement of purchasing Bitcoin through a $1.5 billion convertible bond and CEO Ryan Cohen's $10.7 million stock purchase have both driven the stock price up in the short term, but the price quickly fell back. While the $1.5 billion investment is not small, compared to GameStop's over $100 million loss on the 2024 financial report, it still seems like a drop in the bucket.

GameStop's series of actions seem more like an attempt to replicate the glory of the 2021 meme stock craze through the Bitcoin boom, leaning more towards capital market operations rather than business transformation.

Cohen's stock purchase is more of a short-term stimulus. Looking back at his experience of selling the pet e-commerce company Chewy for $3.2 billion, Ryan Cohen's style has always had a strong flavor of e-commerce marketing.

According to media reports, although GameStop's total assets reach $5.875 billion, nearly 81% of it is in cash reserves, and the operating cash flow is only $146 million, which clearly shows its dilemma in making a profit in the main business. Allocating a quarter of its assets to Bitcoin instead highlights GameStop's reliance on speculative strategies in the short term without addressing its core business.

Another company in a similar situation, with a stagnant stock price and abundant cash, is Semler Scientific. Chairman Eric Semler joined the board two years ago, claiming to be the "radical" in the boardroom. He described Semler at that time as a "money-making zombie company that is not recognized by the market," with an asset structure very similar to MicroStrategy in 2020: high cash reserves, low growth, and low valuation.

Semler did not opt for mergers and acquisitions or sweeping business reforms, but instead drove the company to incorporate Bitcoin into its treasury strategy, becoming the second publicly traded U.S. company to do so after MicroStrategy. This move triggered a reassessment of its value in the market and brought long-overdue attention to its previously overlooked business.

However, not all companies blindly followed the "MicroStrategy-style" Bitcoin treasury operation. In October 2024, Microsoft seriously discussed during its shareholder meeting whether to include Bitcoin in its balance sheet but ultimately the proposal was overwhelmingly voted down. The primary concern was focused on Bitcoin's high volatility potentially disrupting the company's financial stability. Microsoft's CFO Amy Hood also made it clear: "Our capital allocation is more inclined to focus on core growth areas such as AI and cloud computing, rather than getting involved in speculative assets."

Can Anyone Be MicroStrategy?

Comparing these companies, we can easily see that MicroStrategy deeply integrates Bitcoin into its financial structure for the long term, going all in. On the other hand, other companies, some are attempting to use Bitcoin for self-rescue (Kangya), some are using it as a financial hedge (Metaplanet), and some may just be seeking alpha (GameStop).

It is not accurate to say they are "poor students" imitating top students but a more precise statement is: they all want to do something with Bitcoin, just in different directions.

Currently, MicroStrategy's holding is 27,987 times that of Kangya Holdings, 125 times that of Metaplanet, 30 times that of GameStop, and various other small companies have very small holdings. The difference in holdings between MicroStrategy and these companies is significant, and small-scale holdings cannot really produce effective hedging.

The more critical difference lies in the overwhelming financing capability. MicroStrategy is like having unlimited ammunition, being able to issue bonds at will, and having an ultra-low borrowing rate, resulting in a relatively low average cost of Bitcoin acquisition.

Since 2020, through debt issuance and stock offerings, over $10 billion has been raised, an additional $1 billion in stock was issued in 2024 to continue stacking sats, and in the first quarter of 2025, a total of $7.69 billion was raised, with $4.4 billion used for Bitcoin purchases. This ongoing financing capability has allowed MicroStrategy to continue accumulating Bitcoin amid price fluctuations.

In contrast, Kangya Holdings' Bitcoin purchase funds only came from the acquisitions by Sora Ventures and UTXO Management (at a cost of $126 million), with almost no subsequent financing capability. While Metaplanet raised funds through the issuance of zero-coupon bonds, the total investment is only about $250 million, far below MicroStrategy's scale. GameStop issued $1.5 billion in convertible bonds, but after the announcement, the stock price plummeted by 22.1%, clearly showing the market's lack of confidence in its financing.

From the perspective of the stock market, the US stock market has high liquidity, and Saylor's actions often quickly reflect in the stock price. On the other hand, Hongya Holding is constrained by the low liquidity of the Hong Kong stock market, where small-cap stocks are easily manipulated, and the trend is more driven by retail investor sentiment. Metaplanet, on the other hand, is limited by the inherent ceiling of the Japanese market, with relatively limited growth potential.

From the perspective of company ownership, Metaplanet, Hongya Holding, and GameStop exhibit a highly dispersed ownership structure, with a large number of retail and small investors in their shareholder base, rather than being dominated by a single or a few large shareholders. Around 40% of GameStop's shares are held by retail investors, and a single post on Reddit or Twitter can cause its stock price to jump by a dozen or twenty points. Sentiment shifts quickly, resulting in swift price movements.

For secondary market investors, perhaps these stocks are more like leveraged BTC thematic plays.

Caption: Metaplanet's shareholder count continues to soar

Meanwhile, MicroStrategy is backed by stable large asset management companies like BlackRock and Vanguard, with founder Saylor holding 20% of the company's shares, providing much greater overall stability. One is like a cryptocurrency trading group, and the other is like a government bond fund. It's not about which one is better but rather about whether you want to chase a trend or build a position.

In terms of market attention and focus, in 2024 MicroStrategy was added to the Nasdaq 100 index, with institutional ownership rising to 60%. Defiance and T-REX subsequently launched leveraged ETFs for both long and short positions on MicroStrategy (such as MSTX, SMST, MSTU). Currently, MicroStrategy is held by 216 ETFs, with VanEck having the heaviest allocation, and its ETF halo rivals the "Big Seven" of the US stock market.

On the other hand, "momentum entrants" like GameStop, Metaplanet, and Hongya Holding do not have dedicated ETF products, nor have they been widely included in mainstream ETFs. They lack the boosting effect of a stock index like the Nasdaq, making it difficult for them to have the capital market's "golden armor."

“Fentanyl Addiction”: The Risk of Stock Market Systemic Collapse

As of April 7, 2025, due to the impact of Trump's announcement of tariff increases, the global markets experienced severe volatility. The decline in Bitcoin prices felt like a chilling wind passing by, causing the stock prices of Hong Kong 1723 (Hongya Holding), GameStop, Metaplanet, and MicroStrategy to all plummet in response.

These companies' stock prices being highly correlated with the price of Bitcoin has exposed a glaring risk: they are like the same type of tree planted on the same hill, inevitably falling together when a storm hits. This "copycat" Bitcoin strategy may seem to bring short-term prosperity, but it has also laid the groundwork for a systemic collapse.

Companies have wagered their fate on a single asset, Bitcoin, lacking diversified support. Once the Bitcoin market sentiment shifts or regulations tighten, a breakdown in funding, debt pressure, and a collapse in market confidence could occur in succession, triggering a chain reaction.

While MicroStrategy appears somewhat stable due to its scale and first-mover advantage, the high leverage financing behind its holding of over 440,000 BTC poses a significant debt default risk. Companies like Hong Kong Stock 1723, GameStop, and Metaplanet have smaller capital reserves, nearly zero risk resilience. The essence of this strategy is to amplify speculation to the extreme but fails to build a moat around the core business.

Related Reading: "If MicroStrategy is forced to sell BTC, how much selling pressure will it bring to the market?"

The deeper issue is that most of these companies do not engage in "real things." HongYa Holdings' SIM card business growth is hopeless, GameStop's physical retail is on the decline, Metaplanet's Web3 transformation is more talk than action, and even MicroStrategy's software business has long been marginalized.

They choose Bitcoin not because of any synergy with their main business but see it as a "lifeline" in the capital markets. If companies in the stock market abandon real industries and instead chase speculative trends like BTC, one can't help but imagine a potential imbalance in the entire economic ecosystem.

Consider if giants like Microsoft and Apple also forsake technological innovation to hoard Bitcoin, where would the foundation of the global industry lie? Industries are the cornerstone of the economy; they create value, address needs, rather than relying solely on financial leverage to build bubbles.

In conclusion, now, as the tide recedes under tariff impacts, those businesses without solid operational support are destined to be exposed. The capital market should reward companies that are grounded, creating long-term value, rather than blindly chasing speculative stories. After all, a healthy forest requires a variety of tree species, not just a single speculative tree.

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