'Deploying More Capital — Steady Lads': Bitcoin Treasury Companies Struggle to Halt Plunge

What to know:

• Bitcoin treasury companies have plunged in value and the declines are not just due to BTC's recent price struggles.
• The executive teams of these companies have been busy on social media trying to make their case, but investors aren't biting yet.

Is crypto winter coming? It's already more than set in for bitcoin treasury companies (BTCTC).

Aiming to replicate the once-in-a-generation success of Michael Saylor's MicroStrategy (MSTR) and perhaps taking advantage of a U.S. regulatory regime that is willing to look the other way at questionable public offerings, a wave of crypto asset treasury companies have gone public in 2025.

Checking a small group of BTCTCs, losses over the past three months range from "just" 38% in the case of Strategy to 94% for KindlyMD (NAKA).

As his TerraUSD algorithmic stablecoin began de-pegging from the dollar in May 2022, Do Kwon famously tweeted, "Deploying more capital — steady lads." Within days, TerraUSD, which had previously commanded a market cap of about $50 billion, was worthless.

That social media post has gone on to become a meme for the crypto community whenever things start to look questionable for the markets or any companies.

This isn't to suggest any level of comparable shiftiness or criminality, or to predict the future BTCTCs, but some of the executive teams at these firms have recently been uber-busy on social networks in defense of their business models.

Simon Gerovich, CEO of Japan's Metaplanet (MTPLF) — which remains higher since it adopted the BTCTC strategy in 2024, but has had a 70% share price decline over the past three months — on Friday attempted to make the case for why a shift to preferred stock issuance will deliver strong returns to shareholders.

"When bitcoin appreciates faster than the cost of capital, that difference compounds into greater bitcoin per share and the benefit accrues to the common shareholders," he said in a post on X.

The tl;dr: Metaplanet investors will benefit if "number go up."

KindlyMD CEO David Bailey — whose 94% share plunge over the past three months has left the stock price below $1 and in danger of being delisted by the Nasdaq — on Thursday found it necessary to deny the claims of an X poster that his company had "FTX vibes."

"In no way is there any similarity to FTX," said Bailey. "We’re a regulated, registered security that buys and holds bitcoin." When the CEO of publicly traded company has to respond to a random s--tposter to say "we're not FTX," it's safe to say the plot may have been lost.

Then there was Strive (ASST) CIO Ben Werkman — whose share price plunge has nearly matched that of NAKA and also faces delisting danger — attempting to explain the difficulties and a way forward.