Is crypto winter coming? This is already more than expected for Bitcoin Cash Companies (BTCTC).
In an effort to replicate the unique success of Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy (MSTR) and perhaps take advantage of a U.S. regulatory regime willing to turn a blind eye to questionable public offerings, a wave of crypto asset treasury companies went public in 2025.
The result was massive losses for investors in almost every area. And while the price of Bitcoin falls Over the past 11 days (yes, it was only Monday October 3rd that BTC peaked above $126,000) can be blamed for some of the carnage, as BTCTC stock prices were collapsing well before that.
Checking a small group of BTCTC, losses over the past three months range from “only” 38% in the case of Strategy to 94% for KindlyMD (NAKA).
“Guys, steady”
As his algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD began unpegging from the dollar in May 2022, Do Kwon tweeted: “Deploying more capital – stable guys.” Within days, TerraUSD, which previously had a market capitalization of around $50 billion, was worthless.
This social media post has become a meme for the crypto community whenever things start looking questionable for the markets or any business.
This is not to suggest a comparable level of deviousness or criminality, nor to predict future BTCTC, but some management teams at these companies have recently been busy on social media defending their business models.
Simon Gerovich, CEO of Japan’s Metaplanet (MTPLF) – which has remained high since adopting the BTCTC strategy in 2024, but whose stock price has fallen 70% in the past three months – attempted on Friday to explain why the move to issuing preferred shares would bring strong returns to shareholders.
“When bitcoin appreciates faster than the cost of capital, that difference translates into more bitcoins per share and profits accrue to common shareholders,” he said in an article on X.
The tl;dr: Metaplanet investors will benefit if “the number goes up.”
KindlyMD CEO David Bailey — whose stock plunge 94% over the past three months has left the stock price below $1 and at risk of being delisted by Nasdaq — found it necessary Thursday to deny an X poster’s claims that his company had “FTX vibes.”
“There is no similarity to FTX,” Bailey said. “We are a regulated and registered security that purchases and holds bitcoin.” When the CEO of a publicly traded company has to respond to a random poster to say “we’re not FTX,” it’s safe to say the plot may have been lost.
Then there was Ben Werkman, CIO of Strive (ASST), whose share price fall has nearly matched that of NAKA and which also faces delisting risk, who attempted to explain the difficulties and the way forward.
“Now the exuberance is gone and many companies are now in a position, with their balance sheets intact, to be able to move on to the second phase of the journey,” Werkman said in an extremely lengthy article at X.
“It is difficult to achieve large scale, but today many companies are achieving it,” he continued. “Valuations are reaching what I consider to be deep value territory (based on balance sheets alone), and these are the valuations that many investors will place their bets on over the long term.”
Werkman then recalled that many believed that Saylor’s strategy (then MicroStrategy) would go to zero in the crypto winter of 2022. Those who debunked this assumption were rewarded with staggering returns. MSTR was trading at around $30 when Do Kwon posted his “steady guys” post. Even after their recent decline, shares still sit at $290, up nearly 10 in the last three and a half years.
Whatever the future of BTCTC, one thing is certain: the mood is anything but positive at the moment. If any of the laggards want to emulate the massive success of the first-mover strategy, it could require much more than just a rise in the price of Bitcoin.
This opinion article is part of CoinDesk Bitcoin Treasuries theme week, sponsored by Genius Group.
