Among other things, 2025 will surely be remembered for the madness and then stunning collapse of the hastily created Bitcoin cash companies attempting to mirror the success of Michael Saylor’s strategy. Perhaps none were more high profile than that of KindlyMD (NAKA), led by David Bailey, the successful former CEO of Bitcoin Magazine and Bitcoin whisperer during Donald Trump’s victorious presidential campaign.
This feature is part of CoinDesk 2025 Most Influential List.
Then, KindlyMD, a little-known microcap healthcare company, announced a merger deal with Bailey’s Nakamoto Holdings in May, backed by more than $700 million in funding, to create a Bitcoin treasury company. Shares of Kindly (then with the symbol KIND, but quickly became NAKA) rose from around $2 to over $30 in a matter of days. It was the best.
Despite Bailey’s almost incessant bull campaign on X, NAKA shares fell in the spring and summer even as the price of Bitcoin rose. With the merger finalizing in mid-August, things got really bad. When early investors were able to sell their shares about a month later, they did so. Bailey, in one of the most curious moves ever for a public company CEO, even encouraged him. “For those shareholders who have come looking for a deal, I encourage you to get out,” he wrote in a September letter. They came out.
Trading at around $0.45 this week, KindlyMD shares are down about 99% from their peak and are worth about 25% of what they were before the merger deal with Bailey’s Nakamoto Holdings.
