Bitcoin treasury stocks emerge as major Wall Street trading vehicles

Bitcoin treasury companies, which hold significant amounts of Bitcoin on their balance sheets, are increasingly serving as major trading vehicles for institutional and retail investors. Strategy Inc. (formerly MicroStrategy) has emerged as a prominent Bitcoin proxy on Wall Street, with its daily trading volume occasionally surpassing that of Goldman Sachs. As of mid-2026, Strategy Inc. has accumulated over 800,000 BTC by issuing equity and debt to fund purchases.

Unlike spot Bitcoin ETFs, these listed companies offer unique characteristics such as leverage through debt and preferred shares. However, this structure creates a distinction between the share price and the underlying asset value. Investors use the metric mNAV (market net asset value) to measure the premium or discount of a company’s market capitalization relative to its Bitcoin holdings.

Twenty One Capital, another significant holder with backing from Tether, currently experiences a wide mNAV discount, with its market valuation sitting at approximately one-third less than the value of its 43,514 Bitcoin holdings. This gap highlights the difference between owning a share in a corporate entity with operating costs and debt versus owning Bitcoin directly through an ETF.