What is a bitcoin treasury company? mNAV, risks, examples

A bitcoin treasury company is a publicly traded business that keeps bitcoin as its main reserve asset and actively raises money to buy more of it. Instead of holding cash or bonds, it turns its balance sheet into a bitcoin position that stock-market investors can buy through ordinary shares. The best-known example is Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), which started buying in August 2020 and held 848,517 BTC as of Oct. 25, 2026.

How the model works

A normal company buys bitcoin with spare cash. A treasury company goes further: bitcoin is the strategy, and it keeps tapping capital markets to add more.

1. Raise money. It sells new shares, convertible bonds or preferred stock.
2. Buy bitcoin with the proceeds and report the purchase, often weekly in SEC filings.
3. Repeat while investors are willing to pay more for the shares than the bitcoin behind them is worth.

The pitch to shareholders is "bitcoin per share": if the company can sell stock at a premium and turn the cash into BTC, each existing share ends up backed by more bitcoin than before.

The funding tools

• At-the-market (ATM) offerings: the company drip-sells new shares into the market over time. Strategy and Strive both use ATMs.
• Convertible bonds: low-interest debt that can turn into shares later. It adds leverage and a repayment date.
• Perpetual preferred stock: shares with a fixed or variable dividend and no maturity, such as Strategy's STRC or Strive's SATA and SATS. According to a Fidelity Digital Assets report cited by CoinDesk, preferreds financed purchases of 135,979 BTC between early 2025 and Oct. 5, 2026. We look at the trade-off in preferred dividends vs bitcoin buys.
• Debt or credit lines: rarer, and riskier, because lenders can demand repayment when prices fall. Strive says it carries none.

What mNAV means

The key number in this sector is mNAV, the multiple of net asset value:

mNAV = company market value ÷ market value of its bitcoin

Some analysts use enterprise value (adding debt and preferreds) instead of market cap, so always check which version a chart uses.

• mNAV above 1: shares trade at a premium. Selling new stock raises more dollars than it dilutes, so bitcoin per share rises. The flywheel spins.
• mNAV near or below 1: issuing shares now reduces bitcoin per share. Companies tend to stop buying, buy back stock or preferreds instead, or in the worst case sell bitcoin.

That is exactly what happened in late October 2026, when Strategy paused bitcoin purchases and spent $205 million buying back STRC while Strive, fresh from a $630 million preferred sale, added 6,182 BTC.

Examples

The same template has been copied for ether, Solana, XRP and smaller tokens. The further from bitcoin, the thinner the market for both the token and the shares.

Treasury company vs ETF vs buying bitcoin

If you want plain bitcoin exposure, a spot ETF or the coin itself is simpler; our guide on bitcoin ETFs vs buying bitcoin covers that choice, and crypto ETFs vs ETPs vs ETNs explains the wrappers sold in Europe. A treasury company share is a different bet: on bitcoin and on management's ability to raise capital cheaply.

The risks

• Premium can vanish. When mNAV falls, the share price can drop faster than bitcoin and the buying engine stops.
• Fixed bills. Preferred dividends and bond interest must be paid in dollars whatever bitcoin does. Strategy keeps a separate reserve for that, $4.83 billion in late October 2026.
• Dilution. Every share sale spreads ownership thinner; it only helps holders if it raises bitcoin per share.
• Forced selling. Debt with collateral or maturity dates can force sales at the worst moment.
• Index rules. MSCI's new test for non-operating companies could drop Strategy and others from its indexes at the end of November 2026, forcing index funds to sell.
• Key-person and custody risk. A few executives make all the decisions, and shareholders cannot check the keys themselves.

Bottom line

A bitcoin treasury company is a leveraged, actively managed way to hold bitcoin through the stock market. It can outperform the coin while investors pay a premium, and underperform sharply when they stop. Watch mNAV, the cost of its funding and its fixed obligations, not just the size of its stack. This is general information, not investment advice.