Corporate adoption of bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset had gathered notable momentum, with data from bitcointreasuries.org showing that 29 companies collectively held more than 1.1 million BTC. Based on exchange rates cited in the report, that stockpile was worth over $30 billion, underscoring how quickly bitcoin had moved from a speculative asset into treasury discussions among public companies, private firms, and fund-like vehicles.
The report points to MicroStrategy’s $250 million bitcoin purchase in August as the event that helped accelerate the trend. After that initial move, the company continued buying, bringing its holdings to 70,470 BTC, or roughly 0.336% of bitcoin’s total supply. Its strategy became a high-profile signal to the market that corporations could consider bitcoin not merely as an investment, but as a reserve alternative to cash and other traditional treasury assets.
In the months that followed, other firms including Square Inc. and Ruffer Investment Company joined the wave of bitcoin accumulation. The result was a broadening list of institutions willing to hold BTC on their balance sheets or through fund structures, further legitimizing the asset in corporate finance circles.
How the 29 Bitcoin Holders Were Grouped
According to bitcointreasuries.org, the companies were divided into three categories: publicly traded companies, private companies, and ETF-like holders. This framework helps show that bitcoin treasury adoption was no longer limited to a single type of institution. Instead, it was spreading across listed corporations, privately held entities, and regulated investment products.
The publicly traded category included 15 firms. Among them were MicroStrategy Inc., Galaxy Digital Holdings, Square Inc., Hut 8 Mining Corp, Voyager Digital LTD, Riot Blockchain, Bit Digital, Coin Citadel, Advanced Bitcoin Technologies AG, DigitalX, Hive Blockchain, Cypherpunk Holdings, Bigg Digital Assets, Argo Blockchain, and FRMO Corp. Together, these listed companies held approximately 100,003 BTC.
While that figure was substantial, public companies were not the largest category by holdings. The report shows that four private companies—Mtgox k.k., Block.one, Tezos Foundation, and Stone Ridge Holdings Group—held a combined 317,383 BTC. That total was significantly higher than the amount held by the 15 public firms combined, suggesting that some of the earliest and largest balance-sheet exposures to bitcoin remained concentrated in private entities.
The largest category by far was the ETF-like holder group, which included nine funds and similar products. These included Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, Coinshares, Ruffer Investment, 3iq The Bitcoin Fund, Grayscale Digital Large Cap, Bitwise 10 Crypto Index Fund, WisdomTree Bitcoin, 21shares AG, and ETC Group Bitcoin ETP. Collectively, these fund-style holders accounted for approximately 734,232 BTC.
Grayscale Dominated the List
Among all 29 entities, Grayscale Bitcoin Trust stood out as the single largest bitcoin holder, with 572,644 BTC. Its position placed it well ahead of other notable holders such as Mtgox k.k., Block.one, MicroStrategy, and Coinshares. The size of Grayscale’s holdings also illustrates an important market dynamic: a large share of institutional bitcoin exposure at the time came through investment products rather than direct corporate treasury allocations alone.
This distinction matters because it shows two parallel forms of adoption. On one side, operating companies were directly putting bitcoin on their balance sheets. On the other, asset managers and structured products were creating investment vehicles that allowed institutional and accredited participants to gain exposure indirectly. Together, those channels contributed to the rapid growth in bitcoin held under corporate and fund umbrellas.
Not Every Bitcoin-Holding Company Was Included
The article also noted that bitcointreasuries.org did not include every company that had shifted treasury assets into bitcoin. Two Canadian examples were highlighted. Restaurant chain Tahini’s said it had swapped all of its cash reserves into BTC, while graphics software company Snappa disclosed that it had converted 40% of its cash reserves into bitcoin.
These examples are notable because they expand the story beyond large public firms and institutional funds. They suggest that interest in bitcoin treasury strategies was also emerging among smaller operating businesses, including firms outside the financial and crypto-native sectors. In other words, bitcoin was beginning to be considered not only by technology-forward listed companies, but also by everyday businesses looking to protect reserves from currency debasement or low-yield cash holdings.
The report further mentioned that publicly listed Canadian company Mogo had announced an allocation of 1.5% of its reserves to bitcoin and planned to buy more the following year. Although smaller than some of the headline-grabbing allocations elsewhere, such a move reinforced the idea that treasury adoption could happen incrementally, with firms starting from modest percentages before potentially increasing exposure over time.
Bitcoin as an Alternative to Cash, Stocks, and Even Gold
A central theme in the report is that companies were beginning to treat bitcoin as a viable alternative to traditional treasury reserves such as cash and stocks. In some cases, the comparison extended to gold, long regarded as a classic safe-haven asset. Tahini’s offered one of the more pointed examples of this mindset, recounting that when the company told its financial advisor it was buying bitcoin, the advisor suggested gold instead.
Tahini’s responded with a provocative view, arguing that gold’s long-standing reputation as a reliable store of value could eventually be challenged by bitcoin. Whether or not one agrees with that stance, the example illustrates how strongly some businesses had come to view BTC as a treasury asset rather than simply a speculative trade.
That shift in perception is arguably one of the most important developments reflected in the data. The significance of the 1.1 million BTC figure is not just the nominal dollar value attached to it. It is also what the holdings represent: a growing willingness among institutions to place part of their reserves into a digital asset with a fixed supply, global liquidity, and increasing financial-market recognition.
A Snapshot of a Changing Treasury Landscape
Overall, the figures cited by bitcointreasuries.org offer a snapshot of a period when bitcoin treasury adoption was accelerating across multiple segments of the market. Public companies held about 100,003 BTC, private firms held 317,383 BTC, and ETF-like vehicles held 734,232 BTC. Combined, those positions pushed the total beyond 1.1 million BTC and above $30 billion in value at the time.
While the composition of holders varied—from listed corporations to private groups and investment funds—the broader message was consistent: bitcoin was becoming increasingly embedded in institutional reserve strategies. MicroStrategy’s purchases may have helped ignite the movement, but the range of names on the list showed that the trend had already broadened considerably.
As more companies evaluated whether bitcoin could serve as a hedge, a reserve diversification tool, or a strategic balance-sheet asset, the treasury use case became one of the most closely watched narratives in the digital asset industry. The data in this report captured that momentum at a stage when bitcoin was beginning to establish a much firmer foothold in corporate finance.