Bitcoin and Ethereum treasuries: Who�s leading so far

November 10, 202515 min read

TLDR: Bitcoin and Ethereum treasuries at a glance

Bitcoin and Ethereum treasuries have become one of the defining corporate finance trends of 2025 and 2026, with publicly traded companies collectively holding more than 1.18 million BTC worth approximately $95.7 billion and nearly 7 million ETH worth over $15 billion as of mid-May 2026
Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) remains the dominant Bitcoin treasury company in the world, holding 818,869 BTC acquired for approximately $61.86 billion � a position so large it now ranks alongside the biggest non-financial corporate treasuries in the United States
Metaplanet, the Tokyo-listed firm widely called "Asia's MicroStrategy," is the third-largest publicly traded Bitcoin treasury company globally with 40,177 BTC, using zero-interest bonds and equity instruments to accumulate aggressively without diluting common shareholders
BitMine Immersion Technologies, led by Fundstrat's Tom Lee, is the world's largest Ethereum treasury firm with nearly 5 million ETH, of which more than 3.3 million are actively staked, generating approximately $221 million in annualised staking revenue
Ethereum treasury companies have overtaken Bitcoin treasury companies by percentage of total supply held: corporate ETH treasuries now control roughly 4% of all ETH in existence, surpassing the 3.6% of Bitcoin's circulating supply held by corporate BTC treasuries
The key strategic difference between the two asset classes is purpose: Bitcoin is held as a long-term store of value and inflation hedge, while Ethereum functions as both a reserve asset and an active income generator through staking
Trump's March 2025 executive order establishing a US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve gave the corporate treasury trend a powerful political tailwind, though the reserve itself has yet to involve active government purchases as of May 2026, pending congressional action
The Solana treasury race has quietly accelerated alongside Bitcoin and Ethereum treasuries, with Forward Industries holding more than 6.9 million SOL � the largest Solana corporate treasury by a wide margin
Analysts broadly expect 2026 to become an "altcoin treasury year," with corporate adoption spreading beyond BTC and ETH into Solana, XRP, and other assets as firms seek to extend the Strategy playbook

Bitcoin and Ethereum Treasuries: Why Corporations Are Stacking Crypto

What started as a contrarian bet by one software company in August 2020 has become one of the most closely watched trends in corporate finance. The idea is straightforward: instead of parking excess cash in short-term government bonds or money market funds that yield little and lose purchasing power to inflation, companies hold Bitcoin, Ethereum, or both on their balance sheets as long-term reserve assets.

The logic is rooted in monetary scarcity. Bitcoin has a hard cap of 21 million coins that can ever exist. Ethereum, while not strictly capped, became deflationary after its transition to proof-of-stake, with more ETH burned in transaction fees than issued in new supply during periods of high network activity.

Both assets, the argument goes, hold value better over time than fiat currencies like the US dollar � and Ethereum goes a step further by generating staking income on the holdings themselves.

The corporate treasury trend gained significant political legitimacy when President Donald Trump signed an executive order on March 6, 2025, establishing a US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a separate Digital Asset Stockpile for other cryptocurrencies including Ethereum.

The order halted the previous administration's practice of auctioning off seized Bitcoin � what the White House described as "fire sale" liquidations that had cost the government over $17 billion in foregone gains � and directed agencies to audit and consolidate the government's digital asset holdings. While the reserve has not yet involved active government Bitcoin purchases as of May 2026 pending congressional legislation, the signal it sent to institutional investors was unmistakable: the United States government considers Bitcoin a strategic national asset.

Bitcoin and Ethereum Treasuries: A Brief History of How We Got Here

The Bitcoin treasury playbook was invented by Michael Saylor. In August 2020, when Saylor was running MicroStrategy as a business intelligence software firm, he made the decision to convert the company's cash reserves into Bitcoin � arguing that holding cash was the equivalent of slow-motion capital destruction due to monetary inflation. The bet was audacious and widely ridiculed at the time.

Five years later, it looks like one of the most successful corporate capital allocation decisions in recent memory. Strategy's stock has risen more than 2,300% since the pivot, far outpacing both Bitcoin's own appreciation and the S&P 500 over the same period. The company accumulated BTC through a self-described "capital markets flywheel" � issuing convertible bonds, preferred stock instruments, and equity to raise capital, then deploying it all into Bitcoin. The strategy attracted imitators across the United States, Japan, Canada, and Europe.

Ethereum entered the corporate treasury conversation as an alternative for companies seeking both inflation protection and a yield component. Its proof-of-stake consensus mechanism, which replaced the energy-intensive proof-of-work model used by Bitcoin, allows holders to stake their ETH � locking it up to help validate transactions on the network � in exchange for annual rewards.

This gives Ethereum treasury firms something Bitcoin treasury firms cannot access natively: passive income on their holdings. A company holding ETH can stake it and collect rewards, effectively making their treasury work for them rather than simply sitting idle on a balance sheet.

Bitcoin and Ethereum Treasuries: Who's Leading the Numbers in 2026

The gap between Bitcoin and Ethereum treasuries in total dollar value remains substantial, but the dynamics of the race are more interesting than the headline figures suggest.

On the Bitcoin side, publicly traded companies collectively held approximately 1.18 million BTC worth around $95.7 billion as of mid-May 2026, across 84 active corporate treasury holders tracked by The Block. Strategy dominates this pool with 818,869 BTC � representing roughly 69% of all corporate Bitcoin holdings � acquired at an average cost of $75,540 per coin for a total outlay of approximately $61.86 billion.

On the Ethereum side, 37 publicly traded companies collectively hold nearly 7 million ETH as of late April 2026. That is up from 3.7 million ETH held by corporate treasuries in September 2025, representing 77% growth in token holdings in just seven months.

In percentage-of-supply terms, Ethereum treasury firms now hold approximately 4% of all ETH in existence � surpassing the roughly 3.6% of Bitcoin's total supply held by corporate BTC treasuries. By this measure, the Ethereum side has already won the accumulation race.

The reason for Ethereum's faster corporate accumulation rate is precisely what makes it different from Bitcoin as a treasury asset: the staking yield.

Unlike Bitcoin, which sits idle on a balance sheet, Ethereum holdings can be put to work immediately, generating income that justifies the capital deployed. This has attracted a different profile of treasury buyer � companies that want their reserves to contribute to operating cash flow, not just appreciate passively over time.

Bitcoin and Ethereum Treasuries: The Leading Bitcoin Players

Strategy: The Original and Still the Largest Bitcoin Treasury Company

Strategy holds 818,869 BTC as of mid-May 2026, acquired for a total cost of approximately $61.86 billion at an average price of $75,540 per coin. At a Bitcoin price of around $81,000, the position sits in profit. The company raised $11.68 billion in fresh capital in 2026 alone � the largest US equity issuance of the year � and deployed it all into Bitcoin. It has developed a suite of preferred stock instruments branded STRF, STRK, STRC, and STRD to fund accumulation without relying solely on dilutive common equity issuance.

In a notable development in May 2026, Saylor publicly opened the door for the first time to selling small amounts of Bitcoin to fund dividend obligations � a shift from his previous "never sell" stance. Executives framed it as tactical balance-sheet management, targeting a ratio of 10 to 20 BTC bought for every coin sold.

Whether this represents a true regime change in the company's treasury philosophy or a short-term tactical adjustment is one of the most closely watched questions in crypto markets heading into the second half of 2026.

Metaplanet: Asia's Largest Bitcoin Treasury Company

Metaplanet is the Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed firm that has emerged as Japan's definitive Bitcoin treasury company and the third-largest publicly traded Bitcoin holder in the world, with 40,177 BTC as of the end of Q1 2026.

The company acquires BTC primarily through zero-interest yen-denominated bonds, exploiting Japan's near-zero domestic interest rate environment to borrow cheaply and accumulate Bitcoin without interest costs that would erode returns.

Metaplanet has set an ambitious target to hold 210,000 BTC by 2027 � approximately 1% of Bitcoin's entire fixed supply. The company has also introduced Class A and Class B Perpetual Preferred Shares offering up to a 6% dividend yield, designed to tap Japan's substantial household savings pool and expand Bitcoin accumulation capacity without diluting common equity. The strategy has made it the most prominent corporate Bitcoin adopter in Asia and earned it the nickname "Asia's MicroStrategy."

Twenty One Capital and MARA Holdings

Twenty One Capital holds 43,514 BTC, placing it second globally among publicly traded Bitcoin treasury companies, just ahead of Metaplanet. MARA Holdings, one of the largest publicly traded Bitcoin miners, takes a hybrid approach � accumulating BTC through its mining operations as well as through open-market purchases � and holds 35,303 BTC, ranking fourth overall.

Bitcoin and Ethereum Treasuries: The Leading Ethereum Players

BitMine Immersion Technologies: The Dominant Ethereum Treasury Firm

BitMine Immersion Technologies is to Ethereum what Strategy is to Bitcoin � the undisputed market leader and the company that turned the Ethereum corporate treasury concept into a credible institutional strategy. Led by Tom Lee of Fundstrat as chairman, BitMine holds approximately 4.97 million ETH as of April 2026, after its largest single weekly purchase of 2026: 101,627 ETH worth over $230 million acquired in mid-April. Total crypto and cash holdings across the firm stand at approximately $12.9 billion.

What separates BitMine from a passive holder is its active staking program. The firm has staked more than 3.3 million ETH � approximately two-thirds of its total holdings � generating annualised staking revenue of approximately $221 million.

This transforms its treasury from a static balance sheet asset into an ongoing revenue stream, effectively making BitMine an Ethereum income business as much as a treasury company. The firm also holds 199 Bitcoin and $1.12 billion in cash and equity stakes, providing diversification around its core ETH position.

SharpLink Gaming, The Ether Machine, and BTCS

SharpLink Gaming holds 868,699 ETH, placing it second among publicly traded Ethereum treasury companies. The Ether Machine, which raised $654 million in August 2025 after Ethereum co-backer Jeffrey Berns invested 150,000 ETH and joined the board, holds 496,712 ETH. Together, these three firms � BitMine, SharpLink, and The Ether Machine � account for the large majority of all corporate ETH holdings by value.

BTCS Inc. represents a differentiated approach within the Ethereum treasury space: the firm holds 70,322 ETH and pays shareholders a crypto-native dividend it calls a "Bividend," distributing $0.05 per share in Ethereum directly to holders � an innovation that has no equivalent on the Bitcoin treasury side and points toward a future where crypto treasury income is distributed rather than reinvested.

The Third Race: Solana and XRP Treasury Companies

While Bitcoin and Ethereum treasuries dominate the institutional conversation, a parallel accumulation race is underway in Solana and, at an earlier stage, XRP.

Forward Industries holds the largest Solana corporate treasury by a wide margin, with more than 6.9 million SOL � a position it has been building through equity-funded purchases and a $4 billion at-the-market offering program designed to fund further accumulation.

The company's chairman has publicly stated the ambition to become the largest digital asset treasury of any kind globally, a direct challenge to Strategy's Bitcoin dominance. In total, 17 public companies now hold SOL as a treasury asset.

XRP treasury adoption remains in earlier stages but is building momentum as several smaller public companies disclose XRP positions. The US Digital Asset Stockpile established by Trump's executive order is expected to include XRP among its holdings, providing an institutional legitimacy signal similar to what the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve provided for BTC.

The Dual Treasury Strategy: Holding Both Bitcoin and Ethereum Treasuries

One of the more nuanced developments in 2025 and 2026 is the growing number of companies adopting a dual treasury strategy � holding both BTC and ETH simultaneously rather than choosing one over the other.

The logic is straightforward. Bitcoin provides the purest inflation hedge: a fixed-supply, highly liquid, globally recognised reserve asset with five years of institutional track record behind it. Ethereum provides income yield through staking in addition to the inflation hedge.

A company holding both gets the "digital gold" store of value properties of Bitcoin alongside the passive revenue stream that Ethereum staking generates � a combination that is difficult to replicate with any traditional asset class.

BitMine illustrates this blend in practice: its primary treasury asset is ETH, but it also maintains 199 BTC on its balance sheet. Several other firms have adopted similar hybrid allocation structures as the playbook has evolved from a Bitcoin-only movement into a broader digital asset allocation framework that treats BTC and ETH as complementary rather than competing instruments.

FAQ: Bitcoin and Ethereum Treasuries Explained

What is a Bitcoin or Ethereum treasury company?

A digital asset treasury company is a publicly traded firm that holds a significant portion of its assets in a cryptocurrency � typically Bitcoin or Ethereum � as a core balance sheet strategy rather than as a speculative trade.

These companies generally raise capital through equity or debt issuance and deploy the proceeds into the chosen asset, which they intend to hold for the long term. The strategy was pioneered by Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) with Bitcoin in 2020 and has since been replicated across dozens of firms in both the Bitcoin and Ethereum treasury space.

Why do companies choose Bitcoin over Ethereum for a treasury, or vice versa?

The choice reflects the company's treasury objectives. Bitcoin is chosen by companies that prioritise a simple, highly liquid, globally recognised store of value � the "digital gold" thesis. Its fixed supply and lack of counterparty risk make it the purest inflation hedge in the crypto asset class.

Ethereum is chosen by companies that want both an inflation hedge and a yield-generating asset, since ETH can be staked to earn annual rewards, generating ongoing income that Bitcoin cannot produce natively. Some companies hold both, using Bitcoin for monetary reserves and Ethereum for income generation.

What is staking, and why does it give Ethereum treasury companies an advantage?

Staking is the process of locking up ETH on the Ethereum network to help validate transactions in exchange for annual rewards � currently yielding approximately 3�5% per year on staked holdings. For a treasury company holding millions of ETH, this translates into substantial annualised revenue.

BitMine has staked 3.3 million ETH and generates approximately $221 million in annualised staking revenue. Bitcoin operates on a proof-of-work system and has no equivalent native yield mechanism, meaning Bitcoin treasury holdings sit idle and generate no income unless sold.

How does the US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve affect Bitcoin and Ethereum treasuries?

Trump's March 2025 executive order establishing the US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve provided significant institutional legitimacy to the corporate treasury trend. By designating Bitcoin a strategic national reserve asset � effectively a "digital Fort Knox" in the words of White House officials � the order signalled that the United States views Bitcoin as a credible long-term store of value.

The separate Digital Asset Stockpile created by the same order covers Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies. As of May 2026, the reserve has not involved active government Bitcoin purchases pending congressional action, but if the BITCOIN Act passes, the Treasury is expected to begin its first official purchases in Q4 2026.

What is the mNAV metric, and why does it matter for crypto treasury stocks?

mNAV, or market value to net asset value, is the ratio of a treasury company's market capitalisation to the current value of its cryptocurrency holdings. A company trading at an mNAV of 2x means investors are paying $2 for every $1 of underlying crypto. The premium reflects investor appetite for the company's accumulation capability, the leverage embedded in its capital structure, and the convenience of regulated equity-market exposure to crypto price movements.

When crypto prices rise and buying accelerates, mNAV premiums tend to expand. When prices fall and accumulation slows, premiums compress � which is the dynamic most Bitcoin and Ethereum treasury stocks have experienced in early 2026 as BTC has pulled back from its October 2025 all-time high.

Will 2026 be the year altcoin treasuries overtake Bitcoin and Ethereum treasuries?

Analysts are watching this closely. The Solana treasury race has already produced one company � Forward Industries � with nearly 7 million SOL, and at least 17 public companies now hold SOL on their balance sheets. XRP corporate adoption is growing.

The broader thesis, articulated by analysts at Melanion Capital, is that as the Bitcoin treasury playbook matures and large-scale BTC accumulation becomes harder to execute, companies will extend the model into Ethereum, Solana, and other assets. Whether that produces altcoin treasury companies that rival Strategy or BitMine in scale is one of the defining questions for institutional crypto strategy heading into 2027.

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