2025’s Biggest Corporate Crypto Treasuries: How Capital Structure Powered the BTC, ETH, and SOL Arms Race

Corporate crypto treasuries didn’t just get larger in 2025—they grew up. The shift wasn’t about press releases or “diamond hands.” It was about building durable financing rails to acquire Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana at scale, then sticking to a policy. That’s why a handful of issuers reshaped the market while others chased volatility and lost the plot.

The core idea: capital structure as an edge The companies that mattered treated BTC/ETH/SOL exposure as a capital markets program, not a trade. Zero-coupon converts, perpetual preferreds with dividends, and large private placements turned crypto accumulation into a repeatable pipeline. Fair-value accounting, institutional custody, and ETF-driven liquidity made it operationally feasible. What separated winners was not the size of the headline but the quality of the financing and the discipline to keep the narrative intact.

Strategy (MSTR), formerly MicroStrategy - Five-year arc: First BTC buy in Aug 2020 when shares traded at $14.44. As of Dec 15, 2025, holdings reached 660,624 BTC valued at $62 billion; stock up 1,204% (Yahoo Finance). - February: Raised $2 billion via zero-coupon convertible bonds; bought 20,365 BTC at $97,514. Shares dipped 2.37% on announcement, then recovered. - March: During tariff-driven turmoil, acquired 22,048 BTC at $87,000. Funding: $1.2 billion in stock plus $1.85 million via STRK, a perpetual preferred launched in January. - April: Sold 4 million shares to purchase 15,355 BTC for $1.42 billion; roughly 97% funded by equity. Accretive mechanics work only when market cap exceeds the value of on-balance-sheet BTC—a dynamic that flipped in November, turning further stock sales dilutive. - July: Introduced STRC, a perpetual preferred paying monthly dividends; raised $2.5 billion to buy 21,021 BTC. Third preferred after STRF and STRK, and the first monthly dividend-paying preferred by a U.S.-listed Bitcoin treasury firm. - Program goal: the “21/21 Plan” to raise $21 billion in equity and $21 billion in debt over three years.

Forward Industries (FORD): Solana goes institutional - Pivoted in September to become the largest public SOL treasury. - Raised $1.65 billion in a private placement backed by Galaxy Digital, Jump Crypto, and Multicoin Capital; bought 6,822,000 SOL at $232. Stock rose 1.32% on the news. - Filed to raise another $4 billion via stock for working capital, continued token accumulation, and income-generating assets. - By November: 6,910,568 SOL—well ahead of SOL Strategies, DeFi Development Corp., and Upexi.

BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR): Building the ETH wall - October dislocation: Bought 203,826 ETH for $963 million as a post-tariff selloff erased $19 billion in leverage and sent ETH to $3,709. - As of Dec 15: 3.8 million ETH worth over $12 billion (StrategicETHReserve.xyz), plus $22 million in BTC, $239 million in other investments, and about $1 billion in cash. - Stock reaction: +4.35% to $54 after the buy, recovering from above-$60 levels during the selloff. - Now the second-largest crypto treasury globally, behind Strategy’s BTC.

The Ether Machine (ETHM): Active ETH treasury, not passive storage - August raise: $654 million on the back of Jeffrey Berns investing 150,000 ETH and joining the board. - Holdings: 495,362 ETH as of Dec 15, worth over $1.4 billion—third behind BitMine and SharpLink Gaming. - Formed in June via The Ether Reserve–Dynamix Corporation merger; Nasdaq debut in July; ticker ETHM from August. - Distinct approach: stakes ETH and deploys DeFi strategies to earn yield.

Metaplanet: Asia’s “MicroStrategy” play - September: Bought 5,419 BTC for $632.53 million at $116,724 per coin via a $1.45 billion international share offering. - As of Dec 15: 30,823 BTC valued at $2.7 billion, ranking fourth behind Strategy, Marathon Digital, and Twenty One Capital (Bitcoin Treasuries). - Targets: +100,000 BTC in 2026 and 210,000 BTC by 2027—about 1% of the 21 million cap. - Business pivot: from hotels and tech in 2024 to a Bitcoin-first strategy.

What 2025 really taught boards - Discipline > hype: Jad Comair noted treasuries moved from opportunistic trades to formal policy. With fair-value accounting and ETF liquidity rails, these are no longer experiments. He expects “board-level FOMO” once Bitcoin rebounds; no CFO wants to miss what feels like the cheapest balance-sheet trade of a cycle. - Don’t break your own story: Comair flagged inconsistency as the year’s biggest mistake. Sequans bought BTC, then sold to pay debts—signaling no long-term view. Investors respond to clarity and conviction; hesitation gets punished. - Timing and purpose matter: Joshua Chu cautioned that several issuers piled in near all-time highs with proposals similar to those Hong Kong’s exchange had already rejected on prudential grounds. Some firms “swung for the fences” without any operational need to hold crypto, importing avoidable earnings volatility and correlated liquidity risk.

My read going into 2026: the winners will keep treating digital assets as treasury-grade collateral funded by purpose-built securities, not as side bets. Expect an “altcoin treasury year” to emerge around that framework, not around slogans.