Strategy Dominated Corporate Bitcoin Buying in January, Capturing 93% of Flows

Corporate treasuries resumed net Bitcoin accumulation in January, adding nearly 43,230 BTC—about $3.5 billion. The headline isn’t the size of the buy; it’s the concentration. Strategy accounted for 93% of those purchases, its busiest month in a year, while other digital asset treasuries (DATs) shrank for a fourth straight month.

The pattern is clear: as price pressure persists, the marginal corporate buyer has narrowed to a single, highly motivated participant. Strategy, based in Tysons Corner, Virginia, acquired 40,150 BTC last month. Competitors collectively bought just 3,080 BTC. Activity accelerated from December’s 28,900 BTC but remained well below the 147,000 BTC acquired in November 2024 during President Donald Trump’s re-election.

What explains the gap? Funding and resolve. Strategy’s model isn’t just buy-and-hold; it’s an engineered capital stack designed to keep purchasing through drawdowns. Alongside debt, the firm has rolled out multiple preferred share structures. Its variable rate preferred (STRC) has grown to $3.4 billion and currently carries an 11.25% annualized dividend—real carry costs that many peers would hesitate to take on. Strategy has stockpiled cash for those payouts, but that cushion doesn’t erase the obligation. Strive and Metaplanet have also issued dividend-paying preferreds, yet their scale and cadence of buys haven’t matched Strategy’s.

Markets have pushed back. Strategy’s stock has fallen roughly 70% over six months, recently trading near $125, intensifying scrutiny of the business model’s durability. The firm reported a $12.4 billion loss in Q4, and its Bitcoin position sits more than $7 billion underwater on paper. Michael Saylor still calls the company a “digital fortress” and said this week it will keep buying “forever,” while acknowledging in December that BTC could be sold if needed—after setting aside a cash reserve for debt and dividend coverage. A Myriad prediction market run by Dastan users implies nearly a 25% chance Strategy sells BTC by year-end.

The rest of the corporate cohort looks constrained. Excluding Strategy, purchases have trended smaller for four consecutive months. Last year’s warnings about potential forced sellers are resurfacing as cost bases get tested; a Standard Chartered analyst estimated in June that many corporates bought Bitcoin near an average price of $90,000. January even featured net reductions: miners Riot Platforms and Bitdeer sold 1,363 BTC and 490 BTC, respectively; Exodus Movement sold 198 BTC; Bitcoin Treasury Corp trimmed 2 BTC. Interestingly, breadth ticked up—30 firms announced buys versus 20 in December—but the amounts were modest, suggesting breadth without depth.

The deeper takeaway is about reflexivity and financing. One player with access to expensive but available capital can anchor corporate demand even in a down tape. That resolve can steady sentiment for a time, but it loads balance sheets with high-carry liabilities that require the price path to cooperate. If funding windows tighten or equity volatility persists, the feedback loop can reverse quickly. Investors tend to reward conviction until the cost of that conviction overshadows the asset’s optionality.

For market participants, watch the plumbing more than the headlines: the pace of STRC issuance, cash reserve disclosures, secondary market pricing of preferreds, and the company’s equity trajectory. Track whether other DATs reengage or continue to de-risk. January’s data says corporate Bitcoin demand is alive—but, for now, it’s largely a one-firm trade.