Bitcoin Rally Could Revive Corporate Treasury Buying, Analysts Say
by Maisie Morrison · BlockonomiTLDR
Table of Contents
- Corporate Bitcoin buying slowed sharply in Q3, with Strategy adding a net 1,666 BTC compared with 83,901 BTC in Q2.
- Other public companies added a net 5,617 BTC in Q3, down from 45,725 BTC in the previous quarter.
- A dozen companies that joined the 2025 treasury boom sold their entire Bitcoin holdings, mostly to repay debt or return cash.
- Analysts expect established treasury firms to attract capital first if Bitcoin rallies and buying resumes.
- Spot Bitcoin ETFs drew $6.4 billion in Q3 net inflows but posted about $229 million in outflows last week.
Corporate Bitcoin buying could pick up again in late 2026 and into 2027 if the price of Bitcoin rallies, according to analysts. However, they say investors will be more careful about which treasury companies they fund.
Bitwise head of research Ryan Rasmussen told Cointelegraph that Bitcoin treasury buying slowed across the board in the third quarter.
Strategy’s Bitcoin holdings rose by a net 1,666 BTC in Q3, according to company filings. That was down from 83,901 BTC added in Q2.
Other public companies added a net 5,617 BTC in the third quarter. In the second quarter, they added 45,725 BTC, according to figures from Rasmussen.
Rasmussen said he expects corporate purchases to start picking up again as early as this year.
Investors Now Focus on Discipline
Bitfinex head of derivatives Jag Kooner said new buying could follow if treasury companies regain premiums over the value of their Bitcoin holdings. But he said investors have become pickier since the 2025 treasury boom.
“Shareholders have seen premiums collapse and some companies sell into weakness. Investors are now pricing these businesses on funding costs, balance-sheet discipline and bitcoin per share,” Kooner said.
He added that a rally could restart buying, especially among companies with solid financing plans. “A return to last year’s indiscriminate capital raising looks unlikely,” he said.
Bitwise’s October market report also showed the number of Bitcoin treasury companies fell in Q3. Smaller firms that gave up on the strategy drove the drop.
Rasmussen said a dozen companies that joined during the 2025 boom sold all of their Bitcoin. Most did so to repay debt or return cash to shareholders after their stock premiums disappeared.
Established Players Expected to Lead
Kooner said that if buying returns, money would likely flow first to larger, established companies. These firms have the scale, trading liquidity in their shares and the track record that investors now want.
Rasmussen said most of the biggest corporate buyers outside Strategy are operating businesses. They buy Bitcoin with cash from their operations instead of selling new stock.
He described this as “a smaller source of demand but a healthier one.”
Kooner said a large wave of new treasury companies would likely appear only late in a rally. “A broad wave of new listings would most likely arrive late in a rally, once premiums have widened and that timing is itself a warning sign,” he said.
Rasmussen said Bitcoin could recover even without another corporate buying boom. He pointed to $6.4 billion in net inflows to spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in Q3.
“Corporate purchases are one source of demand for bitcoin, but not the only source,” he said.
Kooner agreed that ETF demand could support a recovery for a time. But he warned that some of that activity comes from basis trades, which can unwind quickly.
“Without corporate buying, the market loses a price-insensitive bid and becomes more dependent on allocators who rebalance with macro conditions,” he said.
Recent data shows ETF demand can reverse. US spot Bitcoin ETFs saw about $229 million in net outflows last week, the second straight week of withdrawals, according to SoSoValue.