Author: Fairy, ChainCatcher
The market always creates 'stories' in unexpected ways.
From MicroStrategy to ETH version, SOL version, XRP version 'MicroStrategy', micro-listed companies that were previously ignored in the U.S. stock market have become carriers and amplifiers of new stories.
There is a subtle spread of alternative integration trends between crypto assets and traditional stock markets. Is this a further evolution of crypto financialization or a narrative bubble built on high leverage?
MicroStrategy spin-off illustration: Who are the token hoarding double stocks?
The strategy of crypto treasury has become an explicit trend in the capital market. According to Bitcointreasuries data, there are currently 211 entities worldwide holding over 3.37 million Bitcoins, with listed companies holding about 800,000 of them, and this number continues to grow. Recently, Donald Trump's Trump Media & Technology Group has also entered the market, raising about $2.5 billion through private placements to establish a Bitcoin treasury.
To further explore, we have compiled a list of 'MicroStrategy' spin-off companies:
Many companies in the picture were performing mediocrely or even facing financial difficulties before getting involved with crypto assets. For example, Upexi, in the second half of 2024, saw its financial revenue decline and net losses widen. However, since announcing its reserve strategy, its stock price has cumulatively increased by over 300%. Similar cases are not uncommon, with some companies achieving multiple or even tenfold increases in the capital market thanks to this strategy.
Meanwhile, multi-currency versions of 'MicroStrategy' are continuously emerging. Clean energy solution provider Worksport has invested its cash reserves in BTC and XRP; e-commerce company GD Culture Group has secured a $300 million financing commitment and plans to acquire Bitcoin and TRUMP as long-term reserve assets. Various trends indicate that more and more traditional enterprises are attempting to achieve strategic transformation and market repricing through crypto assets.
Play generalization: using tokens to trade stocks, using stocks to support tokens.
'MicroStrategy' paths essentially have a very low threshold: continuously issuing stocks and bonds to complete financing, then allocating the funds to crypto assets, and using financial reports as valuation anchors to feed back into stock price performance. The difference lies in who has stronger fundraising capability, which tokens to allocate, and whether to choose staking to earn income.
Two days ago, SharpLink Gaming announced a $425 million private placement and included ETH in its treasury, becoming a typical case of this model: raising funds at a price below net asset value to acquire and stake ETH; when the stock price exceeds the net value of ETH per share, refinancing occurs, and this cycle continues.
It is worth noting that the recent investors are almost all established institutions like ConsenSys, ParaFi, Pantera, which heavily invested in Ethereum in its early years. SharpLink, previously valued at only about $10 million, only needed to issue 69.1 million new shares at a low price to transfer 90% of control to the 'Ethereum camp.'
To some extent, these operations are reminiscent of the previous wave of crypto spot ETF applications: companies collaborate with token projects to create expectations and valuation bubbles through capital market methods. 'Buy tokens - dress them up - trade stocks' has also become a new path for token projects to access the U.S. stock market. Crypto KOL AB Kuai.Dong revealed that, in addition to the officially announced ETH and SOL MicroStrategy plans, there are rumors of 6-7 projects in the shell-seeking and acquisition stage, which have not yet been disclosed. In addition, VCs and market makers are quietly transforming, seeking U.S. stock market shells for acquisitions, fundraising, and buying tokens.
Mainstream or capital illusion?
The stock price curve injects on-chain volatility; the flywheel is spinning but the direction is unclear. Can this type of operation truly function long-term and create structural value, or is it merely a capital illusion under exquisite packaging?
Crypto KOL @lowstrife gives his warning: these so-called 'crypto reserves' are actually a destructive leverage structure, the essence of which is to provide cash flow for token accumulation by continuously diluting the equity of ordinary shareholders. This path operates particularly smoothly for MicroStrategy, provided its stock price is higher than the value of its Bitcoin holdings (mNAV > 1). Once it falls below this balance point, the entire flywheel may stall or even reverse.
However, is it really feasible to replicate this model? Bloomberg columnist Matt Levine pointed out that MicroStrategy has first-mover advantages, strong investor relations, effective market narratives, and systematic channels supported by inclusion in ETFs and indices. Ironically, this logic is now being copied by a batch of 'micro-strategy companies,' yet the market seems to have a premium expectation for each newcomer. Matt wrote: 'The current situation is like the crypto circle is constantly playing the U.S. stock market, and the U.S. stock market keeps falling for it.'
From the community perspective, the sustainability of this structure is also in doubt. Community member @0xdafu believes that the continued operation of this structure relies on the relative stability of the underlying assets. Bitcoin can carry 'infinite imagination,' but stock market valuations cannot infinitely overdraw the 'market dream rate.' Community user @connect1998 further compares this cycle to Evergrande-style capital games: asset pledging brings financing, financing further increases asset allocation, ultimately piling up into massive debt and bubbles. Once the market stops buying in, the consequences could be not only a halving of valuations but also systemic pullbacks.
Stories can be replicated, but value cannot be forged.
When the logic of capital wraps the ideals of crypto, when the banner of mainstreaming becomes a leverage-driven financial model, is this evolution or another form of 'sellout'?
