Investors retreat as shares in bitcoin buyers decline

By Tommy Reggiori Wilkes, Elizabeth Howcroft and Hannah Lang

LONDON/PARIS/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Companies that accumulate and hoard bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have suffered sharp drops in their share prices as the crypto mania that has gripped investors for much of the year recedes.

These so-called digital asset treasury companies sell shares or issue debt to raise cash for buying crypto held on their balance sheets. Investors have been snapping up their shares, encouraged by bitcoin's record highs this year as U.S. President Donald Trump embraces the sector.

At least 61 publicly listed companies that are not primarily engaged in digital assets have adopted bitcoin treasury strategies, Reuters reported in June.

Shares in Michael Saylor's Strategy, the best known of these bitcoin buyers, have fallen from $457 in July to as low as $328 this week. That is the lowest since April and cuts their gains this year to 13%.

Japanese bitcoin treasury company Metaplanet this week hit its weakest since May. The shares are down more than 60% from their June peak but remain up 105% so far this year.

Small companies that have transformed the fortunes of their shares - and their stock-owning executives - simply by announcing a sudden shift in strategy to bitcoin-buying have also taken a hit. 

The scale of the reversal is "entirely unsurprising," said Kaiko analyst Adam McCarthy.

"These are all essentially volatility plays as they are leveraged exposure ... so if bitcoin is down 3%, they're down a multiple of that, sometimes four or five times as much," he said.

"For retail users it's a shock a lot of the time, so it probably compounds the downturn when some sell out of fear."

When these shares tank, the companies' market value can be less than the crypto holdings on their balance sheets.

Digital asset treasury companies also often rely on capital market access to fund their crypto buying, which can "dry up when sentiment cools," said Lale Akoner, global market analyst at eToro.

"Beyond their bitcoin exposure, most (companies) have only modest fundamentals, so their valuations don't have much of a cushion."

Shares of Smarter Web Company soared after the UK-based website designer announced a bitcoin-buying strategy in April. The stock is down more than 70% since June.

Shares in Alt5 Sigma, which has been buying tokens in Trump's World Liberty Financial crypto venture, have tumbled more than 61% from their June high reached before the company announced a $1.5 billion deal with the venture.

Bitcoin-hoarding has spread to other cryptocurrencies, too, with more companies buying up ether and lesser-known digital currencies.

"Until retail users realise that these firms aren't buying into crypto, rather they're selling a crypto narrative to pump their equity value, this circle will persist," Kaiko's McCarthy said.

Shares of Peter Thiel-backed BitMine and gaming media network GameSquare rocketed this year after they announced plans to buy ether. Both have slumped by about 67% since July.

Crypto exchange Gemini is set to debut on the Nasdaq on Friday. The exchange, backed by Cameron Tyler Winklevoss, raised the proposed price range for its U.S. initial public offering and is targeting a market valuation of up to $3.08 billion.

(Reporting by Tommy Reggiori Wilkes, Elizabeth Howcroft and Hannah Lang; Editing by David Goodman and Richard Chang)