There’s a grim symmetry to every crypto boom: an idea born from freedom eventually gets packaged, securitized, and sold back to the masses, this time at a hefty premium. According to a new 10XResearch report, retail investors have collectively lost $17 billion trying to gain indirect Bitcoin exposure through listed “digital asset treasury” companies like Metaplanet and Strategy.

10X Research report describes the great proxy trade

The logic made sense on paper. Why bother managing a private wallet or navigating ETF inefficiencies when you could simply buy shares in firms that hold Bitcoin themselves? Strategy had turned this ‘strategy’ into something of a cult playbook. They inspired a wave of corporate imitators from Tokyo to Toronto.

By mid‑2025, dozens of small to mid‑cap “Bitcoin treasuries” had emerged, some genuine, others opportunistic, pitching themselves as pure‑play proxies for Bitcoin’s upside.

But there was one fatal flaw: valuation drift. 10X Research notes that at the height of the rally, the equity premiums on these stocks reached absurd levels. In some cases, companies traded at 40–50% above their net Bitcoin per‑share value. This was driven by momentum traders and retail enthusiasm rather than underlying assets. According to Bloomberg, it soon stopped being exposure to Bitcoin and became exposure to crowd psychology.

When premiums meet reality

As Bitcoin corrected 13% in October, the effect on these treasuries was magnified. The stocks didn’t just track Bitcoin lower. They cratered, wiping out paper wealth at more than double the rate of the underlying asset’s decline. Strategy fell nearly 35% from its recent peak, while Metaplanet plunged over 50%, erasing the majority of its speculative summer gains.

For late‑entry retail holders, the drawdown was

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Author: Christina Comben