Retail investors have lost an estimated $17 billion in an attempt to gain Bitcoin exposure through digital asset treasury firms such as Metaplanet and Michael Saylor’s Strategy, according to a new research report. These losses came from an overpricing of share premiums that allowed these companies to sell stock for far above the value of their actual crypto holdings.
Those share prices have now collapsed, leaving a multitude of individual investors holding the bag. “The age of financial magic is ending for Bitcoin treasury companies,” analysts at Singapore-based 10X Research wrote in a report released Friday.