What Does a 76% Collapse in Treasury Buying Mean for Crypto?
Corporate crypto treasuries slash Bitcoin buying, leaving retail investors and ETFs to hold the line.

Bitcoin was supposed to be entering its golden age. Wall Street had begun weaving the cryptocurrency into balance sheets, heralded as the next great anchor of corporate finance. For a time, it looked like the foundation was set. Treasuries and listed firms scooped up tens of thousands of Bitcoin, fueling the narrative that digital assets had matured into a permanent fixture of the financial system. But just as quickly, the enthusiasm has faltered. Purchases by publicly traded digital-asset treasuries have collapsed, falling from 64,000 Bitcoin in July to just 12,600 in August, and a modest 15,500 in September. That represents a 76 percent plunge from the frenzy earlier this summer, a staggering retreat that is shaking confidence across the sector.
A Feedback Loop of Weakness
The falloff isn’t happening in isolation. Bitcoin has shed nearly six percent in the past week, dragging Ether with it, as sudden liquidations ricocheted through trading desks. Treasury firms, once celebrated for raising billions through PIPE deals and lofty valuations, now find their shares trading as much as 97 percent below issue. What was supposed to be a stabilizing force is fast becoming a destabilizing one. Institutional buyers, once a counterweight to retail volatility, are stepping back. Their absence creates a feedback loop where diminished demand signals weakness, and that weakness breeds further selling.
