Bitcoin traded near $61,285 on June 25, 2026, down roughly 21% over the prior month and off more than 45% from mid-2025 highs on a peak-to-trough basis.

Against that backdrop, public companies are still buying. The corporate Bitcoin treasury model, pioneered by Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) in August 2020, has since spread to mining firms, purpose-built treasury vehicles, and, most recently, companies in emerging markets where currency depreciation makes the case for a hard-money reserve asset particularly sharp.

The Strategy baseline

Strategy remains the dominant force in corporate Bitcoin accumulation. As of June 22, 2026, the firm holds 847,363 BTC, acquired at an average cost of roughly $66,385 per coin and a total outlay of about $33.1 billion.

That position sits underwater at current prices (the current price is below its average acquisition cost) and represents more than 60% of all Bitcoin held by public companies worldwide. Chairman Michael Saylor has set a target of accumulating between 5% and 7% of Bitcoin's entire supply. Current holdings stand at roughly 4%. The company finances purchases through equity issuance, convertible notes, and at-the-market programs, and it tracks performance through a metric it calls "BTC Yield," which measures the percentage growth in Bitcoin held per diluted share.

Other significant holders include MARA Holdings (53,250 BTC), Twenty One Capital (43,514 BTC), Metaplanet Inc. (40,177 BTC), Bitcoin Standard Treasury (30,021 BTC), and Bullish (24,300 BTC).

Together, these firms represent a cross-section of the three types of companies now holding Bitcoin: early tech adopters such as Tesla and Block, purpose-built treasury vehicles, and miners that retain production rather than selling immediately.

The Japan case and the weak-currency advantage

Tokyo-listed Metaplanet (TSE: 3350) offers the clearest template for how a weak-currency environment can make the Bitcoin treasury trade structurally attractive. The company grew from under 100 BTC to more than 40,000 in roughly 18 months, financing purchases through zero-interest yen-denominated bonds and equity.

As the yen depreciates, the real cost of servicing that debt shrinks when measured against Bitcoin or the US dollar. Metaplanet targets 210,000 BTC by the end of 2027, equivalent to 1% of total supply. Its fiscal 2025 results included a $619 million net loss driven by unrealized markdowns on its Bitcoin position, according to Crypto.news, and the stock has cycled in and out of the most-shorted stock ranking on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The company nonetheless continues to accumulate despite the reported loss and sustained short interest.

Africa's first listed Bitcoin treasury company

South Africa's Africa Bitcoin Corporation (ABC), formerly Altvest Capital, became the first publicly listed Bitcoin treasury firm on the African continent. The company upgraded from South Africa's AltX board to the JSE Main Board in May 2026 and holds additional listings in Namibia, Germany, and the United States.

CEO Warren Wheatley has described ABC as offering institutional investors on the continent "regulated equity-based access to Bitcoin, a route not available through local crypto exchanges."

The company targets 21,000 BTC by 2030 and has stated no near-term intention to sell its holdings.

ABC's current holdings remain small, roughly 5.5 BTC as of the most recent available disclosure, but its significance is structural rather than numerical. ABC is not the only institutional vehicle available in the region: South Africa's Sygnia Life Bitcoin Plus Fund holds approximately R20.5 billion (roughly $1.2 billion) in assets under management, giving institutional investors another regulated route to Bitcoin exposure through a fund structure rather than a listed corporate treasury.

Pension funds, insurers, and asset managers across Africa face regulatory constraints on direct cryptocurrency ownership. A listed equity on a regulated exchange sidesteps those restrictions. The rationale is particularly acute across the continent, where the Nigerian naira, South African rand, and Kenyan shilling have each experienced significant depreciation, making a dollar-denominated hard asset more compelling for local corporates than for US-domiciled firms.

Ghana passed a VASP licensing bill in December 2025 that establishes licensing pathways for virtual asset managers and ETF providers in West Africa. Nigeria and Kenya, the continent's largest crypto markets by retail volume, have yet to produce a listed treasury equivalent.

South Asia: mass adoption without corporate formation

India ranks first globally in the Chainalysis 2025 Crypto Adoption Index, yet no major Indian public company has announced a Bitcoin treasury position. The obstacle is a 30% flat tax on every crypto gain, with no ability to offset losses.

Ongoing negotiations between SEBI and the RBI have yet to formally define crypto as a "regulated digital asset," a classification widely regarded as a prerequisite for corporate treasury formation. The Union Budget 2026-27 is seen by observers as a potential inflection point for resolving that question.

India's central bank digital currency, the Digital Rupee, has surpassed 150 million transactions, signaling institutional infrastructure is developing, but the tax regime remains a hard barrier for corporate treasury formation.

Pakistan presents a different trajectory. After a seven-year effective ban on crypto banking, the country passed the Virtual Assets Act 2026 in March and established the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA) as a standalone regulator. Banks are now authorized to service licensed virtual asset providers.

The government is simultaneously exploring a strategic Bitcoin reserve and plans to redirect surplus electricity toward mining. It is also exploring the tokenization of up to $2 billion in state assets, a distinct initiative from the reserve program. The Pakistan Crypto Council, which counts Binance founder Changpeng Zhao among its advisers, is helping shape the country's approach to the new regulatory landscape.

If PVARA issues operating licenses at pace, the new framework could catalyze the first Pakistani Bitcoin treasury companies within 12 to 18 months.

What comes next

The corporate Bitcoin treasury model is no longer a US-centric phenomenon. It is spreading into markets where currency depreciation and restricted institutional access to direct crypto ownership make the equity-based treasury structure a practical solution.

The near-term test is whether new entrants in Africa and South Asia can build holdings at scale before regulatory environments shift again. South Asian transaction volumes grew 69% year over year to $2.36 trillion through mid-2025. Bangladesh, which ranks 14th globally in the Chainalysis adoption index with 3.1 million verified users, illustrates a pattern visible across the region: strong retail adoption but no corporate treasury activity yet. The infrastructure is there. The corporate layer is still forming.