A new report from 10X Research has revealed that retail investors have lost nearly $17 billion trying to gain indirect Bitcoin exposure through listed digital asset firms like Michael Saylor’s Strategy Metaplanet.
Source: X (formerly Twitter)
The research blames overpriced equity premiums that allowed these companies to sell shares far above the real value of their BTC holdings. As markets cooled, share prices collapsed, leaving thousands of small investors nursing heavy losses.
Strategy Metaplanet Stocks Drop Sharply
Both Strategy Metaplanet companies have faced steep declines this month.
In Japan, Metaplanet Inc (TYO:3350) fell 24.15% in the past 30 days, sliding from 530 JPY to 402 JPY.
Source: Google Finance
Similarly, MSTR Stock Strategy Inc Class A (NASDAQ:MSTR) dropped almost 17%, from $349 to $289.87, wiping out billions in market value.
Analysts say the losses reflect how these firms’ stock prices were inflated beyond their underlying BTC holdings. When the cryptocurrency corrected, the bubble around these “Bitcoin treasury” companies quickly burst.
Bitcoin and the Market Pullback
The crypto itself has fallen nearly 9% this month, trading around $106,800 after touching $117,500 in September.
The drop hit not just digital curre investors but also equity markets tied to digital assets. As confidence faded, both stocks saw further outflows, mirroring coin’s fall.
Massive Crypto Liquidations Add More Pressure
In the last 24 hours alone, over 245,000 traders were liquidated, with total losses exceeding $905 million, according to Coinglass data.
Bitcoin saw $336.63 million in liquidations, while Ethereum followed with $215.69 million.
About $623 million of these came from long positions showing bullish traders were caught off guard by the sharp sell-off.
This wave of liquidations deepened selling pressure across the digital currency sector and spilled into these company’s stocks, which move closely with coin’s market trend.
Analysts Warn “Financial Magic Is Ending”
“The age of financial magic is ending for Bitcoin treasury companies,” wrote analysts at Singapore-based 10X Research.
They explained that firms like Strategy Metaplanet benefited from investor enthusiasm when Bitcoin was rising, but their valuations are now being challenged by stricter market conditions and fading retail optimism.
Retail Investors Left With Heavy Losses
Many small investors saw Strategy Metaplanet shares as safer ways to invest in the largest cryptocurrency without holding crypto directly.
But the sudden plunge in both stock and crypto markets has left a lot of people “holding the bag”.
Experts caution that if volatility in this digital assets persists, equity-based exposure will continue to be a risky approach. Better valuation practices and transparency will be the drivers for restoring confidence in these Bitcoin-linked equities.
Conclusion: A Wake-Up Call for Crypto Equity Investors
The Strategy Metaplanet failure indicates that investing in stocks that are related to Bitcoin is as risky as actually owning crypto.
As the crypto market matures, this incident reminds all that hype cannot be a substitute for fundamentals and that true value, rather than speculation, determines winners and losers in the end.
