Many big companies keep Bitcoin as part of their reserve money. A new analysis by Charles Edwards, the founder of Capriole Investments, shows that about 80% of these corporate Bitcoin holders are now sitting on unrealized losses. Realized losses happen when you sell for less than you paid. Unrealized losses mean the current market value is lower than the price paid, even if the Bitcoin hasn’t been sold yet.
Bitcoin is a kind of digital money. It is built on a technology called blockchain, which records transactions in a public ledger that many computers help run. If you want a simple explanation of Bitcoin, you can read the basic description here: Bitcoin.
The news comes as Bitcoin is moving back toward 71,000 dollars. This price level is important because it makes people wonder if the widespread pain among institutions is a warning sign to stay away, or a possible chance to buy when prices look cheaper.
To understand the losses, it helps to know two terms that investors use when buying assets like Bitcoin. The first is cost basis. Cost basis is the original price you paid for an asset, and it helps determine your gain or loss when you sell. For example, if you bought Bitcoin for 60,000 dollars, your cost basis for that piece of Bitcoin is 60,000 dollars. The second term is the
weighted basis, which just means giving more importance to larger buyers who bought more Bitcoin earlier. In simple terms, it’s like counting the price paid by the people who bought the most Bitcoin before others. If we think of the market as a crowd, weighted basis gives bigger buyers a louder voice when we calculate the average price. Economists and analysts use weighted figures to see where most money came in. In this case, the weighted average purchase price was about 81,000 dollars per Bitcoin, while the simple average was around 90,000 dollars per Bitcoin. Either way, the current price near 71,000 dollars is below both averages.
Charles Edwards wrote that at least 80% of corporate treasuries are sitting on losses right now. He warned that history could repeat itself if 2026 looks like 2022, meaning more price movements that could hurt these holders. He also noted that there is no free Bitcoin yield. In other words, you don’t get paid just for holding Bitcoin; you only realize profits if the price goes up when you sell.
Edwards also pointed out that institutions as a group are generally down on their Bitcoin positions. The average purchase price among institutional buyers sits near 78,000 dollars. Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that hold Bitcoin were in the red as well. ETFs are investment funds traded on stock markets that aim to track a group of assets, often making diversification easier for many investors.
But one data point stood out to Edwards. He said that treasury buyers and ETF buyers had flipped into net positive territory by about 200% on the day he posted. In plain language, this means there was a big surge in new buying on that day. He added, “The last time it was this high, Bitcoin was at 90,000 dollars.” He called this development very good news, especially during times of war and uncertainty.
One big buyer, a firm named Strategy, demonstrated how strong demand can be. On the day before the article, Strategy announced it bought 17,994 Bitcoin at an average price of about 71,000 dollars per Bitcoin. This increased Strategy’s total Bitcoin holdings to 738,731 BTC, with a total investment of about 56 billion dollars. At current prices, this large position has an unrealized loss of roughly 6 billion dollars. In other words, if Strategy sold now, it would take a loss close to 6 billion dollars on those purchases, assuming prices stay near 71,000 dollars.
Separately, Strategy’s perpetual preferred stock posted a new high trading volume for 2026, at about 299 million dollars on March 9. BitcoinTreasuries estimated this volume could fund another purchase of approximately 1,360 BTC. These numbers show that the company had spare funding and a strong cash flow to buy more Bitcoin if it chose to do so.
To put these moves in context, some analysts have noted that Bitcoin reserves held on centralized exchanges have fallen to levels not seen since 2019. Centralized exchanges are platforms where people buy and sell Bitcoin using traditional money and other currencies. When more Bitcoin leaves these exchanges and goes into private wallets or institutional holdings, it can indicate strong demand or a lack of selling pressure on exchanges.
Additionally, ETFs have absorbed about 1.3 million Bitcoin since their January 2024 launch. Corporate treasury holdings, collectively, are around 1.1 million BTC. Together, this represents almost 5% of the entire Bitcoin supply. In simple terms, a sizable chunk of the total Bitcoin in existence is now owned by institutions and funds, not just individual investors.
Bitcoin’s price near 71,000 dollars represented a bounce after a small drop from about 67,500 dollars. In the last 24 hours, the price rose more than 4%. Over the last week, the price gained about 6.4%. Over the last two weeks, the move has been more than a twofold increase. Still, compared with a year earlier, the price is down roughly 13%, and it sits around 44% below its all-time high reached in October 2025.
Source tracking: The report focuses on a CryptoPotato article with the headline about “Bitcoin Treasury Cost Basis Hits Floor: 80% of Corporate Holders Now Underwater.” The article notes that large institutions have faced losses as Bitcoin’s price moved, and it highlights how new buying by treasuries and ETFs can intrigue investors and analysts alike.
Definitions and simple explanations
- Bitcoin — a digital money that does not have a central bank. It uses a technology called blockchain, which records all transactions on many computers around the world. For a basic description, see Bitcoin.
- Cost basis — the original price you paid for an asset (like Bitcoin). It helps you calculate gains or losses when you sell. See the Wikipedia explanation: Cost basis.
- Institutional investor — a big investor like a bank, pension fund, or insurance company that pools money to buy securities or other assets. See Wikipedia: Institutional investor.
- Exchange-traded fund (ETF) — an investment fund traded on stock exchanges that aims to track an index or a group of assets, usually with low costs and easy trading. See Wikipedia: Exchange-traded fund.
- Blockchain — a digital ledger technology that records transactions in blocks linked together in a chain, maintained by a network of computers. See Wikipedia: Blockchain.
Note: All prices and figures are based on the report cited by CryptoPotato and discussions from Charles Edwards’ analysis. The situation shows how quickly the market can move and how the ownership of Bitcoin is moving from individual traders to large institutions and funds. For readers trying to understand this topic, think of Bitcoin as a digital asset that can be bought, held for potential price increases, and sold for profit or loss just like any other asset—except it exists only in digital form and is secured by cryptography and public ledgers.
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