Crypto’s Big Anchor Buckles as Corporate Treasury Buying Plunges 76%

Bitcoin was supposed to have entered a new era. Wall Street’s embrace, through digital-asset treasuries designed to embed the cryptocurrency into corporate balance sheets, promised stability and growth. Now that institutional anchor is buckling, exposing similar fragilities that have defined earlier market cycles.

Purchases by publicly traded digital-asset treasuries plunged from 64,000 Bitcoin in July to 12,600 in August, and 15,500 so far in September, according to CryptoQuant. The latter marks a 76% slide from the early-summer frenzy. Bitcoin has fallen nearly 6% in the past week along with Ether in a selloff marked by sudden liquidations. Shares in some treasuries that once raised money via so-called PIPE deals have traded down as much as 97% below issue.