Investment banks come out on top in bitcoin treasury bubble

Wall Street has found its favorite Bitcoin trade and it isn’t buying Bitcoin.

The BTC treasury boom is turning bust, with the most popular bitcoin treasury companies are down 50% over the last six months, but one group in particular has profited despite the drooping sentiment.

A few months removed from the euphoria of the bitcoin treasury peak, it’s becoming clear that the banks were one of the only clear winners in the whole saga. Case in point: bankers have likely minted anywhere from a quarter to half a million dollars just from Strategy’s fundraising events – and that’s only in 2024 and 2025. 

Investment banks TD Securities, Barclays Capital, Cantor Fitzgerald, Morgan Stanley, and many more have quietly hauled in hundreds of millions in fees running Strategy’s (NASDAQ: MSTR) firehose of common equity, preferred shares, and convertible notes.

Since 2021, Strategy has issued at-the-market (ATM) offerings, a fundraising vehicle that allows the company to perpetually sell its stock on the open market, for tens of billions of dollars. Per SEC filings, between January 1, 2024 and September 31, 2025 alone, Strategy sold $28.23 billion worth of stock, mostly from its common stock MSTR, but also from its new dividend-paying preferred shares STRK, STRF, STRC, and STRD in 2025.

Strategy plumbs ATMs and other fundraising vehicles to purchase bitcoin in an effort to drive up MSTR’s price so that they can raise more capital. But behind the scenes with each new capital raise, whether an ATM or convertible note, a small circle of investment banks books recurring revenue.

Barclay’s and TD have been front and center in the action. Per SEC filings, Barclay’s, TD, and other banks clip “up to [2%]” on every dollar of Strategy stock they sell. 

If we take a 1-2% fee range, investment banks could have conceivably earned $280-$560 million from Strategy’s ATMs in 2024 and so far in 2025. 

It’s been a good deal all around for all Strategy participants, especially the banks. Strategy is up 838% over the past 5 years (albeit down -40% in 2025).

For 2025's freshman class of bitcoin treasury companies, though, Strategy's strategy hasn't netted the same success for investors so far, but the banks are doing alright.

Headlines by Blockspace

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