PUBLIC COMPANIES BOUGHT 5,900 COINS IN THREE MONTHS — 89,000 IN A SINGLE MONTH LAST YEAR — THE BUYER THAT NEVER BLINKED STOPPED

The treasury companies were supposed to be the buyer that never blinked. Sell stock, buy bitcoin, repeat. For three months that machine has barely turned over. Public companies added about 5,900 bitcoin, Glassnode said in its September 16 note, against 89,000 in July of last year alone. That is not a slowdown in the pace. That is the marginal buyer sitting on his hands for a quarter.

The usual excuse is that they are underwater. On September 16 they were: Glassnode put the group’s average cost near $80,500, about 6% above the price that day. But bitcoin has since climbed back to roughly what they paid, so the crowd now sits near break-even. And it still is not buying. A buyer who pauses while losing money is one story. A buyer who stays paused after the loss is erased is a louder one: the permanent bid was never permanent. It had a mood, and the mood left.

So the people who told you corporations would soak up every coin forever were selling you their own book. Strip them out and ask who is left to buy.