Bitcoin treasury companies survived the drawdown. Now they head to Vegas

Historically, the biggest names at Bitcoin Conference 2026 are the politicians and developers. This year, digital asset treasury (DAT) companies are stealing the spotlight, and for good reason. 

After months of brutal drawdowns, nearly all of the firms that loaded their balance sheets with Bitcoin are still standing. Now they are heading to Las Vegas to explain what comes next.

Speaking on TheStreet Roundtable, BTC Inc. head of growth partnerships Sean Hagan said DATs are the storyline he is watching most closely heading into the event.

"I'm personally most interested for the treasury companies to hear kind of their thoughts, especially as we've seen such drawdowns in their equity valuations," Hagan said. "Just to kind of hear their framing and what they're preparing for, hopefully a market turnaround here."

Related: Michael Saylor's Strategy surges as Bitcoin breaks past $78K

What are DATs and why do they matter?

Digital asset treasury companies are public firms that hold Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency as a core balance sheet asset, similar to how a traditional company might hold cash or bonds. 

Michael Saylor's Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) pioneered the model. MetaPlanet brought it to Japan. A wave of smaller firms followed.

The pitch to investors is straightforward. Buy the stock, get leveraged exposure to Bitcoin without holding the coin yourself. 

The risk, at least in theory, is that a prolonged crash would force these companies to sell their Bitcoin to cover obligations, tanking the stock and the underlying asset at the same time.

That scenario never played out. Hagan argues that the reason is structural.

"They're all well overcollateralized, at least from a traditional stance," Hagan said. "There really is a lack of these forced liquidity events across the board with the way that they've been intentionally structured."

Not all DATs are built the same

Surviving the drawdown is the baseline. What separates the leaders is who kept raising capital through it.

Strategy sits at the top. Hagan traced the evolution of their funding playbook, from convertible notes, to convertible notes paired with an at-the-market (ATM) program, to their latest innovation: a perpetual preferred stock offering called STRC that has the market's full attention.

STRC works like a hybrid between a bond and a stock. You get regular income from the dividend, plus exposure to Strategy's Bitcoin-heavy balance sheet. The standard dividend is 11.5%, significantly higher than other dividend-paying stocks and has generated a lot of interest even from traditional finance investors

STRC is also designed to maintain a stable value of $100 per share. This means that investors take on minimal risk for their principal investment. 

For Strategy, it is capital with no expiration date and no forced repayment, which is exactly the kind of funding structure that lets them hold through drawdowns without being squeezed.

On Monday morning, April 20th, Strategy announced that they would be buying an additional 34,164 BTC, bringing their total to 815,061 total Bitcoin, worth over $61 billion at current prices. At time of writing, a single Bitcoin went for $75,625. 

Strategy has acquired 34,164 BTC for ~$2.54 billion at ~$74,395 per bitcoin and has achieved BTC Yield of 9.5% YTD 2026. As of 4/19/2026, we hodl 815,061 $BTC acquired for ~$61.56 billion at ~$75,527 per bitcoin. $MSTR$STRChttps://t.co/NYkkvObeb4

— Strategy (@Strategy) April 20, 2026

Strategy has now also overtaken Blackrock's Bitcoin ETF holdings, and is nearing the goal of 1 million total tokens it Saylor has set for the company.

JUST IN: Strategy reclaimS the lead over BlackRock in Bitcoin holdings.$MSTR: 815,061 BTC$IBIT: 805,516 BTC

The move comes after Strategy announced a 34,000+ BTC purchase this morning, pushing its stack back above IBIT after being overtaken in early 2024.@Andre_Dragoschpic.twitter.com/2Nx03XiS3T

— Bitcoin News (@BitcoinNewsCom) April 20, 2026

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"Firms like MicroStrategy continue to innovate. They continue to have no problem raising capital," Hagan said.

MetaPlanet has been the other standout. Operating in the Japanese market gives it a different set of dynamics, and Hagan said other DATs are paying attention.

"A lot of treasury companies actually kind of look to them for a bit of game planning," he said. 

MetaPlanet's Dylan LeClair and Simon Garovich are both on the Vegas speaker lineup.

Tickets are live at 2026.b.tc with code RTB for 10% off. Hotel bundles on the site also take the RTB code. The conference will last from the 27th-29th of April at the Venetian Conference Center.