Has the pipeline model for Bitcoin Treasury companies failed? The fall in share prices for two notable recently closed deals – Kind (Naka) and Striving (ASST) suggests as much.
A pipe, or private equity investment, is a financing mechanism in which institutional investors buy shares directly from a publicly traded company at a predetermined price, usually below market value, allowing the company to raise capital at a faster rate without the lengthy and costly process of a traditional public offering.
Pipeline transactions are often used by companies undergoing reverse mergers or going public through a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC), and have recently become a preferred financing strategy among Bitcoin Treasury companies looking to quickly expand their bitcoin holdings.
Despite their best efforts, recent examples suggest that the pipeline model is not only struggling to deliver shareholder value but also inducing investor capital at a rapid rate.
This feature is part of Coindesk’s Bitcoin Treasury Theme Weeksponsored by Genius Group.
A case study for pipe
The company to embrace a pipe is the healthcare company KindlyMD (NAKA), which completed a reverse merger in May 2025, resulting in Treasury company Nakomoto becoming a wholly owned subsidiary and prominent Bitcoin proponent David Bailey becoming CEO. Pivotal to this transaction was a pipeline financing deal that raised $563 million in gross proceeds to mostly fund bitcoin purchases.
In addition, the company released a $200 million senior secured convertible Note on Yorkville Advisors, which was later closed and replaced by One more note. It took the total financing for NAKA is $763 million.
The terms of the pipeline are as follows: the initial round raised $ 510 million at $ 1.12 per share in May, followed by a Additional $ 51.5 million at $5 per share in June.
These funds were deployed to accumulate Bitcoin, with Naka purchasing 21 BTC for $2.3 million in July and an additional 5,743 BTC for $679 million in August.
Despite Bitcoin’s rapid accumulation, the company’s market performance has not followed suit.
Since the reverse merger back in May, Naka’s stock has fallen more than 95% from a high of $30 to the current $0.80. The market net asset value (MNAV) slipped below 1, indicating that the market now values the company less than the value of its underlying bitcoin and assets.
The second company to adopt a pipeline strategy is Strive (ASST), founded by Vivek Ramaswamy, which merged with asset entities through a spac deal announced in May and completed in September.
Strive raised $750 million in gross proceeds through a pipeline priced at $1.35 per share, representing a 121% premium to ASST’s pre-merger share price.
The proceeds funded the purchase with 5,885 BTC, and the structure is completely debt-free. In addition to the pipeline, Strive announced a $450 million equity shelf offering and a $500 million share buyback plan intended to prevent dilution.
The company also painted an all-stock deal to acquire another Bitcoin Treasury Company Trading at a discount to the value of its stack-Semler Scientific and 5,048 Bitcoin.
If approved, the Pending acquisition of Semler Scientific will increase Strive’s Bitcoin holdings to 11,700 BTC. Despite these moves, Asst’s stock performance has already mirrored that of Naka, which has fallen more than 90% from its all-time high in May, as high as $12, to now trade around $1 per share. Similar to Naka, Asst’s MNAV is just below 1.
Caution is the word going forward
The desultory performance of Naka and Asst calls into question at least two other Bitcoin Treasury SPAC/Pipe deals that have yet to be completed.
One of them is the merger between twenty one capital (XXI) – led by Jack Mallers – and Cantor Equity Partners (CEP). The firm announced its pipeline transaction in April, making it the third largest Bitcoin Treasury firm with holdings of 43,514 BTC. As with previous pipeline-driven deals, the initial post-merger posting sent CEP’s share price higher from $10 to $60, but shares have since retreated to around $20.
In addition, the Bitcoin Standard Treasury Company (BSTR), led by Adam Back, plans to go public through a spac merger with another Cantor Vehicle (CEPO) and aims to raise a total of $ 3.5 billion, with up to $ 1.5 billion through a pipeline, expected to launch in Q4.
CEPO shares sank to $16 in the initial uproar after the announcement and have since retreated to the $10.50 area.
In short, what these deals show is that while pipes are a way to fast track financing for Bitcoin Treasury companies, they are also a potentially risky investment that warrants caution.
