Author: Deep Tide TechFlow
"This strategy is more attractive than Bitcoin."
GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen sat in front of CNBC's cameras and uttered these words in an almost casual tone. As if he had just decided not to abandon a $500 million investment, but to change the lunch menu.
But in the crypto market, this statement was as devastating as a bomb.
According to data from on-chain analytics firm CryptoQuant, GameStop transferred all of its Bitcoin holdings to Coinbase Prime around January 23. The total transferred was approximately 4,710 BTC, with a market value of about $450 million.
This move, in the eyes of crypto veterans, means only one thing: preparing to sell.
Subsequently, Cohen gave consecutive interviews to The Wall Street Journal and CNBC. During these interviews, he extensively discussed acquisition plans, vowing to transform GameStop into an investment holding platform "similar to Berkshire Hathaway." When reporters pressed him on the Bitcoin strategy, he dropped that line.
Ironic?
From entry to preparing to exit, less than a year.
The End of an Imitation Show
On February 8, 2025, Cohen met with Michael Saylor, co-founder of MicroStrategy.
Saylor was at the peak of his life at that time. He had changed his Twitter bio to "Bitcoin Maximalist," posting long sermons about Bitcoin daily.
He said on a podcast that Bitcoin was a "technological phoenix" that would be reborn from the ashes of traditional finance.
According to a Cryptopolitan report, MicroStrategy held Bitcoin worth over $47 billion at the time.
This meeting sparked market speculation that GameStop might follow MicroStrategy's lead and add Bitcoin to its balance sheet. GameStop's stock price rose 4% that day.
What did Cohen learn? At least he learned how to create hype.
Three months later, GameStop announced its entry. According to a Reuters report, GameStop spent $513 million to buy 4,710 BTC, with an average cost of approximately $108,917 per coin.
The news caused a brief spike in the stock price.
But a closer look at this transaction revealed problems.
According to the company's financial report as of February 1, 2025, GameStop had approximately $4.8 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities. $500 million in Bitcoin? That's only 10.4% of its cash reserves.
This wasn't "All In." This was a test.
And Saylor? During the same period, he leveraged almost MicroStrategy's entire balance sheet, continuously issuing debt to buy more. That's conviction. What Cohen did was speculation.
"Judging from the capital ratio, subsequent actions, and communication style, Bitcoin seemed more like an option rather than a core identity anchor," said an analyst who wished to remain anonymous. "Saylor bet the entire company. Cohen? He bought a little and then did nothing."
In Q3 2025, Bitcoin prices were still high.
GameStop did not increase its holdings.
MicroStrategy was buying almost every week.
The gap was set here.
The Two Sides of the Flywheel
To understand why GameStop is running, one must first understand the rules of this game.
The core logic of the corporate Bitcoin treasury strategy can be summarized in one word: flywheel.
Issue stock to raise money, buy Bitcoin, the rising price pushes up the market cap, a higher market cap allows issuing more stock, buy more Bitcoin, repeat the cycle.
In a bull market, this is a money-printing machine.
From MicroStrategy's first purchase in August 2020 to the end of 2025, its stock price increased 12.29 times. Bitcoin rose about 6.37 times in the same period, while the S&P 500 only rose 115%.
The effect was astonishing. In 2025, nearly 200 publicly listed companies rushed in, stuffing Bitcoin onto their balance sheets. According to K33's H1 report, in the first half of 2025 alone, Bitcoin treasury companies purchased 244,991 BTC, bringing in tens of billions of dollars in inflows.
But the flywheel has a fatal characteristic: it can spin in reverse.
In October 2025, Bitcoin hit an all-time high of approximately $126,000. Then it started to fall.
By the end of December, it was at $87,500. A drop of over 30%.
The flywheel began to work in reverse: coin price falls, market cap falls, stock price falls below net asset value, unable to issue new shares at a premium, no money to buy more coins, investor confidence collapses, market cap continues to fall.
MicroStrategy's market cap plummeted from a premium of about 3 times its Bitcoin holding's net value. By December 2025, analysis on Reddit claimed it was at an 11% discount.
Not a premium. A discount.
The market no longer believed the flywheel would keep spinning.
What did Saylor do at this time?
From December 29, 2025, to January 4, 2026, while Bitcoin was still in a downward trend and the company's stock price had halved from its peak, he announced the purchase of an additional 1,286 BTC.
He stated: "The drop in Bitcoin's price is a gift. Every decline is a buying opportunity."
And Cohen?
He transferred the coins to an exchange.
Faced with paper losses:
MicroStrategy added to its position. GameStop prepared to run.
The difference lies not in financial condition, but in belief.
Three Paths
"The era of premium is over," said John Fakhoury, a senior analyst at Stacking Sats, in a market report. Surviving in this field requires two things: discipline and actual business capabilities.
Those who leave lack the former; those who stay need to prove the latter.
GameStop? At least on the path of Bitcoin treasury, it neither chose to bind its identity long-term nor established a sustainable execution mechanism.
So, what does the future hold?
Based on feasibility speculation, this field may evolve along three paths.
First, consolidation and concentration. The weak exit, the strong harvest. According to Galaxy Digital's 2026 crypto market outlook report, at least 5 Bitcoin treasury companies will sell their Bitcoin holdings or shut down completely this year. Where will these Bitcoins go? Some will be absorbed by ETFs and retail investors, some will be acquired at a discount by giants like MicroStrategy. Eventually, only a few companies may dominate the entire field.
Second, model evolution. The simple "buy and hold" has become ineffective. Some companies are beginning to explore how to generate cash flow without selling, subsequently trying options trading, Bitcoin lending, structured products, etc. But this requires professional capability, which most bandwagoners lack.
Third, narrative downgrade. Bitcoin is downgraded from a "revolutionary corporate asset allocation choice" to "a highly volatile alternative asset." It can be allocated, but not worth All In; it can be tried, but should not be a core strategy.
However, Ryan Cohen is taking a fourth path: a complete pivot.
His goal is to transform GameStop into an enterprise worth over $100 billion, with businesses far beyond selling video games and collectibles. Based on the current market cap of about $11.5 billion, the stock price needs to increase 8.7 times.
Cohen is ambitious about this. To achieve this goal, he is considering acquiring a listed company.
When the Tide Goes Out
Let's zoom out the lens a bit.
Saylor believes Bitcoin is the most important asset innovation in human history, the decline is just noise, and he will buy until his last breath.
Cohen says, thank you, but I see something more attractive.
If Bitcoin rises to $500,000 in five years, Saylor becomes a legend, Cohen becomes "the one who sold at the bottom."
If Bitcoin falls into a long-term bear market, Cohen's timely exit is seen as wise, while Saylor needs to pay about $700 million annually in preferred stock dividends and bond interest.
Who is right? Who is wrong?
Time will tell.
But one thing is certain: GameStop's Bitcoin experiment will most likely become a footnote. Years from now, when people look back on this history, they will remember Saylor, they will remember those true believers who kept buying in the darkest hours.
As for those bandwagoners who come and go in a flash?
The market never lacks such characters. When the tide goes out, they are always the fastest to run.
