CEO Forecast: Public Companies Could Control 3M BTC by 2026

Public companies are increasing their Bitcoin accumulation at a fast pace, with Bitcoin Magazine CEO David Bailey forecasting that they could collectively hold between 2 and 3 million BTC by the end of 2026.

According to an April 25 X post from Bailey, new companies are announcing BTC treasury strategies nearly every week, which he believes will increase to daily soon.

Bailey’s Prediction

The executive anticipates that more than 1,000 cash-flowing and capital-raising public entities will eventually participate in the Bitcoin buying trend, covering every market, appearing in every index, and using various investment wrappers to gain exposure to the digital asset.

Currently, public firms hold over 700,000 BTC. Bailey outlined two scenarios for how this number could grow. If the crypto’s price remains flat, he expects public company holdings to exceed 1 million BTC by the end of this year.

However, increased liquidity would likely encourage firms to expand their BTC programs even faster if the asset begins to rally. Under that scenario, he said it would be “reasonable” to expect public entities to collectively hold between 2 and 3 million BTC by late 2026.

This outlook is supported by recent data from Bitwise, which reported on April 14 that the number of publicly traded firms holding Bitcoin rose by 16.11% in Q1 2025. Further, companies with the flagship cryptocurrency on their balance sheets increased to 79. This figure marks a 17.91% quarter-over-quarter growth, with 12 new additions during the period.

Bitwise attributed the surge to a recent rule change by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), allowing firms to report BTC at fair market value.

Top Public Traded BTC Holders

Michael Saylor’s Strategy remains the largest corporate holder of the digital asset. The firm’s stash now stands at 538,200 BTC after purchasing an additional 6,556 BTC for $555.8 million earlier this week. In total, the outfit has spent $36.47 billion acquiring the cryptocurrency at an average price of $67,766 per BTC.

Other top holders include mining operations such as MARA Holdings with 47,600 BTC, Riot Platforms with 19,223 BTC, CleanSpark with 11,869 BTC, as well as electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla with 11,509.

Interest is growing globally as well. Japanese investment firm Metaplanet has committed to acquiring 10,000 BTC by the end of 2025. In line with this, it has adopted an aggressive accumulation strategy this year. In April alone, the outfit has made 4 buys of 696 BTC on the 1st,  319 BTC on the 14th, 330 BTC on the 21st, and 145 BTC on the 24th, bringing its total reserve to 5,000 BTC.