The main risk you take when investing in a bitcoin treasury company instead of investing in $BTC directly is the management/key man risk. That is why transparency from and trust in the management of BTCTCs is so important. Great input from @GrafYves on @Metaplanet 👇🏼
I wanted Simon’s post to change my mind.View quoted post on X
It didn’t.
I took some time before writing this because I try to follow Michael Saylor’s philosophy of being cheerful and constructive. But being constructive does not mean staying silent when something is wrong.
Sometimes the best thing you can do for an industry you believe in is call out bad behavior, accept some short-term pain, and make sure we come out stronger on the other side.
So here goes.
I appreciate that @Metaplanet $MPJPY $MTPLF has listened to shareholders and made further changes to the Series 10 compensation structure. But in my view, this is still not good enough.
The changes feel like the bare minimum required to somewhat appease an increasingly frustrated shareholder base rather than a fundamental acknowledgment of what went wrong.
And for me, this ultimately comes down to one thing: TRUST.
Bitcoin Treasury Companies are built on capital allocation, alignment and, above all, trust between management and shareholders.
That trust has been seriously damaged at Metaplanet. I expected much more from the management team. And frankly, I expected more from parts of the Bitcoin community as well. I saw far too much sheep mentality throughout this debate: people defending actions because of their own interests or allegiances rather than objectively asking whether those actions were right.
That is not what Bitcoin should be about.
And yes, @DavidFBailey's role throughout this controversy deserves to be called out. In my view, his defense of conduct that I find indefensible has been deeply disappointing, although unsurprising. But this is bigger than any one person.
If Bitcoin Treasury Companies are going to become a serious part of global capital markets, we need higher standards, not lower ones because the people involved are “on our side.”
Transparency matters. Alignment matters. Governance matters. And most importantly, principles matter.
Short-term criticism may hurt. But ignoring problems because we want to protect the industry will hurt far more in the long run.
Metaplanet can still rebuild that trust. But trust isn’t restored by doing the bare minimum. It is restored through actions, transparency and genuine alignment with shareholders over time.
I want Metaplanet to succeed. I want Bitcoin Treasury Companies to succeed. And that is precisely why I believe we need to hold them to a higher standard. Supporting an industry does not mean defending everything that happens within it.
Sometimes supporting it means being willing to call out what needs to change.
And to the few people who were willing to speak up, ask the uncomfortable questions and stand their ground when it would have been easier to stay silent: thank you.
It matters. And I believe the entire Bitcoin treasury industry will ultimately be stronger because of it.
As @thebtcpharaoh put it:
“History will remember those who defended the principles written into Bitcoin, and those who took the other side.”
I know which side I want to be on.
