Europe's Bitcoin Treasury Model Lacks US Scale Despite Growing Interest

Europe's Bitcoin treasury strategies are unlikely to replicate the playbook pioneered by Michael Saylor's Strategy, according to industry executives who point to structural differences between US and European capital markets. Speaking at Paris Blockchain Week 2026, Thomas Vogel, a partner in the Paris and Frankfurt offices of Latham & Watkins, said constraints on issuing financial instruments in Europe differ significantly from those in the US, making a direct replication of the model difficult. "If you issue convertibles in the US, the constraints are not the same as when you issue them out of a French balance sheet or a balance sheet in Europe," Vogel said, pointing to differences in market depth, regulation, and investor behavior.

Alexandre Laizet, who leads Bitcoin strategy at France-based treasury firm Capital B, said European firms are instead looking to local market infrastructure, including French public markets and Luxembourg-based structures, to raise capital tied to Bitcoin exposure. The remarks suggest Europe's Bitcoin treasury model is likely to evolve as a local adaptation rather than a direct copy of Strategy's US playbook.

A growing number of European public companies now hold Bitcoin on their balance sheets, but the market remains fragmented across small and mid-cap names. According to data from BitcoinTreasuries.net, Germany-based Bitcoin Group SE held 3,605 BTC worth about $268 million at the time of writing, though it has not disclosed its average cost or profit and loss.

Capital B held 2,925 BTC at an average cost of $99,932 per Bitcoin, reflecting a roughly 25.6% unrealized loss. In contrast, Sequans Communications, also based in France, held 2,139 BTC, with cost and performance data not disclosed. Other European names show similar pressure from recent price moves, including Netherlands-based Treasury with 1,111 BTC at an average cost of $111,857, representing about a 33.5% unrealized loss, while Sweden's H100 Group held 1,051 BTC at an average cost of $114,615, with an unrealized loss of around 35.1%.

The gap in scale remains significant compared with the US. On Monday, Strategy acquired 13,927 Bitcoin for about $1 billion in a single week, bringing its total holdings to 780,897 BTC—dwarfing the combined European holdings.