Bitcoin treasury governance for public companies
“Never sell” was never a policy.
When a public company sells bitcoin, someone approved it, someone disclosed it, and the proceeds went somewhere. Satoshi Institute writes the board-approved policy that settles all of that in advance.
Fixed scope · Fixed fee · Built on four published governance standards
mNAV helps you build the position. We help you govern it.
What changed
Selling is now part of the model.
In late May 2026 the largest corporate holder began selling bitcoin to fund preferred dividends. In October, Metaplanet disclosed that it had sold 10,000 BTC and bought 11,000 during the third quarter. Neither was a failure. Both were decisions, and a decision at a public company needs someone authorized to make it and a record that they did.
Most treasury policies were written for buying. They say how much to hold and where to keep it. They are silent on when a sale is permitted, who signs, and what the market is told.
Engagements
Two ways to start.
Neither is a consulting retainer. Each ends with documents your board can adopt and your auditor can file.
Bitcoin Sale Policy Sprint
$12,500 fixed · 15 business days
What you get
A board-ready policy that settles when bitcoin may be sold, who approves it, how it is disclosed and how the proceeds are used.
Start here if
A sale is plausible in the next year, or the company has said publicly that it does not sell.
See the SprintDefensibility Snapshot
$5,000 fixed · 10 business days
What you get
A 5–7 page memo grading your treasury posture on five dimensions, with the fixes that matter most.
Start here if
You want an outside read before committing to anything.
See the SnapshotSix common moments
The moment you are in.
A governance gap usually stays invisible until something specific exposes it. These are the common ones.
Moment 01
The sale you said would never happen
The company has said publicly that it does not sell. A preferred dividend, a covenant or a debt maturity now says otherwise, and the policy has no clause for it.
Addressed by the Sale Policy SprintMoment 02
The board question you couldn't document
An independent director asks how the allocation was sized. The answer exists in a CFO's head, an email thread, and a deck — but not in a signed, dated decision record the auditor can pull next quarter.
Addressed by RARTAMoment 03
The position that outgrew its approval
The board approved a 1% allocation. Price appreciation made it 6% of the balance sheet. Nothing in the original mandate tells the committee whether to rebalance, hold, or re-approve — and the next 10-Q is six weeks out.
Addressed by RARTAMoment 04
The drawdown that exposed a missing protocol
A 38% drawdown lands on a Friday. The treasury team has no pre-committed response taxonomy, no escalation authority chart, and no hour-by-hour playbook. The decisions get made anyway — without a defensible audit trail.
Addressed by SRFMoment 05
The diligence that surfaced a governance gap
An acquirer's diligence team asks for the treasury policy, the custody architecture rationale, the tax-lot methodology, and the sell-decision governance memo. Three of the four don't exist as standalone documents.
Addressed by BEOLMoment 06
The asset request the committee can't adjudicate
A founder, a vendor, or a peer company pushes a non-Bitcoin reserve asset onto the agenda. The risk committee has no written eligibility test to apply — so the question becomes a debate instead of a documented decision.
Addressed by RAES
None of them fits cleanly? A 30-minute scoping call establishes which gap is open.
The standards
Four published standards sit under the work.
They are public, versioned and free to read. Calibrating them to your balance sheet is the paid work.
A daily briefing for finance leadership.
What happened in corporate bitcoin treasuries, what it triggers, and what to document. More than 200 issues since November 2025. No hype.
If you are not ready to talk
Treasury v2 Policy Checklist
The checklist CFOs and audit committees use to pressure-test allocation authority, drawdown protocols, custody and disclosure before the next meeting.
Company email required · No sales call triggered
When the position is already real
Thirty minutes. Confidential. Not a sales call.
A scoping call establishes whether the Sprint or the Snapshot fits, or whether neither does. If neither does, you will hear that on the call.
Book a scoping callNDA on request