On March 23, European capital presented two completely different postures on the same timeline: on one side, publicly traded companies continued to add Bitcoin to their corporate treasury, while on the other, option traders busied themselves reinforcing the "insurance layer." Capital B increased its holdings by 44 BTC that day, signaling that the Swedish listed company H100 aimed to raise its holdings to 3,500 BTC through an acquisition letter. In the options market, the proportion of put contract purchases for BTC and ETH significantly increased, showcasing the strongest defensive adjustment since the beginning of this year. This article will explore the divergence of long-term treasury accumulation and short-term risk-averse sentiment from multiple dimensions, including corporate decision-making, derivative hedging, and leveraged liquidation.

Treasury Expansion Rush: The Bitcoin Ambitions of Capital B and H100

On March 23, the European Bitcoin treasury company Capital B announced the purchase of an additional 44 BTC, with a contract value of approximately 2.7 million euros, bringing its total holdings to 2,888 BTC. According to public information, this scale has ranked it among the top European listed companies by Bitcoin holdings, and this increase continues the rhythm of sustained accumulation from the past period, resembling a planned effort to raise Bitcoin's weight on the balance sheet during a volatility window, rather than an impulsive bet.

On the same day, the Swedish listed company H100 revealed that it had signed a letter of intent for acquisition, planning to raise its Bitcoin holdings target to 3,500 BTC through the merger. The company defined this as a "strategic allocation," emphasizing it was made out of considerations for long-term asset structure and risk diversification. Although the specific acquisition timetable and funding sources have not yet been disclosed, from the target volume perspective, this is a structural shift aimed at moving Bitcoin from "marginal experiment" to "core asset."

These actions are not isolated events but part of a continuous wave of European listed companies incorporating Bitcoin into their corporate treasury assets. Capital B and H100 are more like amplified samples of this trend: the former steadily expands its holdings through continuous accumulation, while the latter accelerates chip gathering through mergers. Both paths point to the same fact—within the asset perspective of certain European enterprises, Bitcoin is transitioning from "speculative target" to "measurable, long-term reserve asset," and being embedded in the mid-to-long-term asset allocation framework.

Options Market Urgently Replenishes Insurance: Significant Increase in Put Buying Proportion

Alongside the increases on the spot market, there is a notable enhancement of defensive sentiment in the derivative market. Statistics show that around March 23, the proportion of put contract purchases in the Bitcoin and Ethereum options market rose significantly, with BTC around 29% and ETH around 37%, representing the most significant defensive position adjustment since December 2025. This indicates that the downward protection is commanding a larger weight in the newly added or swapped options positions.

A research report from BIT (formerly Matrixport) points out that the implied volatility of options has significantly risen recently, and the demand for downward protection has continued to heat up. This reflects the pricing of professional funds moving upward in response to uncertainties about the future price path, and also indicates they prefer to lock in volatility ranges at a higher cost to avoid excessive directional risk exposure during sudden deep pullbacks.

It is noteworthy that this round of increased options defensive positions has not been accompanied by large-scale selling in the spot market. In other words, funds have not chosen to directly "cut and exit," but rather tend to retain their spot or existing long exposures while using strategies like buying put options or adjusting options portfolios to reserve a safety net for themselves. This practice has become increasingly common in more institutionalized phases: spot and contracts are no longer simply oppositional but regarded as allocation tools for the same asset across different risk levels.

Long-term Treasury vs. Short-term Panic: Two Rhythms on the Same Timeline

Publicly traded companies are securing more Bitcoin through accumulation and mergers, essentially making asset allocation decisions that align with close to annual or even longer cycles. Whether Capital B is expanding its treasury to 2,888 BTC or H100 is setting a 3,500 BTC holding goal, these actions, from approval processes to funding arrangements, far exceed daily or weekly trading rhythms and are closer to a slow reconstruction of the weight distribution among cash, debt, and long-term reserves.

In contrast, option investors increasing put protection do not necessarily negate Bitcoin's long-term value, but prioritize accounting for paper pullbacks and margin safety during periods of heightened short-term volatility. In an environment of rising implied volatility combined with macro uncertainties, even accepting the long-term logic, professional funds tend to lean toward a "defend first, strategize for offense later" approach in the short term, using structured positions to reduce the probability of passive stop-loss.

Consequently, we observe at the same moment: enterprises on the spot side and long-term capital are more inclined to absorb declines, incorporating Bitcoin into their treasury to hedge against traditional financial and domestic currency risks; option traders, on the other hand, are busy "buying insurance," viewing premiums as the short-term volatility cost. This dual-track mentality of gradually bottom-fishing while urgently defending creates a typical cycle misalignment divergence, revealing a deeper complexity in the funding structure beneath price appearances, beyond just the K-line trends themselves.

The Warning of Leverage Liquidation: A Contrast Between 40x Gamblers and Slow Money in Treasury

On-chain data provides another observational path. Recent on-chain tracking has revealed that some traders used 40x leverage for long Bitcoin operations, and some of these positions were forcibly liquidated within just one hour at around $67,587. This price range doesn't showcase extreme fluctuations during ordinary trading, yet it is enough to trigger liquidations under high leverage, illustrating the exaggerated amplification effect of leverage multiples on risk exposure during volatility spikes.

Such liquidation cases are often viewed as risk signals by options and market-making funds: when high-leverage longs are swept from the market amidst normal volatility, it indicates that the market's optimism for upward space has been excessively front-loaded, with remaining buying elasticity limited. To avoid becoming part of the next batch of "passive participants," more prudent funds will choose to increase downward protection—either by raising the proportion of put options or adjusting delta-neutral ranges—thus pushing the entire options market toward a more conservative defensive posture.

In sharp contrast is the steady accumulation from the spot treasury. Companies like Capital B and H100 are using their own capital or acquisition considerations, with the ability to absorb risks and sustain funding far exceeding that of high-leverage retail investors. The former can regard a 20% or 30% pullback as a "build discount," while the latter may be liquidated in a chain reaction from a mere 5% fluctuation. The juxtaposition of slow accumulation in spot treasuries and frequent liquidations among high-leverage retail investors highlights the significant differences in funding scale, debt structure, and risk absorption capacity, serving as an important backdrop for the current market emotional fracture: the same candlestick represents entirely different fates for different participants.

In the Shadow of Geopolitical Risks: Bitcoin as Both Shield and Chip

Zooming out to a macro level, the intensifying geopolitical tensions in Europe and globally provide a deep background for this round of corporate accumulation and market defense. For some European listed companies, Bitcoin is viewed as a type of reserve tool that is less correlated with domestic currencies, government bonds, and commercial bank assets, which can add a layer of "defensive shield" to corporate treasuries in extreme scenarios, independently of any single sovereign or banking system. Under this narrative, capital is more willing to view volatility through a lens of several years or even a decade, treating short-term price fluctuations as repositioning costs rather than risks themselves.

However, the same macro uncertainties are often transformed into material for amplified volatility at trading terminals. Participants in options and leveraged products embed factors like geopolitical events and monetary policy expectations into pricing models, enlarging volatility to earn risk premiums—Bitcoin in their hands resembles a high beta chip rather than a "safety cushion" on the balance sheet. The more frequent the macro events, the easier the implied volatility of options can be pushed higher, enlarging the short-term gaming space.

Thus, Bitcoin's identity as a "defensive asset" on corporate balance sheets overlaps with its role as a "volatility bet" at trading terminals. The former emphasizes de-correlation and long-term scarcity, while the latter focuses on volatility and liquidity premiums. It is this intertwining of both narratives that gives the current situation of "coexisting accumulation and defense" its distinct zeitgeist: a more institutionalized and macro-oriented Bitcoin market is being penned by entirely different participants in completely different ways.

Parallel Paths of Accumulation and Defense: Who is Betting on Future Paths?

In summary, the current accumulation of Bitcoin by European listed companies, alongside an increase in downward protection in the options market, does not reflect a contradiction that offsets each other's logic, but rather a natural stratification of different funds along the time dimension and risk preferences. Treasury buyers are betting on whether Bitcoin can attain a higher weight in the monetary and asset system over the next few years or even longer; while options and leveraged traders are concerned with the specific shapes and pullback magnitudes of price curves over the next few days to weeks.

If Bitcoin's price undergoes a deeper correction in the upcoming phase, short-term risk-averse funds have the opportunity to profit and exit through put options or protective combinations, while enterprises and long-term allocators can secure more long-term chips at a lower cost, objectively deepening the trend of chips concentrating towards a few high-capacity accounts. This structural migration of "earning premiums on the upside, taking spot on the downside" typically accelerates only during moments of high volatility and intense panic.

Once the phase of macro uncertainty calms and prices strengthen once more, the transfer of chips accomplished today amid panic and defensiveness is likely to be retrospectively rebranded as another "institutional accumulation during chaos" timing window. For ordinary participants, it may be more critical not to simply align as "optimistic" or "pessimistic," but to recognize their position on this timeline: whether they require options to hedge against downward short-term funds, or if they have the capacity to withstand several rounds of pullbacks as long-term allocators.

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