A New Bitcoin Treasury Model Just Made Its First Deal

Today’s issue is brought to you by XCE, the first international executive recruitment group with an integrated bitcoin treasury.

Most bitcoin treasury companies add BTC to their balance sheets by issuing paper. XCE just added to its stack by buying a business.

The UK company closed its first acquisition, James Gray Recruitment, a construction and engineering recruiter that came with 8.216 BTC on its own balance sheet.

Most notable for shareholders, XCE didn't sell a single coin to do the deal. Its holdings now stand at 81.157 BTC, about £5.25 million.

Strategy and Strive built the dominant playbook: raise capital through digital credit, then convert it to bitcoin. The alternative is quieter. You buy real businesses that bring cash flow, and sometimes bitcoin, onto the balance sheet.

Nakamoto and Lyn Alden's Orange Juice are chasing the same idea. XCE's deal is one of the first to actually close under that model.

Under the Hood: The balance sheet mechanics

XCE bought the entire share capital of James Gray Recruitment Limited and, in the same transaction, James Gray Engineering Limited.

The headline cash figure needs reading closely. XCE agreed initial cash consideration of £575,000, but about £425,000 was settled by set-off against money the targets' shareholders owed the companies. That left a net cash outflow on completion of approximately £150,000, before transaction costs, with further consideration payable against performance.

XCE didn't sell coins to do the deal, but it did pay for the ones it got. The £531,223 attributed to the bitcoin was funded from the £600,000 subscription announced on 22 September, which sold 39,999,999 new shares at 1.50 pence each.

The rest of the price is contingent. A further £60,000 is due in 2028. The remaining deferred consideration depends on EBITDA in calendar years 2027, 2028 and 2029, and nothing is payable below an agreed minimum threshold. Earn-out shares are capped at £200,000 per year and at 6,666,667 shares per tranche. XCE expects to keep about 75% to 85% of cumulative EBITDA over the earn-out period.

The bitcoin also works as a funding source. Through a credit facility with BitGo, XCE can borrow up to $1.5 million against a portion of its holdings without selling them.

Emerging Strategy: A second treasury model gets its first print

The dominant playbook in Bitcoin treasuries remains still capital markets. Strategy's STRC is a variable-rate perpetual preferred designed to trade near its $100 par; when it sits at or above that level, Strategy can sell new shares in real time and buy bitcoin with the proceeds. Strive's SATA is among the earliest issues from anyone else.

The alternative is to buy the cash flow instead of issuing paper against it. Orange Juice raised $40 million in July to acquire, improve and permanently own US businesses, initially targeting firms with $1 million to $10 million in annual cash flow.

Alden wrote in June that pure-play bitcoin holding companies are persistently reliant on external capital. Nakamoto took a different route in February, buying BTC Inc and UTXO Management for stock alone.

XCE is the smallest of the three by a wide margin, but it has a closed deal and audited filings to show for it. The others are still mostly plans or integrations.

Ellam is sizing the field. He estimates up to 1,000 owner-managed executive and specialist recruiters in the UK and around 10,000 worldwide, many of them profitable but with no natural exit. He says XCE will consolidate the value of those businesses, not their brands.

He called James Gray the first of a series of potential acquisitions in XCE's identified pipeline.

By the numbers

XCE now holds 81.157 BTC across two recruiters with approximately £3.63 million of pro forma revenue. It paid approximately £150,000 in net cash on completion, with further consideration tied to performance, including up to 20 million earn-out shares. The next deal will show just how fast the model can scale.

Learn more about XCE.

A look at the leaderboard

Metaplanet bought a net 1,000 BTC and moved to second with 44,000 BTC. Meanwhile, the price of entry into the top 10 BTC holder globally continues to rise, topping 12,000 BTC as of October 7, 2026.