What does an investor own?
IBIT is the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF, a Delaware statutory trust. Its prospectus describes shares as fractional beneficial interests in the trust’s net assets, which consist primarily of bitcoin held by a custodian. Its stated objective is to reflect generally the price performance of bitcoin before expenses and liabilities.[1]
Strategy is a company with a bitcoin treasury strategy and an enterprise analytics software business. MSTR common stock gives exposure to the company, not an ownership interest in, or a right to redeem, its bitcoin. Strategy says its common shares are not intended to track the underlying bitcoin in the way a spot exchange-traded product does.[5] A comparison of gross coin balances therefore answers a holdings question, not a question about which security offers the same claim.
How can the holdings change?
IBIT’s prospectus provides for creation and redemption of large baskets by authorized participants, in exchange for bitcoin or cash. Ordinary individual shares are not redeemable with the trust; investors trade them on the exchange.[1] For this reason, an exchange trade in an existing IBIT share should not be read as a matching new purchase of bitcoin by the trust. Holdings changes and secondary-market trading activity are different measurements.
Strategy’s annual report describes acquiring bitcoin using proceeds from common stock and preferred stock issuance, and using debt financing historically. It also describes interest and preferred dividend obligations and the need to manage liquidity.[5] Read the acquisition disclosure together with the financing disclosure. A larger balance on its own does not show how much financing cost was incurred or what happened to an existing shareholder’s economic interest.
Fees are not the same as financing costs
The IBIT prospectus linked below states a sponsor fee accrued daily at an annualized 0.25% of net asset value. Trust expenses and liabilities reduce the bitcoin attributable to each share over time. Market prices for shares can differ from net asset value.[1] Check the current product documents before a transaction rather than assuming a dated guide captures every future fee change.
MSTR is not a fund charging an equivalent sponsor fee. That does not make its exposure cost-free: company expenses, debt and preferred stock claims belong in the analysis. The annual report warns that company assets are subject to liabilities and claims senior to common equity.[5] A direct comparison between a fund fee and “zero fees” for company stock would leave out the financing structure that the common shareholder is exposed to.
Why dilution and valuation need their own work
Aggregate holdings and holdings per share are not interchangeable. New common shares can change the denominator; debt and preferred stock can add senior claims. Strategy’s annual report explains that its Bitcoin Per Share uses assumed diluted shares and that its BTC Yield is not an investment return or income measure for shareholders.[5] Treat that KPI as a defined company metric, not a distribution promised to someone who buys MSTR.
This register does not maintain a synchronized MSTR share count, complete capital structure, securities prices and enterprise valuation model. We therefore do not turn the holdings table into a current premium or discount, a leverage ratio, a bitcoin-per-share valuation or a claim that one security is cheaper. The company’s latest filings and the fund’s latest documents are necessary inputs to that separate exercise. Personal tax treatment and investment suitability are outside this guide’s scope.
What does this mean for Bitcoin ownership?
Strategy appears in the corporate subtotal. IBIT appears in the fund subtotal, not as BlackRock’s corporate bitcoin. The distinction follows the type of entity holding the coins; it does not tell us whether the underlying investors are individuals or institutions. Counting a fund’s bitcoin again as its shareholders’ direct holdings would duplicate the same underlying balance.
Our fund coverage is IBIT-only. The archived total for US spot ETFs overlaps IBIT and is excluded from the ownership calculation. Other funds are missing, while government records are older estimates and lost coins remain an assumption. The resulting “estimated retail” category is therefore a residual, not a measured census of household ownership. The ownership explanation and methodology show the exact boundaries.
A practical checklist for using the comparison
- Record both dates and distinguish an issuer observation from a data retrieval.
- Follow the holdings source separately from the documents explaining the security.
- Do not infer investment returns, same-day purchases or investor identities from a holdings change.
- For Strategy, review financing, dilution and senior claims. For IBIT, review trust expenses, custody risks and the creation/redemption terms.[5][1]
- Keep coverage and lost-coin assumptions constant when comparing ownership snapshots.
Analysts who want to reuse the register can inspect the sample data, methodology and request path. This is a way to evaluate the fields and describe a research need, not a claim that a paid feed or subscription is already available.
Sources
[1] iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF prospectus, 31 July 2025, with 21 November 2025 supplement. Checked 6 Oct 2026.
[5] Strategy 2025 Form 10-K, filed 19 February 2026. Checked 6 Oct 2026.
These primary documents support the structural explanation, not the current holdings values. The dated register records and their holdings sources are linked in the table above.