Key Takeaways
While Bitcoin continues to attract institutional interest, experts like Willy Woo believe that ETF and corporate holdings could leave the asset vulnerable to centralized control.
Following a rocky phase, the crypto market has been regaining some momentum again, with the market’s leading digital assets posting fresh gains. In fact, according to CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin [BTC] climbed by 2.53% in just 24 hours, with the crypto hitting $121,278 on the charts.
Thanks to these developments, conversations around Bitcoin’s potential to surpass traditional benchmarks like the U.S. dollar and gold have resurfaced again.
“The perfect asset,” but at a cost?
Veteran analyst Willy Woo described Bitcoin as “the perfect asset” for the next millennium. And yet, he believes a warning is due. According to him, it cannot rival established stores of value without a substantial influx of capital.
Speaking at the Baltic Honeybadger conference in Riga, Latvia, on 10 August, Woo said,
“The thing is, you don’t get to change the world unless this monetary asset — in my opinion, the perfect asset for the next thousand of years — does not get to do its job unless capital flows in and gets big enough to rival the US dollar.”
Spot Bitcoin ETFs have played a role in this inflow trend too. For example – Data from Farside Investors highlighted $403.9 million in net inflows on 8 August – A sign of steady institutional interest.
Structural risks in treasuries and ETFs
Naturally, Woo tempered his optimism with caution. He pointed to the opaque debt structures of Bitcoin treasury firms, warning that weaker ones could “blow up” in a downturn, triggering steep losses.
Woo added,
“No one’s really publicly looked deeply into the debt structuring, so I absolutely think the weak ones will blow up, and people can lose a lot of money.”
Woo also flagged altcoin treasuries adopting similar strategies, potentially “creating another treasury bubble.” He stressed that a sharp market correction or prolonged bear phase could expose over-leveraged treasuries, pushing coins back into circulation.
His word of caution echoed previous concerns about the risks of liquidity concentration and over-reliance on ETFs and corporate treasuries quietly shaping market fragility. The same can be backed on the quantitative front too.
Consider this – According to Fidelity Digital Assets, the number of public companies holding over 1,000 BTC jumped from 24 towards the end of Q1 2025 to 35 so far in Q3. That is the steepest quarterly rise on record.
Source: X
Also, Sentora’s data showed that Bitcoin treasury holdings climbed from 1.2 million BTC in 2024 to over 1.86 million BTC this August.
What is he so worried about?
Finally, Woo warned that the rapid pace of Bitcoin treasury adoption could face a harsh reality check. Especially if the market records a sharp correction or enters a prolonged bear phase.
He added,
“What happens to the bear market? Who’s swimming naked and how many coins get slapped back out into the market?”
He believes that the growing reliance on Spot Bitcoin ETFs, pension funds, and corporate treasuries could centralize Bitcoin in institutional hands. This would leave it vulnerable to potential state-level interference. Especially since deep-pocketed investors still prefer these channels over self-custody.
