Tian Ruixiang Holdings Ltd (Nasdaq: TIRX) said it has entered a strategic agreement under which an unnamed investor would contribute 15,000 Bitcoin in exchange for an equity stake in the company.
At Bitcoin’s (BTC) price of about $75,000 at the time of writing, the proposed contribution would be valued at about $1.1 billion.
Tian Ruixiang said the agreement also includes a strategic partnership focused on artificial intelligence and crypto initiatives, including the creation of a joint innovation lab to develop AI-powered trading and risk management tools, blockchain infrastructure, decentralized applications and products spanning layer-2 networks, DeFi and nonfungible tokens.
The company described the counterparty only as a global digital asset investor with experience across cryptocurrency and technology markets, and did not disclose transaction timing, custody arrangements or settlement mechanics.
Tian Ruixiang was founded in 2010 and operates as an insurance brokerage in China, providing property and casualty insurance services through its subsidiaries.
The company’s shares rose about 190% in early trading following the announcement, according to Yahoo Finance, giving it an intraday market capitalization of about $9.5 million, far below the implied value of the proposed Bitcoin transaction.
If the deal is completed and Tian Ruixiang acquires 15,000 Bitcoin, it would rank as the world’s eighth-largest publicly traded Bitcoin treasury company.
By comparison, US-based crypto exchange Coinbase holds 14,548 Bitcoin, while Riot Platforms, a Bitcoin mining company, holds 18,005 BTC, according to data from BitcoinTreasuries.NET.
The news follows a Jan. 30 disclosure in which Tian Ruixiang said it was in advanced talks to acquire an unnamed Hong Kong–based insurance brokerage focused on AI- and crypto-enabled wealth management.
Related: Saylor’s Strategy buys $75.3M in BTC as prices briefly dip below $75K
Bitcoin treasury companies in the red as market weakens
Nearly 200 publicly traded companies currently hold Bitcoin on their balance sheets, with combined holdings of about 1,135,671 BTC. But with Bitcoin’s recent pullback, several companies that built treasury positions are sitting on unrealized losses.
Strategy, which began buying Bitcoin in August 2020, reports an average acquisition price of $76,052 per Bitcoin, leaving its holdings underwater as Bitcoin slipped to below $75,000 at the time of writing.
A more recent entrant, Twenty One Capital, co-founded by Jack Mallers, launched its treasury in April and holds 43,514 Bitcoin, making it the third largest Bitcoin treasury. The company last disclosed an average acquisition cost of $87,280 per Bitcoin.
While Bitcoin treasury companies initially drew strong attention from Wall Street, their valuations have struggled as the broader crypto market has weakened.
In December, Altan Tutar, co-founder and CEO of crypto yield platform MoreMarkets, told Cointelegraph that most digital asset treasury companies are unlikely to survive in 2026, predicting that altcoin-focused treasuries will fail first.
Ryan Chow, co-founder of the Bitcoin platform Solv Protocol, agreed, saying many Bitcoin treasury companies are “unlikely to survive the next downturn.”
Magazine: A ‘tsunami’ of wealth is headed for crypto: Nansen’s Alex Svanevik
