*

Shares in bitcoin hoarders tumble to multi-month lows

*

Strategy and Metaplanet ( MTPLF ) slide from summer peaks

*

Spooked retail investors compound downturn, analyst says

By Tommy Reggiori Wilkes and Elizabeth Howcroft

LONDON/PARIS, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Companies that

accumulate and hoard bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have

suffered sharp drops in their share prices as the crypto

euphoria that has gripped investors recedes.

These companies sell shares or issue debt to raise cash for

buying crypto held on their balance sheets. Investors have been

snapping up their listed shares, encouraged by bitcoin's

record highs this year as U.S. President Donald Trump embraces

the sector.

Shares in Michael Taylor's Strategy, the best known

of these bitcoin buyers, have fallen from $457 in July to $328

this week. That is the lowest since April and cuts its gains

this year to 13%.

Japanese bitcoin treasury company Metaplanet ( MTPLF ) this

week hit its weakest since May. The shares are down more than

60% from their June peak but remain 105% up so far this year.

Small companies that have transformed the fortunes of their

shares - and their stock-owning executives - simply by

announcing a sudden shift in strategy to bitcoin-buying have

also taken a hit.

The scale of the reversal is "entirely unsurprising", said

Kaiko analyst Adam McCarthy.

"These are all essentially volatility plays as they are

leveraged exposure ... so if bitcoin is down 3%, they're down a

multiple of that, sometimes four or five times as much," he

said.

"For retail users it's a shock a lot of the time, so it

probably compounds the downturn when some sell out of fear."

Smarter Web Company, a UK business that built

websites, watched its share price soar after announcing a

bitcoin-buying strategy. The stock is down 70% since June.

Shares in Alt5 Sigma ( ALTS ), which has been buying tokens

in Trump's World Liberty Financial crypto venture, have tumbled

by 63% from their June high.

Bitcoin-hoarding has spread to other cryptocurrencies, too,

with more companies buying up ether and lesser-known

digital currencies.

"Until retail users realise that these firms aren't buying

into crypto, rather they're selling a crypto narrative to pump

their equity value, this circle will persist," Kaiko's McCarthy

said.

Shares of Peter Thiel-backed BitMine and gaming

media network GameSquare ( GAME ) rocketed this year after they

announced plans to buy ether. Both have slumped by about 67%

since July.