Crypto Treasury Model Loses Edge as DAT Premiums Fade — SkimNews
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- DWF Ventures found in a Thursday report that only four of the 20 largest digital asset treasury (DAT) companies by AUM trade above an mNAV of 1: Bit Digital, Strive, Hyperliquid Strategies, and BitMine.
- Strategy pioneered the Bitcoin treasury model in 2020 under Michael Saylor, but most DAT stocks have since underperformed simply holding the underlying crypto, per DWF.
- Sequans Communications sold its remaining 314 BTC, completing an exit from its Bitcoin treasury strategy that began with redeeming convertible debt in May, and now holds zero cryptocurrency.
- Standard Chartered warned in September 2025 that an "mNAV collapse" could drive widespread consolidation among digital asset treasury companies, even while Bitcoin was booming.
- Galaxy Digital research analyst Will Owens wrote that the DAT model "critically depends on a persistent equity premium to NAV," adding that if the premium flips to a discount, "the model begins to break."
- Strategy's mNAV peaked in late 2024 during Bitcoin's rally, when demand for leveraged BTC exposure was strong, illustrating how premium potential has since reversed.
- Bitcoin fell from a record high above $126,000 last October to below $60,000 before recovering to roughly $86,000, a price swing that has pressured the corporate treasury strategy.
- Galaxy Digital noted that when shares trade below NAV, issuing equity to buy more crypto becomes dilutive and undermines the strategy's core financing mechanism.
Why it matters: The DAT model's core mechanic was issuing stock at a premium to NAV and using proceeds to buy more crypto without diluting shareholders — but with most of the top 20 now trading at discounts, that financing loop is broken. Strategy's mNAV peaked in late 2024 and has since reversed, and Sequans has already exited, showing the playbook that fueled a wave of corporate crypto accumulation is no longer self-sustaining.
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