Crypto treasury model loses its edge as stock premiums fade: DWF

The crypto treasury model has largely lost its early advantage, with most digital asset treasury (DAT) companies no longer commanding the premiums that allowed them to raise capital and accumulate more crypto without diluting existing shareholders, according to a new report from DWF Ventures.

The report, published Thursday, found that only four of the 20 largest DATs by assets under management trade above an mNAV of 1, meaning their market value exceeds the value of their crypto holdings. They are Bit Digital, Strive, Hyperliquid Strategies and BitMine.

The widespread discounts suggest investors are no longer willing to pay the same premium for crypto exposure through publicly traded companies.

Since Michael Saylor’s Strategy pioneered the Bitcoin treasury model in 2020, most DAT stocks have underperformed simply holding the underlying crypto asset, according to DWF. Even among the DAT stocks that have outperformed, DWF found that the advantage over simply holding the cryptocurrency has generally been small.

The report comes as Sequans Communications, a French semiconductor company that launched a Bitcoin treasury strategy last year, disclosed that it sold its remaining 314 BTC, completing an exit it began by redeeming its convertible debt in May. Sequans now holds no cryptocurrency on its balance sheet.