Crypto treasury model loses its edge as stock premiums fade, DWF reports

The latest DWF Ventures report shows that the premium investors once paid for publicly traded crypto‑exposure companies has largely disappeared. Only four of the 20 largest digital asset treasury (DAT) firms by assets under management now trade above an mNAV of 1, meaning their market value exceeds the value of their crypto holdings.

Key findings

• Four DATs – Bit Digital, Strive, Hyperliquid Strategies and BitMine – still trade above mNAV 1.
• The remaining 16 largest DATs trade at a discount to the value of their crypto assets.
• Since Michael Saylor’s 2020 Bitcoin treasury model, most DAT stocks have underperformed simply holding the underlying cryptocurrency.
• Even DATs that outperform do so by only a small margin compared with direct crypto ownership.

Impact on financing

The model relied on an equity premium: companies could issue shares at a price above the net asset value (NAV) and use the proceeds to buy more crypto without diluting existing shareholders. With shares now trading at discounts, raising equity becomes dilutive, undermining the core financing mechanism.

Recent examples

• Sequans Communications, a French semiconductor firm that launched a Bitcoin treasury strategy last year, sold its remaining 314 BTC, exiting crypto holdings entirely.
• Galaxy Digital warned that the DAT model “critically depends on a persistent equity premium to NAV,” noting that a collapse of that premium could trigger consolidation.
• Standard Chartered highlighted the risk of an “mNAV collapse” as early as September 2025.

Market context

Bitcoin’s price fell from a record above $126,000 in October 2025 to below $60,000 before recovering to around $86,000, contributing to the reduced premium for DAT stocks.