Crypto Treasury Model Loses Edge as Investors Reassess Premiums

The crypto treasury model, pioneered by Michael Saylor's Strategy in 2020, has lost its initial advantage. According to DWF Ventures' report published Thursday, most digital asset treasury companies no longer command the premiums that allowed them to raise capital and accumulate more crypto without diluting existing shareholders.

The report found that only four of the 20 largest DATs by assets under management trade above an mNAV of 1. These companies are Bit Digital, Strive, Hyperliquid Strategies, and BitMine. This suggests investors are no longer willing to pay the same premium for crypto exposure through publicly traded companies.

The widespread discounts imply that the model has proved harder to sustain this year, with Bitcoin falling from a record high of over $126,000 in October to below $60,000 before recovering to around $86,000. Even among the DAT stocks that have outperformed, DWF found that the advantage over simply holding the cryptocurrency has generally been small.

This trend is not new. Standard Chartered raised the issue of falling mNAVs in September 2025, warning that an 'mNAV collapse' could lead to widespread consolidation among digital asset treasury companies. Galaxy Digital also sounded a similar warning last year, arguing that the DAT model 'critically depends on a persistent equity premium to NAV.'