Only 4 of the top 20 crypto treasury stocks trade above the value of their holdings, DWF Ventures found.
The firm also found that most top treasuries have trailed the tokens they hold since inception. These digital asset treasuries (DATs) are listed companies built around buying and holding crypto.
Why Crypto Treasury Stocks Lost Their Shine
Market-value-to-net-asset-value (mNAV) compares a DAT’s market capitalization with the value of its crypto holdings. A reading below 1 means the shares trade at a discount to those holdings.
DWF’s September 24 report puts Bit Digital at the top with 1.49x, using data as of September 21. Strive, Hyperliquid Strategies and BitMine follow at 1.21x, 1.17x and 1.02x.
Strategy, the largest corporate Bitcoin (BTC) holder, sits at 0.97x on DWF’s count. SovereignAI ranks last at 0.22x. DWF noted that these mNAV figures exclude debt and preferred stock.
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The report blames these discounts on a shrinking access premium. Institutions once paid extra for DAT shares because regulated funds struggled to own crypto directly.
That door has since opened, as institutions can now use exchange-traded funds (ETFs), regulated private funds and custody services.
“However, as SEC proposed to quicken the listing process by over 75% for ETFs, the access premium has reduced significantly over the years. Institutional buyers have a lot more assets to choose from for ETFs, regulated private funds and custodian infrastructure allowing for direct deployment – which was not possible before,” the report read.
A Catch-Up Trade With a 3-Month Shelf Life
Since inception, DWF found investors were mostly better off holding the token. The few DATs that beat their assets did so by margins too thin for the risk.
Shorter windows look different, with shares outrunning tokens by 15% to 40% since July. Over that span, mNAV ratios rose from lows of 0.5x to 0.8x to between 0.7x and 1.0x.
Hyperliquid Strategies (PURR), which holds Hyperliquid (HYPE), gained 31% more than HYPE. Zcash (ZEC) treasury Cypherpunk Technologies (CYPH) beat its token by 38%. Tokens per share barely moved, so DWF read the rally as sentiment. Beyond 3 months, however, the token stayed the better bet.
Going forward, DWF expects boards and capital structures to increasingly shape how DATs are valued. It pointed to Strategy, which ranks debt holders first and carries steady preferred dividend obligations.
Those payments could force Bitcoin sales that dilute shareholders, the report warned. Once confidence cracks, DWF said, Strategy’s mNAV could enter a downward spiral.
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Source: BeInCrypto
