U.S. crypto asset supervisor Bitwise says most digital asset treasury (DAT) corporations are prone to be taken over by larger gamers because the sector begins to shrink.
In an X submit on Nov. 24, Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley prompt that it’s nonetheless early days for DATs and that they’re on observe to turn into working corporations that may “purchase and consolidate” smaller non-public crypto companies.
The X submit was in response to Bitwise chief funding officer Matt Hougan’s Nov. 23 thread wherein he mentioned dimension will finally decide which DATs survive. Bigger companies can subject debt, lend crypto, entry deeper derivatives markets and even pursue discounted acquisitions, Hougan wrote.
CoinGecko’s November analysis report revealed that there at the moment are 142 corporations with crypto treasuries, with 76 created in 2025, marking how the development has exploded this 12 months. So-called pure play DAT corporations observe the mannequin of Michael Saylor’s Technique, which started accumulating BTC on its steadiness sheet in 2020. Per CoinGecko’s report, the overwhelming majority of DATs maintain Bitcoin (BTC) as a treasury asset, in comparison with solely 15 for Ethereum (ETH), and 10 for Solana (SOL).
Variety of DATs and holdings 2020-2025. Supply: CoinGecko
Knowledge from DefiLlama exhibits that Technique stays the most important DAT firm, holding $56.6 billion price of BTC at present costs, adopted by Tom Lee’s BitMine, with $10.6 billion in ETH and BTC.
However as DATs function on an indefinite horizon, bills and danger “compound over time,” Hougan identified. Companies that hold growing their crypto-per-share might commerce larger, whereas many others will keep discounted or get purchased out.
“For the previous six months, DATs have risen and fallen collectively. Going ahead, I feel there might be extra differentiation. A couple of will execute properly and commerce at a premium, and lots of will execute poorly and commerce at a reduction,” Hougan wrote.
Rising Concern
Bitwise’s warning provides to a rising checklist of cautionary alerts round DATs from main business gamers. For instance, Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital warned in a July analysis report that the DAT growth dangers turning into “structurally fragile,” evaluating the rise of equity-financed crypto consumers to the Twenties funding belief bubble.
Animoca Manufacturers, a web3 funding and growth agency, additionally warned about related dangers, particularly for corporations utilizing altcoin treasury plans to spice up their inventory costs. In a analysis report additionally revealed in July, Animoca pointed to volatility and the chance of “activist buyers” pressuring corporations to promote belongings when the inventory worth falls beneath the dollar-value of the crypto they maintain, a ratio generally known as market to internet asset worth (mNAV).
Breed VC, an early-stage crypto enterprise agency, issued related warnings over the summer season, saying debt-heavy treasury corporations may hit a “dying spiral” in a protracted downturn, leaving solely the strongest companies capable of purchase the weaker ones cheaply.
