DWF Ventures: Crypto Treasury Stocks Still Lag Behind Holdings
DWF Ventures points to lower mNAVs at major DATs like Strategy and Bit Digital. ETFs and other regulated crypto access routes are putting pressure on the premium for publicly traded treasury stocks.
Key Takeaways
- DWF Ventures says crypto treasury stocks are still trading below the value of the crypto they hold.
- According to the analysis, 16 of the 20 biggest digital asset treasuries trade below their holdings value, measured by mNAV.
- DWF points to a smaller access premium because of ETFs, private funds, and custody services as the reason for the discount.
DWF Ventures says crypto treasury stocks are still worth less than the crypto they hold. According to the company, 16 of the 20 biggest digital asset treasuries trade below the value of their holdings, while most have also lagged behind the tokens they own since launch.
mNAV Under Pressure
The analysis centers on market-value-to-net-asset-value, or mNAV. That ratio compares a DAT's market value with the value of the crypto on its balance sheet. An mNAV above 1 means investors are paying more than the value of those holdings, while a reading below 1 points to a discount.
In DWF's September 24 report, Bit Digital tops the list at 1.49x, based on data through September 21. Strive, Hyperliquid Strategies, and BitMine follow at 1.21x, 1.17x, and 1.02x, respectively. Strategy, the largest corporate Bitcoin holder, comes in at 0.97x. SovereignAI sits at the bottom at 0.22x. DWF notes that these figures exclude debt and preferred shares.
Less of an Access Premium
According to DWF, the discount on many of these stocks can partly be explained by a shrinking access premium. In the past, institutional investors paid extra for DAT shares because regulated funds could not hold crypto directly. That playing field has now gotten broader thanks to ETFs, regulated private funds, and custody services.
That lines up with the broader shift in the market: institutional access to bitcoin is increasingly happening through funds and custody instead of through a publicly traded treasury vehicle. As a result, the valuation of these stocks comes under pressure faster when the underlying coin price or the financing structure runs into trouble.
The report also points out that the SEC previously wanted to speed up the ETF listing process, which has further reduced that access premium. For investors, there are now simply more ways to get crypto exposure than through a publicly traded treasury vehicle.
Why This Matters for Investors
For European crypto followers, this shows that the valuation of treasury stocks depends not only on the underlying coins, but also on how capital and debt are structured inside a company like this. DWF expects that balance between holdings, financing, and shareholder structure to become even more important in valuing DATs. That makes big names like Strategy especially relevant, because the capital structure there can matter more than it would in a simple balance sheet with only crypto.
