Crypto Treasury Stocks Lose Their Premium as Most Trade Below NAV

Only 4 of the 20 largest digital asset treasury (DAT) companies by assets under management trade above an mNAV of 1, according to a DWF Ventures report published Thursday. For a holder, that number is the whole story: when a DAT trades below mNAV, the public market values the company at less than the crypto on its balance sheet, so the coins inside are worth more than the stock that supposedly holds them. The four still trading above 1 are Bit Digital, Strive, Hyperliquid Strategies and BitMine.

The trade that stopped working

Michael Saylor's Strategy pioneered the Bitcoin treasury model in 2020. The pitch was simple: a public company raises equity, buys BTC, and lets shareholders ride the coin through a regulated wrapper. When demand for leveraged crypto exposure was strong, these stocks traded at a premium to their net asset value, and the issuing company could sell more shares, buy more coins, and not dilute existing holders. DWF finds that most DAT stocks have underperformed simply holding the underlying crypto asset since the model launched.

Strategy's mNAV peaked in late 2024 during Bitcoin's rally. That window has closed. Bitcoin fell from a record high of more than $126,000 in October 2025 to below $60,000 before recovering to around $86,000, and the premium DATs once commanded has largely evaporated.

Sequans: 18 months from launch to empty

Sequans Communications, a French semiconductor company, has sold its remaining 314 BTC and now holds no cryptocurrency on its balance sheet. The company launched its Bitcoin treasury strategy in June 2025 after announcing a $384 million sale of equity securities and convertible secured debentures. Less than six months later, in November, it sold 970 BTC to redeem half its convertible debt. Its treasury once held more than 3,200 BTC at its peak.

Sequans began its exit in May by redeeming its convertible debt. After the latest sale, the company has no outstanding debt beyond government-financed research and development obligations, and said the exit will allow it to refocus on its core cellular IoT and software-defined radio businesses.

Satsuma and the rest of the 2026 exits

In late July, Matthew Sigel, head of digital assets research at VanEck, identified at least nine companies that had fully liquidated or abandoned their Bitcoin and crypto treasury strategies in 2026. Other companies to fully liquidate their Bitcoin holdings this year include Bitdeer, Genius Group and Prenetics. MARA Holdings and Empery Digital have also made substantial sales without abandoning their treasury strategies altogether.

UK-listed Satsuma Technology raised 100 million British pounds, about $135 million, in July 2025 through convertible loan notes to expand its Bitcoin treasury, in what was reported at the time as a UK record for a Bitcoin treasury raise. A year later, Satsuma shareholders voted overwhelmingly to return substantially all of the company's capital and cancel its listing. The board subsequently authorized the closure of its trading activities and the sale of its entire 669 BTC position.

What DWF says the data shows

The widespread discounts suggest investors are no longer willing to pay the same premium for crypto exposure through publicly traded companies. DWF's report concludes that the crypto treasury model has largely lost its early advantage, with most digital asset treasury companies no longer commanding the premiums that allowed them to raise capital and accumulate more crypto without diluting existing shareholders.

For a holder, the practical read is that the wrapper is now the cost, not the benefit. Anyone still paying above 1x mNAV for a DAT today is paying extra to hold the coins through a public stock.