Strategy bitcoin sales shine light on faltering crypto hoarding companies

By Hannah Lang

NEW YORK, July 13 (Reuters) - A move by Michael Saylor's bitcoin stockpiling company Strategy to authorize more bitcoin sales has once again shone a spotlight on a clutch of public crypto hoarding companies, which have been buffeted by falling token prices.

Strategy's shares briefly bounced on Friday after analysts blessed a plan announced late last month, which included a share repurchase program and authorized as much as $1.25 billion ​in bitcoin sales.

The company, whose shares soared in late 2024 through most of last year before hitting two year lows last month, has already sold about $218 million in bitcoin this year to fund dividends and replenish its U.S. dollar reserves.

The sales have again raised questions about the viability of dozens of copycat "digital asset treasury" companies, or DATs, which boomed last year thanks to market exuberance over U.S. President Trump's crypto-friendly policies.

DATs offer investors crypto exposure through regulated public companies, and the ability to leverage returns. But the business model is highly sensitive to falling token prices, which can erode the value of their holdings, hamstring fundraising and undermine the leveraged returns that attract investors in the first place.

As bitcoin, the most widely-held cryptocurrency, has nosedived as much as 33% this year as markets have absorbed geopolitical tensions, surging oil prices and a Federal Reserve revamp under new chair Kevin Warsh, so too have the fortunes of these companies.

Here are four graphics detailing their rise and fall.

MARKET CAPITALIZATION

The market capitalization of DAT companies peaked last July, when the crypto sector as a whole reached $4 trillion in market value, only to hit a trough in November after global trade fears sparked a record $19 billion liquidation of crypto positions.

DATs have been unable to stage a full recovery so far in 2026 as the crypto market has remained in the doldrums.

TOKEN HOLDINGS UNDERWATER

Many DAT companies last year traded at a premium to their crypto holdings because investors believed they could use their access to equity and debt funding to purchase more tokens.

Starting late last year, the companies' aggregate market value relative to the net asset value of their crypto holdings - a metric known as mNAV - fell below 1, meaning the companies were trading at a discount to their holdings.

That's a major problem, because most DATs depend on their shares trading above their net asset value in order to attract new investors. Strategy's mNAV fell below 1 for the first time late last month.

DAT executives, though, have said their success will be rooted in their ability to make smart investing decisions and are looking for new ways to boost shareholder value, Reuters previously reported.

AGGREGATE WEEKLY TRADING VOLUME

The aggregate weekly trading volume in DAT shares peaked in August last year, according to data from blockchain data provider Artemis Terminal, but has seesawed since. Weekly trading volume hit a low in February, after bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies sold off on the news Warsh would be nominated for Fed chair.

Analysts believe Warsh will push to shrink the Fed's balance sheet, a headwind for risk assets like cryptocurrencies as such a move would reduce financial system liquidity.

TOKEN HOLDINGS

Strategy holds by far the most crypto, even after its bitcoin sales this year. BitMine Immersion Technologies, which hoards ether, the biggest cryptocurrency after bitcoin, has the second largest stockpile.

Along with Strategy, several other crypto treasury companies have sold a portion of their crypto holdings this year.

Nakamoto Inc, which refers to itself as a bitcoin operating company, sold about 5% of its bitcoin holdings in March and another approximately 600 bitcoin in June.

All the companies referenced here declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment.

(Reporting by Hannah Lang in New York; editing by Michelle Price and Nick Zieminski)