Crypto asset management firm CoinShares ( CS ) said the digital asset treasury (DAT) bubble has largely burst, with some companies trading at 3x to 10x their market net asset value (mNAV) in summer 2025 now back to around 1x or less, in a sharp reset for a trade that once priced as a token growth engine.
The next step depends on behavior: either falling prices trigger a disorderly selloff, or companies hold their balance sheets and wait for a recovery, CoinShares head of research James Butterfill wrote in a Thursday blog post.
Butterfill said he is leaning toward the latter, citing an improving macro backdrop and the possibility of a rate cut in December that could support crypto.
mNAV compares a company’s enterprise value (EV), which is a company’s market value plus debt minus any cash, with the market value of its bitcoin holdings. Strategy, the largest corporate owner of bitcoin, currently has an mNAV of around 1.13.
The bigger challenge is structural, according to Butterfill. Investor tolerance for dilution and concentration of single assets without real operating earnings is waning after a wave of companies used public markets to build outsized treasuries without building sustainable businesses, damaging credibility.
There are early signs of a healthier approach as stronger companies add bitcoin as disciplined financial and currency management, the report said.
The DAT concept isn’t dead so much as being reclassified, with investors likely to draw clearer lines between speculative treasury wrappers, disciplined treasury strategies, token investment vehicles and strategic companies, Butterfill said.
The next generation will need fundamentals, credible companies, tighter governance and realistic expectations, with digital assets as a tool, not the whole story, the report added.
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