11: Down 13%, smarter than ever

Marc Baumann and Sangam Bharti

Nov 11, 2025

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“I realized that the central banks around the world were using a trick to manage the debt. And that trick was the debasement of currency... It was correlated 97.5% with the returns of the NASDAQ and 90% to the returns of crypto.”
— Raoul Pal in the podcast with Fiftyone

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The total market capitalisation of digital asset treasuries (holding BTC, ETH, SOL, and other assets) has declined to approximately $61B, down from $70B last month (-13%). At the same time, many of these companies are seeking to raise capital at valuations that now exceed their current market worth.

Ethereum treasury firms (DATs) like BitMine, ETHZilla, and SharpLink are underperforming ETH itself, facing a structural stress test. This is not stopping Bitmine. It now holds 2.9% of the total Ethereum supply with 3,505,723 ETH (~$12.3B). Excluding mega-holders like Strategy, Coinbase, and Tesla, BitMine now represents ~20% of the active DAT market.

Implication: Despite market contraction, ETH-focused treasuries are expanding faster than BTC-based ones, signalling a rotation toward yield-bearing and tokenisation-linked assets (ETH, SOL).

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Also this week:

Strategy shifts to preferred stocks
Vivek Ramaswamy’s Strive raises $160M
Bitmine owns 1 out of 34 ETH

And much more.

Let’s dig in.

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Market Moves

Crypto activity slowed this week: total market cap ticked up slightly to $3.48T, but trading volume collapsed ~20%, signalling lower liquidity and fewer catalysts. On balance-sheet exposure, Bitcoin treasuries are steady, total BTC held in treasuries and the share held by public companies barely changed, and BTC price slipped only modestly (~0.4%). Ethereum shows a mixed picture: circulation rose slightly while ETH held in reserves fell ~0.8%, yet public-company ETH holdings rose 2%, suggesting corporates are still increasing direct ETH exposure even as overall institutional reserves retrench. Most telling: BTC and ETH ETF AUM fell sharply (-5.9% and -9.6%), which helps explain the volume drop and puts near-term pressure on price discovery.

ETF outflows are the main headwind; until AUM stabilises, expect muted price action and continued reliance on selective, conviction-driven buyers.

Takeaway: The DAT market is consolidating with Ethereum emerging as the preferred institutional asset for programmable liquidity, yield, & collateral efficiency.

Treasury Highlights: Bitcoin

Strategy’s premium evaporates

Strategy (NASDAQ: $MSTR) just bought another 487 BTC for nearly $50M, but the real story is how they paid for it. The purchase was funded by issuing $50M in preferred stock, a major shift from its historical reliance on issuing common shares. The reason? The math no longer works. A year ago, Strategy’s market cap traded at a 2.7x premium to the value of its Bitcoin. Today, that premium has collapsed to just 1.06x, with its $71B valuation barely edging out its $67.8B Bitcoin stockpile. This makes issuing new common stock a much less effective way to acquire more Bitcoin per share. [FILING]

So what? To avoid this dilution, Strategy has turned to preferred stock. These are a hybrid security, sharing characteristics of both stocks and bonds.

Fixed Dividends: Unlike common stock, preferred shares typically pay a fixed dividend. The 8-K filing reveals that Strategy issued several series of preferred stock with dividend rates ranging from 8.00% to 10.00%, as well as a variable rate series. This creates a new, fixed cost for the company in the form of dividend payments.
Priority in Payouts: Preferred shareholders have a higher claim on a company’s assets and earnings than common shareholders. In the event of liquidation, they would be paid before common stockholders.
No Voting Rights: A crucial advantage for the company is that preferred stockholders typically do not have voting rights. This allows Strategy to raise capital without ceding any control over the company’s direction to new investors.

While this approach avoids dilution, it introduces a new layer of financial obligation in the form of fixed dividend payments.

Vivek Ramaswamy’s Strive raises $160M

Strive (NASDAQ: $ASST) just raised $160M by selling a new, special type of stock, $SATA. They immediately used this money to buy over 1,567 more Bitcoin valued at $162M. Strive essentially has two different types of stock for two different types of investors:

The Regular Stock (ASST): This is for people who want to bet on the company’s overall success, which is almost entirely tied to the price of Bitcoin.
The New “VIP” Stock (SATA): This is the preferred stock Strive just sold. Think of it less like a traditional stock and more like a loan that pays a very high interest rate. People who bought this stock don’t get voting rights, but they are promised a hefty 12% annual dividend. [NEWS]

So what? The company now holds a total of 7,525 Bitcoin. By creating the new VIP stock (SATA), Strive found a way to get the cash it needed without touching the regular stock. They essentially took out a very expensive loan from a new group of investors who are seeking high, steady income, not a gamble on the price of Bitcoin. The fact that the offering was “oversubscribed” even while Bitcoin’s price was falling shows that investors are hungry for different ways to get exposure to the crypto world.