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“You cannot build a reputation based on what you are going to do. Trust must be earned over time. The track record matters.”
— William Mougayar on why Ethereum’s 10-year record matters
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S&P Global just rated Strategy Inc. (aka MicroStrategy), a ‘B-’ with a stable outlook.
Why it matters: The firm now has about $70B worth of Bitcoin and an $80B market cap, but only a small, break-even software arm that adds little to cash flow.
S&P’s stable outlook means the agency believes the company can manage near-term obligations, but it’s still walking a tightrope between financial innovation and speculative exposure.
While U.S. is betting big on digital assets, Asian countries including Hong Kong, Australia, and India are now actively rejecting or delaying listings from companies whose balance sheets depend heavily on crypto assets like BTC or ETH. However, Japan is a contrarian case. It is becoming the regional hub for public corporate Bitcoin exposure with 14 listed firms (including Metaplanet with $3.3B in BTC).
Whereas, DAT stocks that once traded at 2–3x NAV now hover closer to 1.1–1.3x. Standard Chartered and Coinbase both warn of valuation compression and capital-raising difficulties for DATs as prices cool.
With the rise of treasuries, a new trend is emerging where small cap companies are structuring fundraising deals to be compliant with SEC and Nasdaq regulations, turning DAT into a buttoned-up corporate finance strategy.
Implication: The DAT sector is shifting from narrative-driven to fundamentals-driven.
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Also this week:
Metaplanet launches 150M share buyback
FG Nexus FGNX 0.00%↑ launches $200M buyback
Crypto.com manages a new $100M INJ treasury
DLA Piper manages a treasury deal
And much more.
Let’s dig in.
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Top Reads
Strategy Inc Assigned ‘B-’ Issuer Credit Rating; Outlook Stable (S&P Global)
Ethereum’s Endgame: Why Credible Neutrality Beats Speed, with William Mougayar (Fiftyone)
8.5% of Bitcoin is Corporate (Fiftyone)
Why Jan van Eck’s Firm Sat Out the Digital Asset Treasury Wave (Coindesk)
Why Privacy Is Becoming the World’s Most Valuable Currency (Maja Vujinovic)
Digital Asset Treasuries: Bitcoin’s Institutional Test Case (Coindesk)
Digital Asset Dictionary: Tokenized Deposits for Payments & Treasury (Pymnts)
Market Moves
Public firms holding BTC and ETH have paused new purchases since the Oct. 10 crash.Treasury accumulation is at year-to-date lows, even as prices recover. Investors now value DAT companies closer to their actual crypto holdings, not future exposure. BitMine Immersion Technologies (NYSEAMERICAN: $BNMR) is the only major treasury still accumulating, buying 483,000 ETH (~2.8% of supply, $1.9B) since Oct. 10. The post-crash lull exposes a liquidity vacuum: few corporate buyers are stepping in to stabilize prices. Without steady treasury flows, crypto prices are more vulnerable to sentiment-driven swings.
Crypto markets remained stable over the past two weeks, with total market cap up just 0.25% to $3.88T, but trading volume fell sharply by 41%, signaling cooling activity after early-month volatility. Bitcoin supply held steady, though treasury holdings dipped slightly (-0.17%) as accumulation slowed, even with BTC price up 0.9%. Ethereum saw stronger institutional traction, public company holdings rose 2.6%, lifting the share of ETH in reserves to 10.6%, despite a 2.1% price drop. ETF flows weakened, with BTC and ETH AUM down 3.2% and 6.7%. Overall, capital rotation suggests a pause in accumulation, with corporates consolidating positions rather than expanding exposure.
Takeaway: Institutional treasuries are in “wait-and-see” mode after the October correction, while retail flows remain muted. Unless new entrants like sovereigns or ETFs step in, the next leg of the crypto cycle will likely hinge on policy signals and balance-sheet normalization, not speculative corporate buying.
Treasury Highlights: Bitcoin
S&P rates Strategy B-
S&P is signaling what many in the market already know: Strategy MSTR 0.00%↑ is essentially a publicly traded Bitcoin proxy, not a diversified tech company. S&P’s main concern? Liquidity and concentration risk. [RELEASE]
Key takeaways:
Rating: B- (stable) reflects high risk, not immediate distress.
Strength: Strong market access and prudent debt management (no major maturities until 2028).
Weakness: Negative adjusted capital, limited dollar liquidity, no real operating income.
Cash flow: Negative $37M in H1 2025, most earnings come from Bitcoin’s price moves, not business operations.
Dividends: $640M owed annually on preferred stock, likely to be paid through new equity or debt
So what? The company holds almost all of its assets in Bitcoin but owes its debts and dividends in U.S. dollars. Its ability to raise money through stock, preferred equity, and convertible debt has kept it afloat, but S&P warns that if Bitcoin prices fall or capital markets tighten, Strategy may be forced to sell Bitcoin at bad prices or even restructure its debt.
The cracks in the Bitcoin treasury model
Metaplanet, Japan’s largest corporate Bitcoin holder, is launching a 150M share buyback backed by a $500M credit line to counter its collapsing mNAV ratio, now just 1.03x, down from 10.33x. The market now values the firm barely above its $3.5B Bitcoin holdings, erasing its strategic premium as shares fall 73% from peak. [NEWS]
So what? The core promise of a “Bitcoin Treasury” company was that the market would reward you for being a publicly-traded vehicle for crypto accumulation. That thesis is now failing its first major stress test. When your company is worth less than the crypto on its balance sheet (an mNAV below 1.0x), shareholders have no reason to own your stock instead of just buying Bitcoin themselves. This isn’t just a Metaplanet problem; it’s an existential threat to the business model, forcing companies to borrow huge sums of money just to prop up their own stock.
Other News:
Asian exchanges block crypto treasury listings as Japan stays open. Link
Bitplanet buys 93 BTC to launch Korea’s first Bitcoin treasury. Link
Prenetics PRE 0.00%↑ raises $48M for Bitcoin treasury. Link
Jiuzi JZXN 0.00%↑ partners with SOLV to launch bitcoin treasury and DeFi strategy. Link
Hyperscale Data GPUS 0.00%↑ stock jumps as Bitcoin treasury hits $68.8M. Link
Strive ASST 0.00%↑ and Semler SMLR 0.00%↑ stocks surge after first bitcoin treasury merger. Link
Treasury Highlights: Ethereum
FG Nexus FGNX 0.00%↑ launches $200M buyback to boost ETH treasury value. Link
SharpLink SBET 0.00%↑ deploying $200M ETH on Linea to boost DeFi yields. Link
Ethereum Foundation moved $610M ETH to new Safe multisig wallet. Link
ETHZilla ETHZ 0.00%↑ sells $40M ETH to fund $250M stock buyback. Link
Other Digital Assets & ETFs Updates
Crypto.com’s another treasury vehicle
Pineapple Financial (NYSE: PAPL 0.00%↑), a Canadian mortgage brokerage, is teaming up with Crypto.com to manage a new $100M digital asset treasury composed entirely of Injective (INJ) tokens. So far, Pineapple has acquired approximately $8.9 million worth of INJ to kickstart this initiative. [NEWS]
So what? Pineapple is building the infrastructure for the tokenization of real-world assets, starting with its core business of mortgages, which makes it different from any other treasury strategy. The choice of Injective, a blockchain optimized for financial applications, is deliberate. The goal is to leverage blockchain for lending, securitization, and transparent settlement, effectively modernizing the slow and opaque legacy systems of mortgage finance. By partnering with Crypto.com for institutional-grade custody and staking, Pineapple ensures its treasury operations are secure and compliant.
Lawyers are new crypto kingmakers
Predictive Oncology, a biotech firm, is launching a US$343.5M digital asset treasury, and top law firm DLA Piper is managing the deal. Predictive Oncology is strategically acquiring ATH, the utility token for Aethir’s decentralized AI computing network, funded through a complex private placement of stock and warrants. [NEWS]
So what? As corporate treasuries expand into digital assets, legal and compliance firms emerge as the real winners, bridging traditional finance and tokenized markets. They’re the gatekeepers of a growing multi-hundred-million-dollar opportunity for firms fluent in both securities law and blockchain.
Cannabis company’s back door to crypto billions
A small-cap cannabis holding company, Kaya Holdings (OTCMKTS: $KAYS), is pivoting by creating a subsidiary to acquire and hold cryptocurrencies, aiming for a joint venture with a top-200 token, preferably on the Solana, Ethereum, or Polygon networks. To clear the decks for this move, Kaya is converting over 90% of its existing debt into equity. [RELEASE]
So what? It isn’t about a pot stock buying crypto; it’s about exploiting a structural loophole in finance. Trillions of dollars in institutional capital (pensions, endowments, sovereign wealth funds) are prohibited from buying digital assets directly. However, they can buy publicly traded stocks. By transforming into a Nasdaq-listed entity that holds crypto, it aims to sell compliant crypto exposure to the largest pools of capital in the world. Investors will be buying a regulated vehicle that unlocks otherwise inaccessible capital flows.
Shipping firm bets $120M on AI & crypto
Nasdaq-listed shipping firm OceanPal OP 0.00%↑ is pivoting hard into tech, raising $120M to launch SovereignAI, an AI and digital asset subsidiary built with the NEAR Foundation. It plans to acquire at least 10% of the NEAR token’s total supply and use the yield to fund the development of a confidential AI cloud platform. [NEWS]
So what? With a market cap of $11.4M, this is a transformative, high-stakes move. Nano-cap public companies are becoming a fast-track vehicle for gaining public liquidity for crypto companies. The collaboration with NEAR Protocol feels like an attempt at massive capital injection into the NEAR token while keeping OP 0.00%↑ alive.
Other News:
Applied DNA Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: BNBX 0.00%↑) launches real-time treasury dashboard and raises $58M for growth. Link
Mercurity Fintech unveils institutional digital asset treasury model at EBC11. Link
ENDRA invests $3M in HYPE tokens to launch digital treasury. Link
Reliance RELI 0.00%↑ adds Solana to treasury, declares $0.03 shareholder dividend. Link
Bonk Holdings BNKK 0.00%↑ buys $32M BONK to launch first token treasury. Link
Ripple-backed Evernorth builds $1B XRP treasury, eyes Nasdaq listing. Link
Citadel CEO Ken Griffin reveals major stake in Solana treasury firm. Link
Forward Industries FORD 0.00%↑ creates crypto advisory board to guide Solana treasury. Link
That’s all for today.
Best,
Marc
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