The rise of DAT: From holding Bitcoin to earnings management

Author: Sankalp Shanghairi, compiled by: Shaw bitchain vision

summary

Digital Asset Treasury (DAT) is a financial institution that is “fantasy” on the chain, so what are these companies becoming?

• Not just the vault reserves,Programmable capital structure;

• Not just the balance sheet, but alsoliquidity engine;

• Not only the holders of cryptocurrencies, but alsoThe builder of the crypto-native financial ecosystem.

The 1920s corporate finance department will no longer be like the traditional CFO office, but more like aA hedge fund that operates in real time, is powered by blockchain, equipped with APIs, vaults and validators.

They will process cross-border payments through stablecoins.Put money into the ecosystem they assist in governance.Issuing tokens, setting up special purpose entities (SPVs) and conducting macro hedging – all on-chain.

Yesterday’s DAT held Bitcoin.Today’s DAT is running the flywheel.Tomorrow’s DAT will manipulate programmable capital machines.

They will issue stocks to buy ETH.They will use a nine-digit balance sheet for profit farming.They will pledge governance tokens to shape the ecosystem, and they will do so while doing quarterly reports to Wall Street.They will blur the line between vaults, venture capital funds and protocol operators until the only thing left is the self-printing yield curve.

Welcome to a new era of capital formation that is bred by cryptocurrencies, presented in equity, and jointly managed by spreadsheets and smart contracts.

In this summer when corporate show, spreadsheets are dusted and balance sheets are undergoing digital transformation.Listed companies from all over the world have abandoned their dull capital plans and turned to bold cryptocurrency gambling, which is simply comparable to an opera.

Forget about R&D boom or fancy product releases.The big event of this season is not a new gadget or service—it’s a financing, digging proceeds directly into a cryptocurrency wallet and then letting the market play its part.From French chipmakers to Texas electric bike startups, the lineup is diverse.Here are your front-row tickets to experience the corporate cryptocurrency craze.

The first stage – the era of accumulation

“A fallen cowboy once wandered the wilderness of DeFi; now Wall Street suit ties are entering the same territory.”

• what happened:

• Nearly 100 listed companies have launched token purchases, raising more than $43 billion since June, double the total amount of all initial public offerings (IPOs) in the U.S. in 2025.

• MicroStrategy tops the list with 607,770 bitcoins (approximately $43 billion) on its books; Trump media has invested $2 billion in bitcoin and its derivatives.

• Special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) have evolved into “cryptocurrency vaults” (such as ReserveOne, Bitcoin Standard), providing retail investors with cutting-edge investment opportunities.

• Why it matters:

• This is not only capital management, but also performance art interpreted with stock codes.

• It was originally just a marginal experiment (such as the “DeFi Summer” in 2021), but now it has transformed into mainstream finance in tuxedo.

This chart vividly illustrates the institutional shift that is taking place in the Bitcoin market, which is the core argument for the DAT summer.Currently, more than 11.17% of Bitcoin’s market value is held by institutions, of which exchange-traded funds (ETFs) account for 6.52% and corporate vaults account for 4.64%.Starting with the sporadic accumulation of a few bold businesses in the first phase, this trend has evolved into a fully operational flywheel, especially after 2023, with the surge in ETF capital inflows and the rising Bitcoin price.This shift reflects the “activation” of the second phase, where structured funds raised by Wall Street through ETFs and financing are driving liquidity, momentum and narrative development.The substantial increase in ETFs and corporate vault holdings is not just financial activity, they mark the institutionalization of Bitcoin as a balance sheet asset and capital market instrument.In short, this chart is the clearest evidence to date: Bitcoin has become a corporate asset class.

Phase 2 – Get engineering benefits from dormant reserves

“Buying Bitcoin is the first phase. The real good show starts with you making it work.” — Steve Kurz, Galaxy Digital

• Revenue generation strategy:

• Pledge and DeFi liquidity: Companies are investing ETH and other tokens into the DeFi protocol.

• Structured products and options: Capital market professionals are conducting tiered option coverage and basis trading on cryptocurrency positions.

• Governance Manual: Voting in Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) and pledging governance tokens to influence the protocol roadmap.

• On-chain ecosystem: Create a product that integrates corporate capital management into practical application scenarios.

• New flywheel:

• Listed companies purchase tokens.

• Token prices rise.

• Stock prices soared as net asset value increased.

• Issuing new shares or convertible bonds.

• The proceeds are redistributed to more tokens.

• Repeat this process continuously.

• Why it’s different:

• This is a combination of traditional capital markets and crypto innovation, which is fully regulated and highly liquid.

• Companies such as Galaxy Digital have helped raise $4 billion for cryptocurrency acquisitions, which include custody, risk management and revenue infrastructure.

Public companies currently hold nearly 900,000 bitcoins, up 35% in just one quarter.

A sense of déjà vu of doubt, disbelief and subversion

Some of the smartest people in the room were rolling their eyes:

• “It’s a bubble.”

• “There is no real demand for Ethereum (ETH) – why choose SBET?”

• “If the flywheel stops rotating, these crypto vault companies are done.”

It makes sense.But remember: Price changes your view and time will tell.

The same situation also happens with DeFi tokens, NFTs and even Bitcoin itself.If irrational fanaticism creates real infrastructure, then it will not die—it will continue to evolve.

Phase 3 – Quality Trap and Quality Rewards

“Not everyone gets the same premium. Be aware of early action and don’t repeat.” — Galaxy Digital

• Quality phenomenon:

1. Companies with large crypto-reserved assets have transaction prices of 73% higher than their on-chain assets on average.

2. But the risk of saturation will cut profits – if you are the tenth one entering the market, the market will remain indifferent.

• Regulatory and market changes:

1. GENIUS & CLARITY Act: Stimulates stablecoin competition; affects Circle’s valuation before its second quarter earnings report on August 12.

2. Ethereum as a corporate strategy: SharpLink Gaming’s 360,807 ETH reserves rose 110% this month, heralding a new on-chain fund bank model.

• While Circle declines, Galaxy is rising

1. Analysts call it an “integrated supplier” to institutions, surpassing single-service companies like FalconX and NYDIG.

2. The GENIUS Act and CLARITY Act provide support for Galaxy’s stablecoin custody, issuance and artificial intelligence data center business.

3. Currently, more than two-thirds of Galaxy’s value comes from its infrastructure, such as the Helios facility (formerly Argo Blockchain), which currently hosts CoreWeave’s artificial intelligence and high-performance computing businesses.

4. DAT meets computing, which is a vertically integrated architecture.

A key driver behind this corporate cryptocurrency flywheel is the concept of mNAV, which is market-based net asset value, it measures the real-time value of cryptocurrencies held by a business relative to the market capitalization of its stock.When a listed company accumulates a large amount of cryptocurrency assets and the asset’s price rises, its mNAV increases significantly.The difference between the actual token value and the stock value becomes a tradable narrative.The market starts to price not only from an operational perspective, but also from the perspective of potential future token appreciation, and usually also has a premium.This has caused stock valuations to soar, allowing companies to issue more stocks or convertible bonds on favorable terms and then reinvest those funds to buy more cryptocurrencies.This is a self-reinforcement cycle: cryptocurrency reserves → higher mNAV → higher stock price → more funds → larger reserves.In this cycle,mNAV is not only a valuation tool, but also a fuel to drive growth in the next stage.

• Survival Manual:

1. Have a strategy: Don’t just buy tokens – tailor-made financial products.

2. Stay flexible: Adjust incentives as regulatory regulations and financial report season changes.

3. Building infrastructure: Go beyond hoarding; launch APIs, vaults and validators.

DAT Summer or a corporate casino?

At first it was just a trickle – several venture-taking companies were trying the waters in the cryptocurrency space.Today, it has evolved into a surging wave filled with various document declarations, financial disclosures and capital flows.Welcome to “DAT Summer”, where listed companies are not only hoarding digital gold, but also using it as a weapon.

• Yesterday’s DATHold Bitcoin.

• Today’s DATRun a self-reinforced flywheel.

• Tomorrow’s DATIt will be a programmable capital machine: issue stocks to buy ETH, earnings farming through a nine-digit balance sheet, and shape the ecosystem through governance.

We have entered an era where the question is no longer whether companies will hold cryptocurrencies, but how many they hold, what areas will they engage in, and what new tricks will come up next.Whether this will evolve into a new financial structure or just the most fancy corporate roulette game ever made remains to be seen.But one thing is certain: the casino door is open and the chips are digital.

This is either a brand new financial structure built on digital gold or the most fancy corporate roulette ever.In any case, Wall Street this summer is more like a casino full of laser eyes and “FOMO” market sentiment.

Welcome to DAT summer, where listed companies not only buy digital assets, but also weaponize them.