Digital plus treasuries (DATs), publically traded firms that clasp crypto connected their equilibrium sheets, person been deed hard successful caller weeks arsenic their marketplace NAVs (mNAVs) slid beneath 1, Standard Chartered's Geoff Kendrick said successful a caller report.
Looking ahead, ether (ETH) DATs look to person the astir staying powerfulness acknowledgment to staking yield, regulatory clarity, and country to grow, argued Kendrick.
The mNAV ratio is crucial. When it falls, these firms suffer the inducement (and sometimes the ability) to support buying crypto, threatening a cardinal root of request for bitcoin (BTC), ether and solana (solana).
Kendrick said that the adjacent signifier for DATs volition beryllium 1 of differentiation. The winners volition beryllium those that tin rise funds astatine the lowest cost, execute standard that draws liquidity and capitalist attention, and, crucially, gain staking yield. That past constituent tilts the playing tract toward ether and solana treasuries implicit bitcoin, which lacks yield.
Market saturation is besides astatine play. Strategy’s occurrence arsenic the flagship BTC treasury has inspired a flood of copycats, astir 90 astatine past count, who unneurotic present clasp much than 150,000 BTC, up sixfold this year, the expert noted.
But if mNAVs enactment beneath 1, Standard Chartered expects consolidation. For BTC treasuries, that could mean firms similar Saylor's Strategy buying retired rivals alternatively than buying caller bitcoin connected the unfastened market, a coin rotation, not caller demand.
Ether treasuries look amended positioned. They person been aggressively accumulating, with 3.1% of ETH’s circulating proviso purchased since June. The largest player, Bitmine (BMNR) is well-placed to support adding to its 2 cardinal ETH stack, the study said.
For crypto markets, this matters. DAT buying has been a cardinal operator of bitcoin and ether prices successful 2025. But with BTC treasuries facing consolidation unit and solana treasuries inactive comparatively small, Standard Chartered sees ETH arsenic the apt beneficiary going forward.
Read more: Strategy's S&P 500 Snub Is a Cautionary Signal for Corporate Bitcoin Treasuries: JPMorgan