If you bought shares of a crypto treasury company hoping to out-earn the coin it holds, the numbers say most of them failed the test. A new analysis by DWF Ventures found that only four of the 20 largest digital asset treasury companies trade above the value of the crypto they hold — and over most timeframes, simply buying the underlying token beat buying the stock.
By Sarah Park | September 24, 2026
The Hook: What mNAV Really Means for Your Money
The key metric is called mNAV — market value to net asset value. It compares a company’s stock market price to the value of the tokens sitting in its treasury. An mNAV above 1 means the market pays a premium over the crypto pile; below 1 means you can buy the company’s crypto for less than it is worth — but with strings attached. According to DWF Ventures, as of Sep. 21, only four of the top 20 crypto treasury companies traded at a premium. The rest were marked below the value of their holdings.
One big caveat: the calculation excludes debt and preferred stock. A “cheap” mNAV can hide obligations that common shareholders are on the hook for. The analysis says investors need to examine those separately before treating a low ratio as a bargain.
The Evidence: Tokens Mostly Beat the Stocks
Since the companies in the study began their treasury strategies, buying and holding the underlying token generally produced a better return than buying their shares, DWF Ventures found. Even where a stock came out ahead, the excess return was usually small compared with the extra risks of owning a company rather than a coin.
A treasury share is not an exchange-traded fund. Its price depends on when management buys crypto, how it raises cash, how many new shares it issues, and whether investors expect the holdings to keep growing. But the picture flips over short windows. Since July, some treasury stocks outperformed their tokens by 15% to 40% as mNAV ratios climbed from roughly 0.5–0.8 to 0.7–1.0. Hyperliquid-focused PURR and Zcash-focused CYPH recorded returns 31% and 38% above their respective tokens in that period — mostly because investors paid more for the exposure, not because token holdings per share grew. Over periods longer than three months, the analysis found the underlying token remained the stronger performer.
Bitcoin itself traded around 84,494 USD on Sep. 24, according to the batch price snapshot — a level that shapes every Bitcoin treasury’s asset value, whichever direction the stock trades relative to it.
The Core Conflict: Premiums Are an Accretion Machine — Discounts Are a Trap
The analysis identifies token holdings per share as the central measure of a treasury company’s progress. When a stock trades above the value of its reserves, management can sell shares, buy tokens, and increase the crypto backing each existing share — the flywheel that made the treasury model famous. Below 1, that engine runs in reverse: selling new shares at a discount dilutes existing holders, while waiting to raise funds slows buying. Convertible debt and preferred shares are alternatives, but each carries terms common shareholders must weigh.
Recent U.S. filings show how differently operators respond. Strategy, the largest Bitcoin treasury, bought no Bitcoin and sold no shares through its at-the-market program in its latest reported week, instead spending 176.3 million USD repurchasing STRC preferred shares and doubling its digital credit securities repurchase authorization to 2 billion USD — managing the obligations attached to its capital structure rather than adding coins. Strive took the opposite path: a Sep. 14 report on its latest purchase said it bought 469 BTC for about 36.6 million USD using proceeds from SATA preferred stock, bringing holdings to 25,000 BTC as of Sep. 11.
Market Implications: Operating Income Is the New Differentiator
The analysis argues investors should now compare treasury companies on more than coin count. Income from staking, mining, or side businesses can add resources without selling the principal holding — and the examples span the sector:
- Bit Digital — its White Fiber cloud infrastructure business generated more than 89% of second-quarter revenue, a reason its shares held a premium even as digital asset values fell.
- BitMine — more than 5.06 million ETH staked out of holdings approaching 5.98 million ETH, per its Sep. 21 treasury update.
- SharpLink — an announced 200 million USD allocation to stETH and a 125 million USD onchain yield fund with Galaxy.
- CYPH — a Zcash mining fleet the company said received more than 18% of the network’s emissions.
Access has changed too. Treasury stocks once drew premiums partly because institutions could buy listed shares more easily than crypto. With more regulated funds and custody options available, the DWF Ventures authors expect investors to put more weight on operators, financing terms, and business income when valuing one treasury against another. A one-month pop can still grab attention — Strategy gained 47.65% through the Sep. 18 close while Bitcoin recovered — but a single window proves little about the long haul.
The Verdict
The era when any company could slap a Bitcoin strategy on its balance sheet and trade at a premium is over. Sixteen of the twenty largest treasuries now price below their crypto piles. For regular investors, the takeaway is blunt: if you want pure crypto exposure, the token itself has historically delivered it more efficiently. If you want a treasury stock, you are making a bet on management — its financing discipline, its operating income, and its ability to grow token holdings per share without diluting you.
The cryptocurrency market remains highly volatile. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
the part that stings is management fees stacked on top of the discount. you literally pay them to underperform the token you could have just bought
fees plus dilution plus full downside beta. the wrapper only made sense at a premium and the market needed one quarter to figure that out
16 of 20 trading below their treasury and people still buy the stock for exposure. just buy the coin at that point
just buying the coin works until your mandate or tax wrapper says otherwise. that is the entire reason a premium ever existed, it was never sentiment
kvant_kai nailed it, mandate demand is the real floor on the premium. but even that club shrinks once etfs cover the tax wrapper angle at a lower fee
mandate demand shrinks every quarter as etf fee compression eats the wrapper pitch. the 4 of 20 above nav are just the ones with first mover brand
The premium made sense when Strategy was the only wrapper in town. Then everyone copied the structure and the mNAV premium evaporated. Simple supply.
and the discount aint free money either, dilution risk comes attached. every mNAV thread ignores that part
the dilution part is worse than people admit. atm programs issue new shares into the discount and call it accretive, right up until the coin drops and they are selling into a hole
atm issuance into a discount getting called accretive is the most cfopoly thing in this sector. dilution is dilution even with a blockchain badge
exactly. once the copycats flooded in the marginal buyer had zero reason to pick them over the original. supply devoured the premium
4 out of 20 above NAV and people still pretend the treasury company model is anything other than a leveraged bet with extra steps
the four above NAV are the ones with an actual story beyond leverage, yield or the ETF proxy angle. a premium needs a reason and copying Strategy stopped being one
The discount is not irrational though. You are buying illiquid paper over liquid coins, there should be a haircut.
if the haircut were 5 or 10 percent id agree with you. some of these names sit 40% under nav while holding the most liquid asset on earth, that aint an illiquidity premium
exactly, and arb desks cant close it because shorting the stock means borrowing the coin, which nobody lends at that size. the discount is structural
haircut sure, but some of these trade 40% under. that is beyond a liquidity discount, that is the market saying management destroys value
or the market pricing liquidation reality. a 40% discount is what you accept when selling the coin would crater your own NAV. its a size trap
and it compounds in a drawdown. coin falls, discount widens, the nav math starts eating itself. the size trap has a reflexive side
the size trap framing is right, but 4 of 20 still clearing NAV says the market does distinguish. the discount is a verdict on specific managers
leveraged how, most of these treasuries carry no debt at all. the discount is a liquidity and dilution haircut, calling it leverage misses the actual mechanics
buying the token directly beat the stock on most timeframes per DWF. the whole pitch was premium yield on the same bag lol
and the worst part is the stock still bleeds beta when the token dumps. all of the downside, none of the upside
most timeframes is doing heavy lifting. check the first movers window before the copycats flooded in, the early premium was real, it just didnt survive the supply
or just buy the coin and self custody. no committee, no management fee, no 40 percent haircut for the privilege of the same bag
self custody works until you need the wrapper for a tax or custody mandate. that is literally the only buyer left paying premium and its a shrinking club
4 of 20 above NAV as of sep 21 and DWF still frames the whole wrapper model as the failure. the survivors earned the premium, the copycats did not. that is the story