Bitcoin’s $100K problem – Corporate buying drops as ‘investor anxiety’ rises
Key Takeaways
DAT premiums stored compressing as MicroStrategy’s BTC buys slowed. In the meantime, NYDIG warned shrinking premiums, pushed by provide unlock fears, cloud their usefulness as market cycle indicators.
Publicly traded corporations holding important quantities of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin [BTC], Ethereum [ETH], and Solana [SOL], aka the Digital Asset Treasury (DAT) sector, are going through mounting strain regardless of Bitcoin’s rally to recent highs in August.
Knowledge as of press time, from IntoTheBlock revealed that Bitcoin-heavy treasuries are seeing sharper declines in stacked market capitalization in comparison with their ETH and SOL counterparts.
Supply: IntoTheBlock
Premiums of DAT companies decline
According to the New York Digital Funding Group (NYDIG), the scenario is changing into more and more important because the premiums of DATs proceed to shrink.
For context, these premiums are primarily the hole between their inventory worth and web asset worth (NAV).
Greg Cipolaro, NYDIG’s World Head of Analysis, famous that corporations recognized for aggressive Bitcoin accumulation methods, together with MicroStrategy (MSTR) and Japan’s Metaplanet, have been experiencing heavy premium compression.
Supply: NYDIG
This development remained evident whilst Bitcoin surged to a recent all-time excessive in mid-August.
Actually, it highlighted a paradox: the extra DATs broaden, the extra their valuations battle to maintain tempo with the underlying belongings they maintain.
Cipolaro added,
“The forces behind this compression look like diversified: investor anxiousness over forthcoming provide unlocks, altering company aims from DAT administration groups, tangible will increase in share issuance, investor profit-taking, and restricted differentiation throughout treasury methods.”
Additionally, he harassed that DAT premiums as cycle indicators stay inconclusive given the restricted pattern.
MicroStrategy nonetheless rides the wave
In 2021, MicroStrategy’s (MSTR) premium to NAV peaked two months earlier than Bitcoin hit $64,000, whereas within the present cycle, it topped out in November 2024.
This fueled hypothesis of a repeat, although with just one previous cycle, the sign was removed from conclusive.
In the meantime, Bitcoin shopping for by DATs has slowed sharply.
As per reports, MicroStrategy added simply 3,700 BTC in August versus 134,000 in November 2024. Different companies acquired 14,800 BTC, effectively beneath the 2025 month-to-month common of 24,000 and much from June’s 66,000 peak.
Common purchases collapsed to 1,200 BTC for MicroStrategy and 343 BTC for friends, an 86% decline from early 2025 highs.
Analysts linked this to liquidity strains and larger warning.
Treasuries nonetheless maintain weight
Nonetheless, regardless of the current slowdown in acquisitions, Bitcoin treasuries nonetheless command a powerful footprint, with company holdings peaking at 840,000 BTC this yr.
By the best way, MicroStrategy alone accounts for 76% of that stash, 637,000 BTC as per CryptoQuant data.
But, the enjoying subject is about to broaden.
Moreover, HashKey Group has additionally announced a $500 million DAT fund in September to construct a diversified portfolio of Bitcoin and Ethereum initiatives underneath favorable rules
On the identical time, Germany’s poorly timed sell-off in mid-2024, liquidating its BTC simply earlier than costs doubled previous $100,000, serves as a reminder of the dangers in divesting too early.
Collectively, these developments spotlight the evolving nature of DATs: whereas some stumble, others are doubling down, positioning themselves to journey the following wave of Bitcoin’s cycle.
