Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer at Bitwise, has shared insights on the valuation of digital asset treasury firms (DATs), emphasizing common misconceptions in their pricing relative to the assets they manage. In his analysis, Hougan posed a fundamental question about the value of a DAT assuming it had a set lifespan. He noted that if a Bitcoin-centric DAT were to announce an immediate liquidation and distribute its holdings, it would be valued precisely at its Bitcoin assets, reflecting a mark-to-net asset value (mNAV) of 1.0. However, extending the liquidation period to one year introduces variables that can affect valuations. Hougan highlighted three key factors that typically justify a discount to mNAV: illiquidity, operational expenses, and risk. He explained that illiquidity pertains to the reduced price investors might accept today for Bitcoin they would receive in the future, suggesting potential discounts between 5-10%. Additionally, expenses diminish investor returns; for instance, if a DAT has $100 worth of BTC per share but incurs $10 in executive compensation per share annually, a corresponding 10% discount would be warranted. Risk includes the potential for operational mishaps, which must also influence pricing. Conversely, Hougan indicated that DATs can command a premium only when they successfully increase their crypto-per-share amounts, specifically referencing this circumstance in the U.S. He outlined four strategies for achieving this: issuing USD debt to acquire crypto, lending crypto to earn interest, utilizing derivatives like writing call options for extra income, and purchasing crypto at a discount. Hougan stated that while the factors leading to discounts are generally predictable, those that could enable a premium are often less certain, establishing a significant barrier for most DATs. Consequently, he anticipates that most firms will trade at a discount, with only a handful of high-performing companies potentially achieving premium status. Using a Bitcoin DAT expected to liquidate in a year as a reference, he explained that fair value assessments would factor in expenses, a risk discount, and anticipated increases in bitcoin-per-share. Despite the absence of fixed lifespans for DATs, he believes that this factor actually extends the valuation model, as expenses and risks accumulate over time. Companies consistently growing crypto-per-share can achieve significant value. Hougan also pointed out that larger DATs enjoy advantages such as better access to debt markets and larger crypto pools for lending, as well as wider merger and acquisition opportunities. While DATs have generally moved in sync over the past six months, he foresees greater differentiation, with a few firms performing well enough to trade at a premium, while many others remain at a discount. According to a recent CoinGecko report, DAT companies have invested over $42.7 billion in crypto acquisitions during 2025, with $22.6 billion spent in the third quarter alone, marking an all-time high for accumulation. Altcoin-centric DAT firms accounted for $10.8 billion, or 47.8%, of Q3 expenditures, but Bitcoin-focused firms persisted as the dominant force. Since the year began, Bitcoin DATs have acquired more than $30 billion worth of BTC, representing 70.3% of total acquisitions, while Ethereum DATs followed with $7.9 billion, primarily in August, with SOL, BNB, WLFI, and others making up the remaining 11.2%.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer at Bitwise, has shared insights on the valuation of digital asset treasu […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5431,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-1"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.0","language":"ja","enabled_languages":["en","de","ja","vi","ms"],"languages":{"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"de":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false},"ja":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false},"vi":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false},"ms":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/globalcryptoguru.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/news_image_1-6.png",1024,1024,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/globalcryptoguru.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/news_image_1-6.png",1024,1024,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/globalcryptoguru.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/news_image_1-6.png",1024,1024,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/globalcryptoguru.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/news_image_1-6-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/globalcryptoguru.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/news_image_1-6-300x300.png",300,300,true],"large":["https:\/\/globalcryptoguru.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/news_image_1-6.png",1024,1024,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/globalcryptoguru.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/news_image_1-6.png",1024,1024,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/globalcryptoguru.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/news_image_1-6.png",1024,1024,false],"blog-thumb":["https:\/\/globalcryptoguru.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/news_image_1-6-530x250.png",530,250,true],"blog-full":["https:\/\/globalcryptoguru.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/news_image_1-6-1024x450.png",1024,450,true]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"MUHAMMAD ISMAIL","author_link":"https:\/\/globalcryptoguru.com\/ja\/author\/ai-news-automation\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"News 1<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer at Bitwise, has s…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalcryptoguru.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalcryptoguru.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalcryptoguru.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalcryptoguru.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalcryptoguru.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5432"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/globalcryptoguru.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5433,"href":"https:\/\/globalcryptoguru.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5432\/revisions\/5433"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalcryptoguru.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalcryptoguru.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalcryptoguru.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalcryptoguru.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}