Crypto Treasuries Fall Deeply Underwater as Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana Dive

Prominent digital asset treasuries (DATs), including Bitcoin behemoth Strategy (MSTR) and leading Ethereum firm BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR), are now well down on their crypto investments, according to data gathered by blockchain analytics firm Artemis. 

The losses are growing among firms that are primarily focused on amassing cryptocurrency, with BMNR down around $8.4 billion on its Ethereum purchases as Strategy holds $9.2 billion in paper losses on its consistent Bitcoin buys.

The unrealized losses have quickly multiplied on account of the top crypto assets slide in the last week. BTC, which is down 13% in the last 24 hours, has fallen 24% in the last seven days to change hands around $63,708. 

Meanwhile, Ethereum has fared even worse, dropping almost 34% in the last seven days and falling to its lowest mark since last May, recently changing hands around $1,867. 

The Artemis data does not include crypto-centric firms that have a primary business focus outside of buying and holding assets—such as exchange Coinbase and mining firm Riot Platforms—or companies with a core business outside of crypto that have amassed a position in digital assets (like Tesla and GameStop).

Despite a major drop in prices for the asset, Strategy co-founder and Executive Chairman Michael Saylor remains undeterred, recently telling followers on X that there are only two rules related to Bitcoin. 

“1. Buy Bitcoin. 2. Don’t sell Bitcoin,” he posted earlier this week. 

While selling Bitcoin would invalidate those rules, the firm’s chairman changed his tune near the end of last year as it relates to the practicalities of his BTC business, saying that he needed to “dispel the notion” that the firm “couldn’t or wouldn’t” sell BTC to fund its dividends product. 

With the losses mounting, predictors on Myriad’s prediction market believe it’s more likely that Strategy may sell some of its BTC holdings sometime this year. In the last week, odds of the firm selling any of its 713,502 BTC have jumped to around 32%.

It’s not just the leading treasuries or those stacking BTC or ETH that are hurting, though. The Artemis dashboard accounts for more than $25 billion in losses, including around $1 billion in unrealized losses for Solana treasury firm Forward Industries and more than $100 million in paper losses for firms stacking Hyperliquid (HYPE) and BNB.

The DAT unwind has led to scrutiny from traditional financial analysts, with Joe Weisenthal of Bloomberg taking a shot at the premise on Thursday via an X post: “It’s hard not to think that the explosion of DAT companies last year, where various crypto holders exchanged their tokens for inflated equity, was a big last gasp for this industry.”

Crypto-natives have been critical too, with some prodding Lee and Saylor on social media about their firms. Last year, interim CEO of Solana business and treasury firm SOL Strategies, Michael Hubbard, told Decrypt he believed there was “no sustainable market for digital asset treasuries,” adding that staking ETFs would ultimately “eat their lunch.”