Only the Biggest DAT Companies Will Survive, Bitwise Execs Warn

U.S. crypto asset manager Bitwise says most digital asset treasury (DAT) companies are likely to be taken over by bigger players as the sector starts to shrink.

In an X post on Nov. 24, Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley suggested that it‘s still early days for DATs and that they’re on track to become operating companies that will “acquire and consolidate” smaller private crypto firms.

The X post was in response to Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougans Nov. 23 thread in which he said size will ultimately determine which DATs survive. Larger firms can issue debt, lend crypto, access deeper derivatives markets or even pursue discounted acquisitions, Hougan wrote.

CoinGecko‘s November research report revealed that there are now 142 companies with crypto treasuries, with 76 created in 2025, marking how the trend has exploded this year. So-called pure play DAT companies follow the model of Michael Saylor’s Strategy, which began accumulating BTC on its balance sheet in 2020. Per CoinGeckos report, the vast majority of DATs hold Bitcoin (BTC) as a treasury asset, compared to only 15 for Ethereum (ETH), and 10 for Solana (SOL).

Number of DATs and holdings 2020-2025. Source: CoinGecko

Data from DefiLlama shows that Strategy remains the largest DAT company, holding $56.6 billion worth of BTC at current prices, followed by Tom Lees BitMine, with $10.6 billion in ETH and BTC.

But as DATs operate on an indefinite horizon, expenses and risk “compound over time,” Hougan pointed out. Firms that keep increasing their crypto-per-share may trade higher, while many others will stay discounted or get bought out.

“For the past six months, DATs have risen and fallen together. Going forward, I think there will be more differentiation. A few will execute well and trade at a premium, and many will execute poorly and trade at a discount,” Hougan wrote.

Growing Concern

Bitwise‘s warning adds to a growing list of cautionary signals around DATs from major industry players. For example, Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital warned in a July research report that the DAT boom risks becoming “structurally fragile,” comparing the rise of equity-financed crypto buyers to the 1920s investment trust bubble.

Animoca Brands, a web3 investment and development firm, also warned about similar risks, especially for companies using altcoin treasury plans to boost their stock prices. In a research report also published in July, Animoca pointed to volatility and the risk of “activist investors” pressuring companies to sell assets when the stock price falls below the dollar-value of the crypto they hold, a ratio known as market to net asset value (mNAV).

Breed VC, an early-stage crypto venture firm, issued similar warnings over the summer, saying debt-heavy treasury companies could hit a “death spiral” in a long downturn, leaving only the strongest firms able to buy the weaker ones cheaply.