In brief
- Standard Chartered’s Geoff Kendrick believes Ethereum treasury companies are most likely to succeed long-term due to their ability to generate staking yields.
- Bitmine announced its treasury has grown to 2.15 million ETH worth over $9.7 billion, more than double competitor SharpLink’s 837,230 ETH holdings.
- Digital asset treasury companies hold significant crypto portions (4% of Bitcoin, 3.1% of Ethereum, 0.8% of Solana), making their success crucial for coin prices.
There’s been some worry over the fate of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana treasuries because of falling mNAV marks, but companies buying ETH have the best chance of succeeding, writes Standard Chartered’s Geoff Kendrick.
The global head of digital assets research at the bank wrote that worry about falling mNAVs is warranted. mNAV, or market-to-net asset value, compares a company’s stock value to that of its assets. And for digital asset treasury companies, or DATs, the value of their crypto treasuries can experience dramatic fluctuations.
“This matters because sustainable DATs need an mNAV above 1 if they are to continue buying underlying assets,” Kendrick said in a note shared with Decrypt. “With DATs holding 4.0% of all BTC, 3.1% of ETH and 0.8% of SOL, DATs’ success has significant implications for coin prices.”
He suggests that investors will start to see DATs differentiate themselves based on their ability to raise cash to buy more of their chosen crypto asset, sheer size, and their ability to generate yield with their holdings.
Kendrick reasoned that because ETH and SOL offer opportunities to stake—and therefore a way for companies to generate yield with their treasuries—that he expects them to have higher mNAVs than their Bitcoin counterparts.
Between the two, Kendrick said he’s more bullish on Ethereum DATs because they had a chance to become more established before news that Nasdaq may begin requiring companies to ask for shareholder approval before beginning crypto treasuries.
“I think the ETH DATs have the highest probability of being sustainable, and therefore ETH buying by DATs can continue at pace,” he said. “BitMine, Sharplink and The Ether Machine are all important. BitMine’s Tom Lee estimates that staking yield should add 0.6 to ETH DAT mNAVs alone.”
He added that BitMine, the largest ETH treasury, doesn’t trade on Nasdaq and has already had its strategy pre-approved by shareholders.
Users on Myriad, a prediction market owned by Decrypt’s parent company DASTAN, have clearly chosen a winner among the largest Ethereum treasuries.
When asked whether Bitmine or SharpLink would end the year with more ETH, 90% of users sided with BitMine—and the split has barely changed since the market was launched last week.
At the time of writing, BitMine, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the BMNR ticker, just this morning announced that its treasury has climbed to 2.15 million ETH worth over $9.7 billion.
That’s more than double the amount of ETH owned by SharpLink Gaming, which trades under the SBET ticker on the same exchange. The company currently has 837,230 Ethereum worth approximately $3.78 billion at the time of writing.
Ethereum is currently changing hands for $4,491 after dropping nearly 3% in the past 24 hours. Despite the short-term pullback, ETH has gained nearly 3% in the past week and almost 2% in the past 30 days.
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