Weekly Newsletter, 5 September 2025

A new wrapper for crypto exposure

BitMine ($BMNR) just released its investor presentation titled “The Alchemy of 5% ”, with Tom Lee (Co-Founder & Head of Research at Fundstrat, full-time contributor on CNBC and old colleague at JPM) outlining a bold strategy to acquire 5% of the entire ETH supply. With 1.87 million ETH already on its balance sheet (worth $8.2bln at current prices), BitMine has become the largest Ethereum treasury globally. But BitMine isn’t a fund. It’s not an ETF. And it’s not a tokenized vehicle. It’s what has become known as a Digital Asset Treasury Company (DAT).

DATs are certainly not new. Bitcoin has had a DAT for 5 years, called MicroStrategy, recently rebranded to simply ‘Strategy’. But this year we have seen a sudden explosion of DATs, not only for Bitcoin, but expanding to ETH, SOL and even the longer tail of digital assets. DATs are a market structure that wraps crypto exposure in the skin of a public company. At their core, they hold crypto on balance sheet and make that exposure tradable via public equity markets. And now that it is moving from the unproductive BTC asset to productive assets like ETH, it can amplify it with staking or other onchain activity. Here’s why it matters, using ETH as an example.

First, access. Many institutions (especially in the US) still can’t buy spot ETH directly or stake it for yield. DATs, by contrast, can be listed quickly, bought via any brokerage account, and don’t require the SEC to greenlight a new fund structure. You’re buying a public company, but under the hood, the engine is a token like ETH.

Second, potentially superior return profile. In some cases, the market can price DATs at a premium to their crypto net asset value (NAV). MicroStrategy (now Strategy) has consistently traded at a premium (the mNAV) between 1.5x NAV and 3x. The mNAV only briefly dipped under 1x in the 2022 bear market. And as a result, despite buying into the underlying assets at a premium, investors have done well as MicroStrategy has grown its assets per share consistently, vastly outperforming a spot BTC investment over time. For productive assets like ETH that can generate onchain yield (staking, various DeFi activities) such a premium appears more justified.

Last but not least: narrative distribution. Tom Lee is now Ethereum’s most visible institutional bull, raising capital and championing ETH to equity investors. In a world where memes and missions move markets, DATs give crypto a Wall Street-native front end. They open up new investor demand, not by changing the asset, but by changing the wrapper.

DATs have been especially attractive for the early participators, those who invest around the formation of the DAT. They tend to get in at NAV (so an mNAV of 1) and profit from the early excitement. In the case of BitMine, these early investors bought shares at $4.50 in June, fully backed by ETH. As the share price rose and new shares could be issued at a premium to NAV, BitMine has been able to grow its backing per share to a staggering $47 per share in a timespan about 2 months. No surprise it’s been a popular strategy for our crypto-native venture funds.

That said, this is not a structural “new normal” yet. Much of the long-term upside depends on whether these companies can earn their premium through disciplined treasury management, yield optimization, clear communication, and overall great execution. As an investor you'd rather be at the inception of these things instead of investing when it's already trading at 3x NAV, which requires access to the right VCs and management teams setting up these DATs. Just like SPACs or closed-end funds, the structure itself isn’t a moat. Not all DATs are created equal: governance, alignment, token selection, and entry price matter. In the wrong hands, these vehicles can be misused by VCs and teams to offload illiquid tokens or manufacture hype around weak theses.

In that sense, DATs are a time-sensitive opportunity because equity investors are now actively looking to invest in blockchain, but they're certainly no guarantee. Some will become the MicroStrategies of Ethereum. Others will blow up. The structure enables both outcomes: it’s up to investors to choose wisely.

Also this week

Relevant financial updates

World Liberty Financial, a DeFi platform enabling users to earn interest on cryptocurrencies and access borrowing services, had its TGE and is currently trading at a $18.59bln FDV.
Somnia, an EVM‑compatible Layer 1 blockchain built with a multi-chain protocol suite, had its TGE and is currently trading at a $529mln FDV.
Union*, a modular interoperability protocol enabling asset and message exchange between blockchains and decentralized apps, had its TGE and is currently trading at a $103mln FDV.
Credora*, the largest DeFi ratings platform, was acquired by Redstone* for an undisclosed amount.
AlloyX*, a blockchain-based platform that facilitates the creation of investment strategies with real-world assets, was acquired by Solowin Holdings for $350mln.
Obita, a financial technology company providing stablecoin-driven services, including settlement, compliance systems, clearing networks, and treasury management tools for enterprises, has raised $10mln in a funding round with investments from Hashkey Capital, Mirana Ventures, Web3.com Ventures, Vision Plus Capital and Legend Capital.
Kite AI, a purpose-built Layer-1 blockchain platform specifically designed for AI applications, has raised $18mln in a Series A funding round with investments from Animoca Brands, Hashkey Capital, GSR Investments, HASHED, Samsung Next and 21 others.
Reflect*, a decentralized finance platform on the Solana blockchain that enables users to stake SOL tokens and mint synthetic assets like rSOL and rUSD, has raised $3.75mln in a Seed funding round with investments from Big Brain Holdings, Solana Ventures, Crypto Startup School (CSX), Colosseum and Equilibrium Ventures.
Utila*, a platform offering a secure, MPC wallet infrastructure for institutions, streamlining crypto trading, settlement operations, and treasury management, has raised $22mln in a Series A funding round with investments from Digital Currency Group, FunFair Ventures, Nyca Partners, Wing VC, Cerca Partners and 2 others.
Etherealize, a marketing and product development firm focused on institutional adoption of Ethereum, has raised $40mln in a funding round with investments from Paradigm and Electric Capital.
Aria Protocol*, an IP tokenization protocol that issues tokens backed by portfolios of IP rights (initially music), has raised $15mln in a Seed funding round with investments from Polychain Capital, Neoclassic Capital and Story Protocol.
Plural*, a company that transforms distributed infrastructure into portfolio-ready assets, enabling allocators to access stable yield, diversification, and compliance-grade structures at scale, has raised $7.13mln in a Seed funding round with investments from Paradigm, Maven 11 Capital, Volt Capital and Neoclassic Capital.
Tempo, a layer‑1 blockchain purpose‑built for stablecoin‑based payments, has raised an undisclosed amount in a funding round with investments from Paradigm and Stripe.
Pointsville, a platform offering solutions in alternative asset digitization and loyalty management, has raised a $10mln Series A led by Valor.

*Underlying TBV portfolio position | Prices as per 05/09

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