The rapid emergence of the corporate strategy known as digital asset treasury (DAT) has given rise to a metric known as the mNAV ratio, which has become an important measure with impacts in the raising of capital and managing risk.
The trend is explained in a new report by consulting firm Cornerstone Research. DAT takes traditional treasury function – ensuring operational liquidity and risk-management – and adds another layer carving a central role for cryptocurrency, Cornerstone notes in its June analysis.
“DAT companies are characterised by the accumulation of digital assets—primarily Bitcoin—on corporate balance sheets, treating the digital assets as a store of value rather than as transactional currency or other small incidental holdings,” the authors write.
Cornerstone extensively examined US Form 8-K filings to confirm the “exponentially rising corporate interest in DATs”. The same 8-Ks, in which DAT is mentioned 400 times as of the beginning of this year, demonstrate that “the rise of DATs began to accelerate notably in mid-2025,” the report notes.
The report divides the DAT companies into three categories: the true digital asset businesses accumulate and use the crypto as part of core operations. “Strategic (majority) digital treasury allocators” identify those assets as a primary driver of shareholder value, and they seek to raise capital in fiat currencies to purchase the digital assets. Minority treasury allocators operate primarily in another type of business, with the digital assets comprising only a small portion of treasury reserves.
The mNAV ratio is the company’s enterprise value, divided by the value of its digital assets. Cornerstone assesses the “mNAV premium”, which refers to a DAT company whose market capitalisation exceeds the value of its digital assets. This allows some companies to utilise capital markets in ways that passive investment vehicles cannot.
If the mNAV ratio persists above one, “the company may be able to raise capital to purchase Bitcoin, creating a cycle of growth in Bitcoin holdings per share,” the analysts write. As debt is used to increase digital holdings, the company becomes higher-beta. Other types of crypto-tracking investments, eg passive trusts, do not have the same options to liquidate assets or buy back shares when a NAV premium turns negative.
The corporation with the greatest commitment to a digital asset business model is Strategy Inc., formerly known as Microstrategy. Tysons Corner, Virginia-based Strategy bills itself as the world’s first and largest Bitcoin treasury company. It holds an estimated 63% of all Bitcoin possessed by public companies. The next three largest holders are MARA Holdings, XXI and Metaplanet.
The central role of Bitcoin’s price trend in valuing those companies contrasts with other large accumulators for whom the crypto assets on the balance sheet are not the core rationale for the business. One such company is Block Inc., formerly Square. Even though Block is the 15th largest holder of Bitcoin amongst public companies, the cryptocurrency was barely mentioned in the company’s most recent quarterly earnings conference call.
Amrita Ahuja, Block’s Chief Financial Officer and Acting Treasurer, instead highlighted the company’s growth in operating businesses including retail payment services Square and CashApp and various add-ons Moneybot, Managerbot and emerging buy-now, pay-later functionality. For Northern California-born Block, the involvement of crypto enhances customer choice more than it provides earnings on its own.
“We expanded Square Bitcoin payments into retail and services and enabled Managerbot for over one million sellers,” Ahuja said. “Our strategy to connect sellers and consumers at scale is gaining traction.”
Cornerstone Research notes that digital asset holdings are causing a transformation of the treasury function at some companies. The opportunities and risks are only beginning to be understood.
“The expansion of DATs merits analysis as equity markets and digital assets intermingle,” Cornerstone concludes.
The authors of the June report are Angelo Chan of 8C Management and Cornerstone’s Nicole Moran and Pawel Benarek.
