# Let's Talk DATs: Digital Asset Treasuries - Author: Asilbek Abdullaev - Published: 2025-11-10 - Reading time: 3 min - Canonical: https://www.asilbek.page/blog/Let's_talk_about_DATs > A quick research and explaintion on DATs, what are they adn how they are popular --- ## Let's Talk DATs: Digital Asset Treasuries — The "Holding Crypto, but Make It Publicly Traded" Trend Let's dive into **DATs—Digital Asset Treasury Companies**. This whole concept has become a genuinely interesting (and frankly, massive) trend in the crypto industry lately. I did some solid research on this, starting with one of my favorite - the "indexed podcast". Let's uncover the secrets behind their popularity and exactly how these bad boys work. ### So, What Even _Is_ a DAT? A DAT is essentially a publicly listed company that has decided its main specialty is hoarding an incredible amount of digital assets. The biggest star of this operation, of course, is **Strategy Inc.** (formerly the famous MicroStrategy—I guess they dropped the "micro" because their treasury holdings got decidedly _macro_). You might be scratching your head, thinking, "Wait, how is their job—which is literally just holding crypto—profitable?" You could argue that you can just buy crypto yourself and hold it. And the answer is: Yes! And **Yes!** (But stick with me, there's a loophole.) ### The Loophole: Why Buy the Share, Not the Coin? To become a DAT, a company must be a **publicly listed company**, meaning its shares are sold on stock exchanges. That company loads up on digital assets, and as a result, its valuation rises because the company's value includes all those shiny coins they're holding. Accordingly, their share price takes quite similar trend to the digital asset they’re treasuring. It's almost like holding the asset... but with extra steps. Here’s where the magic happens and the differences lie: 1. **Accessibility (or Lack Thereof):** Crypto is still not easily **accessible** to everyone, and it’s still not **considered a security** that can be easily traded by every big player on the stock market. However, big institutions and ordinary folks can **easily** invest in the shares of a publicly traded company. Boom! Instant, regulated exposure. 2. **The Perpetual Money Machine (a.k.a., The Reflexive Loop):** How does the share price keep going up and generating profit? **It's simple, really:** The DAT issues and sells new shares (raising capital). From those **proceeds**, they buy _more_ crypto, which in turn increases their valuation, causing the **share** price to rise. It's a gorgeous feedback loop! My quick question is: How long can they keep this magnificent momentum up? I'm genuinely not sure, but let's watch the show. ### Yield, Debt, and the Inevitable Sell-Off Another reason this model works is that they can generate **yield** from the crypto they hold (like staking), which they then use to buy even **more** crypto. Or—and this is spicy—they can **take on debt** leveraged against their existing crypto assets to buy more. Hello, instant valuation increase! I think we can all agree, though, that at some point, they have to sell their assets to **pay off their** debts. That’s the fun part we all get to worry about. There are a few companies becoming DATs for certain **assets**. The **famous** ones are Bitcoin DATs, naturally, and some people have started **ETH** DATs. Rumors are circulating that CZ is going to start **BNB** DATs. Honestly, at this point, anyone **could** start any DAT, but **the question is, does the underlying asset keep the model sustainable?** (Because a **Dogecoin DAT** sounds fun, but maybe not financially sound.) ### All Right, Let's Talk Some Big Numbers The biggest DAT **holdings are** BTC, ETH, and SOL, **respectively, of course**. - As of **November 9th**, the collective total crypto holdings in these companies **amount to over $117 Billion**! - The breakdown is incredible: Out of that, the vast majority is BTC (approximately $99b), with ETH and SOL making up the second and third largest chunks. - **An interesting fact** is that **Strategy** holds a staggering amount—around **$66 Billion worth** of digital assets, **all of which is BTC**. That is not "micro" at all. In my opinion, DATs **became** seriously popular starting around **July/August**, and based on that data, the ETH and SOL DATs started growing in number since then. ### The Million-Dollar Question **So now, the question is:** Will we see more DATs for **different** crypto assets (can we get a XRP DAT?), or will this **model collapse** at some point? Given the inherent leverage and reliance on the price premium, it certainly carries structural risks. But as long as institutional investors and retail traders want easy, regulated access to these assets, the DAT model will probably keep its seat at the table. p.s. *The numbers are from [the Block treasuries](https://www.theblock.co/data/treasuries/crypto-treasuries) charts*