Treasury Stocks Are Crypto’s Story of the Moment. Here’s What Investors Should Know.

If you’re a crypto investor, you have more options than ever before. That doesn’t mean your choices are any simpler.

Crypto is a fast-expanding market at a time when digital asset prices are under renewed pressure. Digital assets, from bitcoin (BTCUSD) to altcoins and big-name crypto stocks, sputtered to end the third quarter as negative market vibes descended on an industry fired up by regulatory reforms, product rollouts, and deals.

Crypto exchange Gemini (GEMI), platform Bullish (BLSH) and lending firm Figure Technologies (FIGR) saw their stocks pop on their debuts, inspiring other crypto companies to move closer to IPOs. New crypto ETFs are on the way following the approval of generic listing standards. A few are already on the market.

But the concept that best represents the current moment might be digital asset treasury companies, or DATCOs. There are now hundreds of public companies that seek to emulate the bitcoin-buying habits of Michael Saylor’s Strategy (MSTR). Some have helped lifted coin prices, though a quarter-end crypto selloff has raised questions about their effectiveness.

Here’s what to know about DATCOs as 2025 starts its home stretch.

DATCOs trade in coins ranging from ether (ETHUSD) and solana (SOLUSD) to more obscure offerings like worldcoin (WLDUSD) and avalanche (AVAXUSD). Some, like Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR), which buys ether, and Eightco Holdings (ORBS), the native token of Sam Altman’s World Project, have substantial market caps.

Shares of DATCOs can move dramatically, and see jumps in trading volume, akin to meme stocks. Bitmine, Eightco, and Forward Industries (FORD) are up at least 400% year-to-date, though their reference coins haven’t seen gains of that magnitude. That kind of price action has lately attracted regulatory scrutiny.

They “have brought in tens of billions of dollars of fresh capital from non-crypto buyers,” said Cosmo Jiang, a partner at crypto VC firm-turned asset manager Pantera Capital, said. “It’s about meeting people where they are. Everyone has a brokerage account. Everyone has access to equities.”

Pantera in September partnered with neuro tech company Helius Medical Technologies (HDST) to create a DATCO for solana (SOLUSD), the native token of the blockchain by the same name. At least 10 others based in the U.S. also hold the token, according to Crypto Treasury Tracker.

Some DATCO stocks trade at significant premiums to the value of their holdings, which some see as a validation of the treasury model. But that could also signal that investors are bidding up shares for reasons secondary to the underlying value of the coins they hold, such as the perceived influence and popularity of a DATCO’s creators, or a belief that the existence of a DATCO will itself push the coins’ prices higher.

There’s still plenty of room for crypto to expand into investor portfolios. A recent Bank of America survey of fund managers showed that almost 70% of respondents, have no allocation to digital assets. But some in the crypto industry aren’t thrilled about the growth of new ETFs or DATCOs because, they say, they’re funneling money toward the traditional financial system the industry seeks to upend.

“Every single dollar in a bitcoin ETF or in a DAT is $1 from an investor who could have bought that asset directly,” Janus Henderson’s head of innovation Nick Cherney said.