Katherine Ross

This is a segment from the Empire newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>.



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Comparing the slew of new digital asset treasury (DAT) companies to the ICO era is “apt,” Electric Capital’s Avichal Garg told Empire co-hosts Jason Yanowitz, Santiago Santos and Rob Hadick on <a href="https://blockworks.co/podcast/empire/7ffa3c40-6e62-11f0-a847-7f882b11347f">today’s weekly roundup</a>.&nbsp;



“ I think the most interesting question here is how long does it last? And is any of it actually durable?” he asked.&nbsp;



“Most of [the capital] doesn&#8217;t get anywhere, but actually, we got Ethereum outta the ICO cycle, right? You got a $500 billion asset that has had a transformative impact, right?” he continued.&nbsp;



But Garg isn’t fully on the “this is all bad” train. He believes that certain implementations are going to be very interesting. 



<iframe loading="lazy" width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PaVPrpVcVbE?si=zouWPSgZE9_6ueOU" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>







Obviously, ETH, SOL and bitcoin will continue to dominate. But some of the smaller assets that are being bought up by various treasury companies may not have the same staying power.&nbsp;



“ Some of the longer-tail assets, I think, [are] gonna be very hit or miss. Some of them are clearly gonna not be around, and some of them actually have a shot of being around, because the exposure into a new capital market is sort of like front-running an ETF,” Garg explained.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXccMmREvUkmZ_WTG58wY364w_0vOSTOFUvM4IMxQYWo0FOi3R1ZE4V3_LzkU36rfiwe8qmhKs2qiSzMZr7Y1dW5rea47oYZWwatIAMLdgkOKF83vd5XZ_DOUBK6Zm0TGGcYBsOA-g?key=Yx0Tl2Txu21qGhcaj7BIFw" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Source: Blockworks Research</figcaption></figure>



Hadick added that he thinks there’ll be a lot of M&amp;A and capital activism, which means that the door for drama is wide open, depending on who and how folks approach activist stakes.&nbsp;



He also noted that we’re already seeing exhaustion in the market around these things, which is not super surprising given the sheer amount of announcements we’re getting weekly.&nbsp;



“ You clearly don&#8217;t need 30 of these, right? At the end of the day, the amount of copycats that are popping up right now is just astronomical, honestly,” he told the Empire crew.&nbsp;



The other thing to add — a very good point from Santos&nbsp;— is that hedge funds generally are not able to buy ETFs, which means that they’re closely watching these treasury companies and looking for opportunities they otherwise wouldn’t have.



“Other than retail, hedge funds that want to express a view on anything will buy these DATs. And I think that&#8217;s where you could see this [continue] for an extended period of time where you have a lot of demand coming in that way,” Santos added.&nbsp;



Though, as Blockworks’ Dan Smith noted, the ETH treasuries saw low trading volume on Thursday.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">Yesterday was the lowest trading volume day for ETH treasury companies since the initial announcements The group combined for $1.4b, down 76% from the recent highs <a href="https://t.co/WDhUSHsqRs">pic.twitter.com/WDhUSHsqRs</a>&mdash; Dan Smith (@smyyguy) <a href="https://twitter.com/smyyguy/status/1951209977856823739?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 1, 2025</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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I’m still wary of one too many DATs causing the whole thing to crumble, but I can’t argue with Hadick, Garg, or Santos, who have some very valid points.&nbsp;



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<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Empire</a>: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.</li>



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Why the appetite for DATs isn’t waning yet

Jeff Albus

This is a segment from the Lightspeed newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>.



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DeFi Development Corp is now just one token shy of a million Solana.



The Florida-based firm <a href="https://x.com/defidevcorp/status/1947266409421234461">announced</a> on Monday that it acquired 141,383 SOL between July 14-20 at an average price of $133.53, <a href="https://x.com/0xGumshoe/status/1947700641729810929">bringing</a> its treasury to 999,999 SOL and equivalents.



The value of those holdings <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/sol">sits</a> just north of $200 million at the time of publication.



The haul <a href="https://x.com/defidevcorp/status/1947266422218088688">included</a> spot purchases, discounted locked tokens, as well as 867 SOL earned through staking, validator operations, and other onchain activity.



It staked all newly acquired SOL immediately, <a href="https://x.com/defidevcorp/status/1947266453415313770">the company said</a>, which earns revenue by running its own validator infrastructure that accepts third-party delegation.



The model is part of a new class of public-market strategies focused on treasury compounding. The idea is that more volatility equals more opportunity to issue shares, buy tokens and boost per-share value.



So far, it&#8217;s a strategy that <a href="https://x.com/defidevcorp/status/1946199391670276104">appears</a> to be working.



DeFi Dev Corp has issued 740,000 shares this month, raising $19.2 million, with the majority of the proceeds allocated to SOL. Another $5 million in dry powder remains available, enough to purchase roughly 24,000 more tokens at current prices.&nbsp;



The firm&#8217;s SOL-per-share metric <a href="https://x.com/defidevcorp/status/1947266440673010025">increased</a> 13% last week to 0.0514, equivalent to $10.39 in SOL value per share. Whether that number continues to rise depends not just on SOL&#8217;s price action, but on DeFi Dev Corp&#8217;s ability to keep stacking without spooking equity markets.



Meanwhile, Upexi, another aggressive entrant in the Solana treasury race, <a href="https://x.com/cryptodotnews/status/1947359003735966175">announced</a> it <a href="https://x.com/UpexiTreasury/status/1947273485404770495">purchased</a> an additional 100,000 SOL for $17.7 million on July 17. That brings Upexi&#8217;s total holdings to 1,818,809 SOL, <a href="https://x.com/UpexiAllan/status/1947279656559731099">valued</a> at approximately $367 million — making it the largest SOL-holding public company to date.



Over half of these tokens were reportedly acquired at a discount in locked form, helping secure an unrealized gain of around $94.7 million over the last quarter.



Teams like this represent a rising breed of publicly-traded treasury builders who seem less interested in diversification than in weaponizing volatility to grow <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/2025-h1-bitcoin-treasury-altcoins">crypto-denominated reserves </a>and per-share value at scale.



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<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/supply-shock">Supply Shock</a>: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.</li>
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Equity-fueled firms weaponize volatility to amass SOL

Ben Strack

This is a segment from the Forward Guidance newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forwardguidance" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>.



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It seems like just about every day we get an update on a company buying bitcoin, ETH or another altcoin — establishing a crypto reserve for the first time, or adding to its pile.&nbsp;



But firms forming and getting these assets on their balance sheet is just phase one, Galaxy asset management head Steve Kurz told me last week.&nbsp;



“To the extent that companies are able to use capital-markets tooling to achieve escape velocity, they’re going to be able to build potential operating businesses and ecosystems around the networks they’re supposed to back,” he said.&nbsp;



Foundations pushing various decentralized systems are generally not exploring the systems’ use cases in the same pointed (and commercial) way, Kurz noted.&nbsp; He added: “So what will be interesting in determining how many are successful is: To what degree do those ecosystems become more vibrant, and where is the synergy between that and the business model of these companies that will have success?”



The original (and behemoth) in this space, Strategy, now holds 607,770 BTC (acquired for ~$43.6 billion) after its latest 6,220 BTC buy. Trump Media said this morning it has accumulated $2 billion of bitcoin and has another $300 million earmarked for an options-acquisition strategy for BTC-related securities.



Also revealed this morning was the creation of The Ether Machine via the combination of The Ether Reserve and Nasdaq-listed Dynamix Corporation. Labeling its aim of “enabling public market investors to access Ethereum yield,” the public vehicle expects to launch with ~400,000 ETH (worth more than $1.5 billion).&nbsp;



We saw Bitcoin Standard Treasury Company say last week it plans to launch with holdings of 30,021 BTC after merging with SPAC Cantor Equity Partners.



And a week before that, ReserveOne said it planned to list on the Nasdaq after combining with (yes, you guessed it) another SPAC — this one called M3-Brigade Acquisition V Corp. The company looks to offer investors access to “a diversified digital asset portfolio inspired by the proposed US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile.”



ReserveOne lists Galaxy Digital as a strategic partner. Galaxy also agreed to help oversee <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/bitcoin-treasury-strategies-sharplink-eth">SharpLink Gaming’s ETH treasury strategy</a>, led by board chair Joseph Lubin.&nbsp;



That brings us back to my convo with Kurz, who noted Galaxy has done business with 15 or so companies who have raised $4 billion to buy crypto. That includes offering execution, custody and risk management services, as well as yield-generation infrastructure.



“The bigger picture is crypto intersecting with public markets in the US [being] the story of 2025,” he said.



By Bitwise’s count, 125 public companies held bitcoin at the end of Q2.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">Companies are buying bitcoin, Q2 2025 edition <a href="https://t.co/0UxrlIZQvb">pic.twitter.com/0UxrlIZQvb</a>&mdash; Bitwise (@BitwiseInvest) <a href="https://twitter.com/BitwiseInvest/status/1943029893153067193?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 9, 2025</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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Kraken CFO Stephanie Lemmerman predicted in April that we could see <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/corporate-bitcoin-adoption-boom-inevitable-kraken">more than 10,000 </a>public companies holding BTC a few years from now. Swan Bitcoin CIO Ben Werkman told me in May that corporations could one day hold between 25% and 35% <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/companies-building-btc-treasuries-corporate-reserves">of all bitcoin</a>.



Kurz isn’t so sure about those projections but notes the likelihood of many companies owning at least a little bit of BTC (even if not raising a ton to keep accumulating) — given its scarcity, de-dollarization, etc.&nbsp;



A Keyrock <a href="https://keyrock.com/btc-treasuries-uncovered/">report</a> found bitcoin treasury companies were trading at, on aggregate, a 73% premium to their BTC holdings. Not all will trade at a premium forever — particularly those “being the 10th in line to do the same thing,” Kurz explained.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“If there’s 100 right now and 10 of them achieve scale, what does phase two look like for those that achieve the scale?” the Galaxy exec posed. “And are they able to do more in DeFi to generate yield and stay ahead of the ETFs on performance and hire a great team to build out a broader investment program?”



How these companies’ business models evolve over time is unknowable right now. 



“This is capital-markets-meets-crypto-innovation all at once,” Kurz said. “Some of it will be great, and some of it won’t be great.”



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<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Empire</a>: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.</li>



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<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Lightspeed</a>: All things Solana.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/supply-shock">Supply Shock</a>: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.</li>
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