The rise of these so-called Digital Asset Treasury Companies (DATs) has seemingly become one of web3 and crypto’s most “defining” developments since 2020. CoinGecko noted in a report that although most headlines have primarily focused on ETFs, memecoins, and the upcoming wave of decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, DAT companies have emerged as a potentially powerful new class of market participants.
In their detailed report, CoinGecko examine just how DAT companies rise from niche corporate experiments into a $130 billion ecosystem that is now said to be spanning Bitcoin, Ethereum, and various altcoins.
According to the extensive research report from CoinGecko, the key takeaways from this ongoing development are as follows:
- Public companies are currently holding crypto-assets as part of their reserves. Strategy’s unprecedented ascent now appears to have further pushed so-called pure-play DAT firms into the spotlight
- DAT companies surged dramatically from just 4 to 142. Since 2020 — 76 of them were formed just this year alone
- DAT firms reportedly deployed $42.7B in 2025, with more than half or over 50% of it since Q3
- Strategy still decisively dominates the nascent category, now holding around $70.7B, representing ~50% of all DAT company-held crypto assets
- DAT company stocks surged within the first 10 days (BitMine +3,069%), before broadly correcting
For most DAT companies, their share price experienced a significant rise within the “first 10 days after announcing their pivot, often hitting a significant high before receding.”
In certain cases, the highs in the first 10 days were “able to hit double-digit multiples, with BitMine Immersion even reaching a +3,069% return.”
The only significant outlier now is Metaplanet, whose stock “experienced a ~100% bump in the first 10 days, but took 269 days before it really hit its peak return of ~6,200%.”
Most DAT company stocks experienced considerable share price movements preceding their launch, typically benefiting “only early buyers or insiders.”
According to the research report, this has sparked controversy, “leading the SEC and FINRA to investigate it as potential insider trading.”
But CoinGecko also noted that the pumps have been fairly short lived, with the majority of DAT company stocks now tanking in the days after their pivot. For instance, CoinGecko pointed out that ALT5 Sigma was down “-71%, 44 days after its pivot into a DAT company.”
Its holdings of WLFI has also significantly “underperformed, and is down -56% from its launch day.”
