Retail crypto investors have reportedly incurred approximately $17 billion in losses while attempting to gain exposure to bitcoin through so-called digital asset treasury (DAT) companies. A Bloomberg report, citing findings from 10X Research, attributes these losses primarily to the erosion of heavily overpriced share premiums that these DAT companies once commanded.

The report specifically identifies Strategy (MSTR)—the poster child of the DAT strategy—and the Japanese-listed Metaplanet as the two prominent firms that have seen their stock premiums plummet in recent months. MSTR’s share value premium, for instance, has fallen drastically from a high of around four times its underlying bitcoin holdings to just 1.4 times.

Since peaking at approximately $455 in July, Strategy’s share price has steadily declined, hovering just below $290 as of October 20. This downturn has led to a sharp drop in market capitalization, falling from over $130 billion to $83.2 billion. Despite the decline, the company continued to accumulate bitcoin—albeit at a slower pace. At the time of writing, Strategy’s total BTC holdings stood at just over 640,000.

Similarly, Metaplanet, which reportedly acquired $3.3 billion in BTC with $1 billion, saw its market capitalization drop from $8 billion to $3.1 billion. The study starkly summarized how the digital asset treasury strategy ultimately disadvantaged shareholders:

“In the process, shareholders lost $4.9 billion in value, while the company managed to accumulate $2.3 billion worth of Bitcoin — a feat worthy of applause.”

To restore investor confidence and prevent the narrative from imploding, the report urges DAT companies to evolve and function more like arbitrage-driven asset managers. While this shift may reduce bitcoin’s upside potential, the study concludes that a DAT firm’s ability to adapt to this new and more managed model will ultimately determine its long-term viability and bottom line.

• What are DAT companies? Digital Asset Treasury (DAT) firms invest in bitcoin and trade at premiums above their holdings.
• Why did investors lose money? Share premiums collapsed, wiping out $17 billion in retail investor value.
• Which companies were affected most? Strategy (MSTR) and Metaplanet saw major drops in share price and market cap.
• What’s the proposed solution? DAT firms should shift to asset management models to stabilize investor returns.

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