Original title: DAT Value Creation
Original authors: Cosmo Jiang, Erik Lowe, Pantera
Original translation by: Azuma, Odaily Planet Daily
Editor's note: On the evening of August 11, BitMine Immersion Technologies, a New York Stock Exchange-listed company, announced that as of 10:59 PM Eastern Time on August 10, the company's total ETH holdings had reached 1,150,263, worth over $4.96 billion. This not only makes BitMine the world's largest ETH treasury company but also the only entity with ETH holdings exceeding 1 million.
On the evening of August 12, the US SEC publicly disclosed that BitMine plans to increase the total amount of common stock it can sell under the sales agreement to a maximum of $24.5 billion to acquire more ETH.
With BitMine's frenzied buying, the price of ETH has surged, approaching new highs, and BitMine's stock price has skyrocketed by 1300% since the end of June. In the following text, top industry VC Pantera uses BitMine as an example to analyze the valuation logic of such treasury companies, which may help understand BitMine's accumulation strategy and the premium logic for treasury stocks like BMNR.
The following is the original content from Pantera, translated by Odaily Planet Daily.
Our investment theory for digital asset treasury companies (DAT) is based on a simple premise: DAT can enhance the net asset value (NAV/share) through income strategies, and long-term holding will yield more underlying token ownership than merely holding spot.
Therefore, holding DAT shares may provide higher return potential compared to directly holding tokens or investing through ETFs.
Pantera has invested over $300 million in DATs focused on different regions and tokens. These DATs are leveraging their unique advantages to expand their digital asset holdings through per-share appreciation strategies. Below is an overview of our DAT portfolio.
BitMine (BMNR) case study
BitMine Immersion (BMNR) is the first investment of the Pantera DAT fund. BitMine has a clear strategic roadmap and strong execution capability, with Fundstrat founder Tom Lee serving as the chairman of BitMine's board, proposing the company's long-term vision of acquiring 5% of the total ETH supply — they call it '5% Alchemy.' We believe it is beneficial to explore the value creation of BMNR as a case study of a high-level executing DAT.
Since BitMine launched its asset treasury strategy, it has become the largest ETH asset treasury and the third largest DAT globally, currently holding a total of 1,150,263 ETH, worth $4.9 billion (as of August 10, 2025).
BMNR is currently the 25th most liquid stock in the United States, with an average daily trading volume of approximately $2.2 billion (as of the five-day moving average on August 8, 2025).
Underlying asset: The value support of Ethereum
The success of DAT primarily depends on the long-term investment value of the underlying tokens. The core idea of BitMine is: As Wall Street goes on-chain, Ethereum will become one of the most important macro trends of the next decade. As we mentioned last month, the tokenization of real-world assets (RWA) and the rise of stablecoins are driving the 'on-chain migration' — currently, $25 billion in RWA and $260 billion in stablecoins are held across major public chains, the latter having become the 17th largest holder of US Treasuries.
On July 2, 2025, during a Pantera DAT conference call, Tom Lee stated: 'Stablecoins have become the ChatGPT narrative of cryptocurrencies.'
Ethereum, as the main carrier of this migration, will continue to benefit from the growing demand for blockchain space. The financial industry's reliance on Ethereum's security will further stimulate its participation in the proof-of-stake network, driving up the demand for ETH accumulation.
Increase 'tokens per share (EPS)'
After establishing the investment value of the underlying tokens, the business model of DAT is to maximize its corresponding token holdings per share. The main methods to increase 'tokens per share' are as follows:
· Premium stock issuance: Issuing shares at a price above the net asset value (NAV) per token;
· Issuing convertible bonds: Profiting from the dual volatility of stocks and tokens;
· Earn on-chain returns: Obtaining more tokens through staking rewards, DeFi returns, etc. (this is a unique advantage of ETH DAT compared to earlier Bitcoin DAT);
· Acquiring other DAT: Acquisitions at transaction prices close to or below the NAV of comparable companies;
In the first month of launching the ETH treasury strategy, BitMine's per-share ETH holding growth has surpassed the cumulative performance of Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) in the previous six months, primarily achieved through stock issuance and staking rewards, with potential future expansion into convertible bonds and other instruments.
The three driving factors of value creation
The stock price of DAT can be broken down into the product of three major factors:
1. Number of tokens per share;
2. Underlying token price;
3. NAV premium multiple (mNAV);
Taking BMNR as an example: At the end of June, BMNR's trading price was $4.27 per share, approximately 1.1 times its initial DAT capital raised NAV of $4 per share; more than a month later, the stock closed at $51 (Odaily note: the current stock price has risen to $62.44, corresponding to an increase of over 1300% since June 26), about 1.7 times its estimated NAV of $30 per share.
During this more than one-month price increase of 1100%:
The 1.330% increase in the number of tokens per share contributed approximately 60% of the growth;
2. The price growth of the underlying asset ETH (from $2500 to $4300) contributed approximately 20% of the growth;
The 3.mNAV increase to 1.7 times contributed approximately 20% of the growth;
This indicates that the increase in BMNR's stock price primarily comes from the per-share ETH value appreciation controlled by the management, which is the core advantage that differentiates DAT from spot holdings.
Another factor regarding mNAV that we have not yet discussed.
Naturally, people will ask: Why would someone buy DAT at a premium relative to NAV? I think it is useful to draw an analogy to balance sheet-based financial businesses (including banks) here. Banks seek to generate returns on their assets, and investors give valuation premiums to those banks they believe can sustainably generate returns above their cost of capital. The highest quality banks trade at a premium above NAV (or book value), for example, JPM's trading price exceeds NAV by 2 times. Similarly, if investors believe DAT can sustainably increase its per-share NAV, they may choose to value it at a premium to NAV.
We believe that BMNR's monthly NAV growth of approximately 640% has proven the reasonableness of its mNAV premium. BitMine's ability to continue executing its strategy will become evident over time, with challenges inevitably arising along the way. BitMine's management team and its performance record so far have attracted support from traditional financial institutions, including Stan Druckenmiller, Bill Miller, and ARK Invest. We expect that the growth story of the highest quality DAT will gradually be appreciated by more institutional investors, just like Strategy.
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