ETHZilla, which up until August was a pharmaceutical research firm called 180 Life Sciences, sold around $40 million of its ETH treasury to try to bolster its plunging stock price.9 FG Nexus, which also launched an ETH treasury strategy only months ago, has sold nearly $33 million of its holdings for the same purpose.10 Sequans, a semiconductor company that established a bitcoin treasury in June, sold $100 million of its bitcoin to pay down its debt.11
ETHZilla, which up until August was a pharmaceutical research firm called 180 Life Sciences, sold around $40 million of its ETH treasury to try to bolster its plunging stock price.9 FG Nexus, which also launched an ETH treasury strategy only months ago, has sold nearly $33 million of its holdings for the same purpose.10 Sequans, a semiconductor company that established a bitcoin treasury in June, sold $100 million of its bitcoin to pay down its debt.11
Now, with two months of sinking crypto prices, some of these firms are beginning to look pretty shaky, and the warnings from Chanos and others seem prescient. Many DATCOs have flipped from trading at a premium to a discount, meaning shares trade for less than the value of the underlying digital asset. Nakamoto, a bitcoin treasury company that merged with the publicly traded KindlyMD earlier this year, has cratered by 98%. BitMine is down 77% since adopting its DAT strategy this past summer. The OG, MicroStrategy, is down 60%. (Nakamoto and BitMine are trading at a discount to the value of their treasury holdings; MicroStrategy still trades at a premium, though it has been narrowing.)
Now, with two months of sinking crypto prices, some of these firms are beginning to look pretty shaky, and the warnings from Chanos and others seem prescient. Many DATCOs have flipped from trading at a premium to a discount, meaning shares trade for less than the value of the underlying digital asset. Nakamoto, a bitcoin treasury company that merged with the publicly traded KindlyMD earlier this year, has cratered by 98%. BitMine is down 77% since adopting its DAT strategy this past summer. The OG, MicroStrategy, is down 60%. (Nakamoto and BitMine are trading at a discount to the value of their treasury holdings; MicroStrategy still trades at a premium, though it has been narrowing.)