📉 From +2600% to Total Collapse: The DAT Bubble Just Imploded.
What started in early 2025 as one of the hottest trades in the market has turned into a full-scale wipeout. Dozens of public companies that loaded up on crypto and rebranded themselves as “Digital Asset Treasuries” have seen their stock prices fall harder than the tokens they bought.
🕯 The playbook that supercharged stocks
Companies raised money, bought $BTC or other tokens and watched their stocks pump even faster than the assets on their balance sheet.
Michael Saylor created the playbook with Strategy Inc, and more than 100 companies copied it.
Some even went parabolic. SharpLink Gaming exploded more than 2600% in days after announcing it would pivot into buying Ethereum.
🛍 When the market realized the math didn’t work
Eventually investors realized something simple.
Holding tokens does not create yield.
Most DATs funded their crypto buying with debt, and those interest and dividend payments now need cash flow that does not exist.
SharpLink is now down 86%.
Greenlane Holdings is down 99%, even though it still owns around 48M dollars in tokens.
Across the US and Canada the median DAT stock is down 43% this year while Bitcoin is down only 6%.
💥 Leverage that turned into a ticking bomb
DATs raised more than 45B dollars to buy crypto in 2025. Strategy alone created multiple convertible bonds and preferred shares to fuel its Bitcoin purchases.
Now they have to make payments on that debt.
Their tokens do not pay interest, so the only option becomes selling crypto.
This is where the fear kicks in.
Saylor has always said he would never sell.
But this week Strategy’s CEO said they would sell Bitcoin if needed to fund dividends.
Those comments shook the entire sector.
🔽 Why forced selling could trigger a chain reaction
If DATs start selling to pay their bills, they can pressure the crypto market itself. Even a tiny sale from Strategy would be seen as a major psychological break and could trigger forced selling from others.
