Svmuu reported on June 3 that Bitmine, an Ethereum treasury company under Tom Lee, announced plans to publicly issue 9.50% perpetual preferred shares to raise $300 million, with dividends paid in cash weekly. Earlier at the end of May, Strategy sold Bitcoin for the first time in four years—32 coins worth approximately $2.5 million—to pay preferred share dividends. The news triggered a sell-off: Bitcoin fell below $65,000, dropping over 14% in two trading days.
These two events point to a common dilemma for DAT companies: after mNAV (market cap / cryptocurrency holdings net value, i.e., how much the market is willing to pay for each dollar of coins held by the company) falls below 1, the channel for raising funds through equity issuance is effectively closed. Dividend and debt obligations are rigid expenses, leaving companies with no choice but to sell coins to meet them, which in turn exacerbates selling pressure—creating a vicious downward spiral. Currently, the mNAV of Strategy and Bitmine stands at 0.82 and 0.80, respectively.
SoSoValue researchers believe that the funding side of this Bitcoin cycle has been driven by two engines in sequence: first, DAT companies borrowing to buy coins, followed by sustained net inflows into spot ETFs. Now, both engines have simultaneously stalled. SoSoValue's ETF dashboard and crypto stock dashboard show that BTC spot ETFs have experienced net outflows for 12 consecutive days, with cumulative net outflows approaching $4 billion; ETH spot ETFs have seen net outflows for 16 consecutive days, totaling approximately $800 million. Meanwhile, the DAT camp, led by Strategy and Bitmine, has collectively fallen below mNAV. With both major sources of incremental funding drying up simultaneously, whether the crisis facing DAT companies marks the bottom of this crypto cycle remains to be seen.