Digital asset treasury companies have maintained conviction, buying the dips, while exchange-traded product investors have been selling.
The last month has been pretty dismal for crypto markets, but one industry sector remained bullish.
“A positive development in the last 30 days was an increase in the pace of BTC purchases by Bitcoin Digital Asset Treasuries (DATs),” said VanEck in its mid-month “ChainCheck” report on Monday.
DATs stepped in during the recent market weakness, adding 42,000 BTC, a 4% month-over-month increase, from mid-November to mid-December, it reported. This represents their largest accumulation since July 2025, when they added 128,100 BTC, the analysts continued.
DATs Hold Over 1M BTC
Digital asset treasuries now hold an aggregate of 1.09 million BTC, worth around $96.6 billion, and representing roughly 5.5% of the total supply. However, many DATs have seen their mNAVs dropping below 1.0x as their purchases came much later in the cycle.
Michael Saylor’s Strategy is the outlier, as the majority of Bitcoin purchases in the past 30 days, around 29,400 BTC, were made by the company, which can issue common stock to buy the asset. However, the report predicted that this model may change in the future.
“Going forward, we believe many DATs’ strategy will be to move away from common stock issuance and instead finance BTC purchases with proceeds from preference share sales.”
Unfortunately, Bitcoin exchange-traded product (ETP) investors were less bullish with holdings dropping to 1.31 million BTC, VanEck noted.
Tom Lee’s BitMine has also been aggressively buying the dip, scooping up more Ether every week. The Ethereum DAT has reached a milestone of 4 million ETH this week, valued at $12.3 billion and representing 3.36% of the entire supply.
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Divergent Hodler Behavior
VanEck also observed divergent behavior between long and medium-term holders. There has been significant movement among medium-term token holders, with notable reductions in balances across the 1-2 year, 2-3 year, and 3-5 year cohorts.
“Generally, if a token is not moved for a long time, greater than a few years, it indicates whoever holds it is confident in Bitcoin’s long-term prospects.”
The analysts explained that when older coins are moved, they instantly join the newest cohorts, “and we believe this churn may signal a short/medium-term price peak.”
The fact that the very oldest cohorts, over five years, are holding steady suggests the most seasoned holders aren’t too concerned about current market conditions.
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