Exploring Digital Equity With These 3 Stocks

Summary Digital Asset Treasuries (DATs) like MSTR, DFDV, and SBET offer levered crypto exposure with less risk via C-corp structures and flexible financing. DFDV (Solana) and SBET (Ethereum) are preferred over MSTR (Bitcoin) due to their ability to generate yield through staking and operational treasury management. Both DFDV and SBET currently trade at discounts to mNAV, signaling undervaluation, but face dilution risk if issuing new equity below NAV. Paradigm shifts in AI and tokenization could favor SOL and ETH infrastructure, making DFDV and SBET attractive dynamic asset plays with healthy balance sheets. Digital credit has been a big topic lately . It's a major tool of digital asset treasuries ("DATs"), companies that build a "treasury" of a cryptocurrency. I wanted to tackle the topic head-on today. So I'll talk about major DATs: Strategy ( MSTR ), DeFi Development Corp ( DFDV ), and Sharplink ( SBET ), and I'll say which ones I prefer for investment. Basic logic of digital equity Why buy shares of a DAT when you could just buy the coin itself or an ETF? It's because DATs give levered returns with less risk. This comes from being C-corps. It lets them use long-term financing to acquire crypto without margin calls. Prominent Companies with Crypto Treasuries (defillama.com) They can issue bonds or preferred stock and raise capital. They can purchase their target coin with itl. If the coin's appreciation is enough to cover dividends or interest, common shareholders benefit. MSTR & BTC 1Y Price Returns (Seeking Alpha) A DAT's common stock is often more volatile than crypto. So the stock could be at premium value to holdings. If so, the DAT sells more, and they get the premium value in cash. They can use this to buy more crypto or pay expenses without selling their holdings. DATs often have a dashboard on their website showing their stock's "mNAV." This is the multiple to their crypto's liquidation value. If the mNAV is higher than 1x, then it's at a premium and can be sold favorably. Most DATs try to grow their coin per share (BTC per share, SOL per share) by taking advantage of this flexible financing. Different coins, different DATs Which cryptocurrency a DAT chooses for its treasury depends on its prospects. The DATs I mentioned before have all chosen different coins. MSTR does Bitcoin ( BTC-USD ), DFDV does SOL ( SOL-USD ), and SBET does Ether ( ETH-USD ). MSTR Q4 2025 Earnings Presentation I think a BTC DAT is the simplest. There's no operating business to it. They issue securities to raise capital and buy BTC. They can limit total debt or preferred equity used. Then they hope BTC appreciates enough to work out. If you think BTC will do well over time, you should think a BTC DAT like MSTR will do better. With ETH and SOL, it's different. Those DATs have treasury operations . This mostly comes from staking. You can stake ETH . You can stake SOL . They have uses on their native blockchains. These chains enable smart contracts . That's why they can be deployed to earn yield. BTC can't do this. Sharplink Staking Stats (Sharplink Dashboard) Operational DATs can pay their dividend or interest expenses with this yield. That's a big advantage. It's why I can't bring myself to rate MSTR better than Hold. It doesn't do anything with its BTC treasury. So then it's a question of which blockchain is better for a DAT. Onchain finance and DATs Really, that depends on what happens with finance. Many think that AI agents will play a role here. Management of both DFDV and SBET concur with this. On top of that, tokenization of real-world assets creates more use cases for smart contracts. Put these together, and both blockchains become more useful. This creates demand for ETH or SOL. DFDV was the first public DAT to go outside of BTC, and their cryptocurrency of choice was SOL. Of the major blockchains, they also think Solana is best suited to scale up for the trends ahead. DFDV March 2026 Investor Presentation In their case for DFDV , they point to Solana's lead in total transactions for 2025 as a sign. Securitize, Inc. ( CEPT ) is a leader in tokenizing assets onchain. They have endorsed Solana as having a big role to play. Ethereum's advantage is that they were the first mover. They created the first infrastructure for smart contracts. Crypto Market Caps ( coinmarketcap.com ) Because of that, more money is behind ETH. Its market cap is $270.6B, while SOL's is $48.6B. This also means that many more developers operate there. So it's SOL's speed and low costs versus ETH's incumbency and network effect. These tailwinds could go either way over time. Both are buys It's tempting to say that one stock is better in a comparison, but I think there is a case for both DFDV and SBET. mNAVs (DFDV & SBET Dashboards) Both trade at a discount to mNAV, an indicator of undervaluation for a DAT. There aren't earnings in a traditional sense to value here. DATs are sort of like dynamic asset plays. They enhance their assets with their operations, plus natural tailwinds. SBET Balance (2025 Form 10K) If there's a rule of thumb to ease up on the buying, I'd say it's when the shares reach 1.2x NAV. DFDV Balance Sheet (2025 Form 10K) Both companies have relatively healthy balance sheets. DFDV's is leveraged, and SBET remains free of any debt or preferred equity. That might be why DFDV's mNAV is lower. It has costs of capital. Risk Factors There is a problem with the discounts too. It's impossible to issue common stock favorably. Issuing DFDV or SBET would be dilutive relative to SOL or ETH acquired. They'll have to use more leverage or just wait for their coins to recover since the crypto bearishness that kicked off in the fall. This rut for crypto occurred in the aftermath of the October 10 liquidations . DFDV disclosed in their shareholder letter that the liquidations made their normal staking strategy temporarily unprofitable and led to somewhat weaker Q4. Disruption in either ecosystem will disrupt operations. It's not just a financing risk. Operations are affected too. Final thoughts Digital equity is a viable way to invest in crypto. But it does take a discerning eye. I can't say BTC will fail, but I also can't see why it should succeed like SOL or ETH over time. If there are paradigm shifts with AI and tokenization, I'd want to be behind the right infrastructure. That is where digital equity has a chance at being something.