What if I told you that while you were busy watching ETF news and memecoin pumps, 142 public companies quietly turned themselves into crypto hedge funds?

And that they're now sitting on $137 billion in digital assets?

And that 76 of them did this just in 2025?

Welcome to the DATCO revolution. And trust me, you're going to want to understand this.

Let Me Explain

Okay, so here's what happened.

Back in 2020, a guy named Michael Saylor looked at his company's cash and thought, "This is just sitting here losing value to inflation. What if we put it in Bitcoin instead?"

Most people thought he was insane.

Fast forward to today, and his company (MicroStrategy, now rebranded as Strategy) is holding $70.7 billion in Bitcoin. That's not a typo. Seventy billion dollars.

And he's not alone anymore. Not even close.

According to CoinGecko's latest report, there are now 142 Digital Asset Treasury Companies (DATCOs for short). These are public companies that decided to hold crypto as a core part of their corporate strategy.

Some of them mine it. Some of them just buy it. Some of them used to sell furniture or dental equipment and then one day said, "Actually, we're a crypto treasury company now."

And the market went absolutely wild.

The Numbers Are Bonkers

Let me hit you with some stats that'll make your head spin:

From 4 to 142 Companies

In January 2020, there were exactly 4 DATCOs. By October 2025? 142.

And get this: 76 of them were formed in 2025 alone. That's more than half, and we're only talking about ten months.

This isn't a trend. This is a stampede.

$42.7 Billion Deployed in 2025

These companies spent $42.7 billion buying crypto this year. And over half of that ($22.6 billion) happened since Q3.

To put that in perspective, that's more than the GDP of some countries. And they deployed it in a matter of months.

Bitcoin Still Dominates (But Not For Long)

Of the 142 DATCOs, 113 hold Bitcoin. That's 79.6% of them.

Bitcoin makes up 82.6% of all DATCO holdings by dollar value. Ethereum is second at 13.2%. Solana is third at 2.1%.

But here's the thing: that altcoin percentage is growing fast. In Q3 alone, altcoin DATCOs spent $10.8 billion, which is nearly half of the quarter's total spend.

The playbook is expanding beyond Bitcoin.

Strategy Owns 3% of All Bitcoin

Let that sink in.

One company. 3.05% of Bitcoin's entire supply.

BitMine Immersion owns 2.75% of all Ethereum.

Forward Industries owns 1.25% of all Solana.

We're watching corporate treasuries become whales in real time.

The Stock Market Went Full Casino

Now here's where it gets spicy.

When these companies announce they're pivoting to become a DATCO, their stock prices go parabolic. Like, really parabolic.

BitMine Immersion? Up 3,069% in the first 10 days after their announcement.

Metaplanet (a Japanese company) took a little longer, but eventually hit a 6,200% return.

You read that right. Six thousand two hundred percent.

But here's the catch: most of these stocks crash shortly after the pump.

ALT5 Sigma was down 71% just 44 days after its DATCO pivot. The token they bought (WLFI) dropped 56% from launch day.

The SEC and FINRA are now investigating whether some of this was insider trading, because the early buyers and insiders made out like bandits while retail got wrecked.

So yeah, it's exciting. But it's also messy, speculative, and full of landmines.

Why This Matters (And Why It's Not Just Hype)

Okay, so you might be thinking: "Cool story, Thomas. But this sounds like a bunch of companies YOLOing into crypto. Why should I care?"

Fair question.

Here's why this matters: DATCOs are proving that public companies can use blockchain rails to fundamentally reshape how they manage capital.

This isn't just about buying Bitcoin and hoping it goes up. It's about:

• Access: Institutional investors who can't buy spot crypto can buy DATCO stock instead. It's a compliance workaround.
• Compounding: When these companies trade at a premium to their holdings, they can issue more shares and buy more crypto, increasing the crypto-per-share for existing investors.
• Yield: Ethereum DATCOs are staking their holdings and earning yield. Solana DATCOs are doing the same. It's not just about price appreciation anymore.

This is a new financial primitive. And like all new primitives, it's messy and chaotic at first.

But the core idea? It's sound.

The Part Nobody's Talking About Yet

Here's where my "crypto enthusiast" hat comes off and my "guy who's been building tokenization infrastructure since 2016" hat goes on.

Everyone's focused on Bitcoin and Ethereum DATCOs.

But the real opportunity? Real-world asset DATCOs.

Think about it.

If companies can raise capital in traditional markets and deploy it into Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana... why not tokenized real estate? Tokenized commodities? Tokenized private credit?

The playbook is the same:

• Raise capital publicly
• Deploy it into programmable, on-chain assets
• Report NAV transparently
• Let the market apply a premium
• Use that premium to buy more assets
• Compound value for shareholders

But instead of betting on Bitcoin going up, you're earning rental income from tokenized real estate. Or interest from tokenized private debt. Or royalties from tokenized IP.

The infrastructure exists. The accounting standards are being figured out. The regulatory clarity is improving (slowly, but it's improving).

The next wave of DATCOs won't just hold Bitcoin.

They'll hold tokenized real-world assets.

And the companies that figure out how to package those assets for institutional investors will be the winners of the next cycle.

Where Deal Box and OroBit Fit In

At Deal Box, we've been structuring tokenized offerings since 2016.

We've watched the DATCO playbook unfold. We've studied how these companies raise capital, what makes them attractive to investors, and where the risks lie.

Through our partnership with OroBit, we're building the infrastructure to apply this playbook to real-world assets on Bitcoin's base layer.

We're not trying to be Strategy. We're building the rails for the next hundred companies that want to do what Strategy did, but with tokenized RWAs instead of just crypto.

Because here's the reality: the $137 billion sitting in DATCO treasuries today is impressive.

But it's a rounding error compared to what happens when this model gets applied to the $30 trillion private credit market, the $300 trillion real estate market, and the trillions more in commodities, art, and other real-world assets.

That's the game.

And it's just getting started.

The Bottom Line

142 companies holding $137 billion in crypto is not a fluke.

It's a proof of concept.

The playbook works. The accounting is getting clearer. The institutional appetite is real.

Now the question is: what comes next?

My bet? Real-world assets.

And if you're watching the DATCO trend wondering where to position yourself, that's the direction I'd be looking.

Welcome to the future of corporate treasuries.

It's programmable. It's transparent. And it's just getting started.

Thomas Carter is the Founder and CEO of Deal Box, a venture capital firm specializing in tokenized assets and digital securities. Since 2016, Deal Box has structured compliant offerings across blockchain, real-world assets, and emerging tech. Through its partnership with OroBit, Deal Box is building Bitcoin-native infrastructure for institutional-grade tokenization.

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