ETH treasury firms like ETFs are supported by standing DATs
Ethereum treasury companies are under pressure to monetize staking and other profit-making strategies as crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) weaken the appeal of public companies that simply hold Ether (ETH), according to a new Everstake report.
Staking accounts for an average of 60 percent of earnings among the six ETH treasuries that have reported equity-related earnings, the equity infrastructure provider said.
Everstake reviewed 15 publicly listed companies with an ETH treasury strategy and found that firms in the sample that reported losses by 2025 posted a net loss of approximately $1.41 billion. Separately, BitMine Immersion Technologies posted a net loss of $9.02 billion for the six months ended Feb. 28, though the figure was driven largely by unrealized losses on digital assets rather than operating losses, the report said.
The 60% earnings per share figure was based on six companies that disclosed earnings per share separately: BitMine Immersion Technologies, SharpLink, Bit Digital, Forum Markets, BTCS and FG Nexus. Companies that did not issue stakeholder-related awards or had annual results pending were excluded from the calculation.
The report places the transition as part of a broader review of digital asset treasury companies (DATs), which previously provided one of the few regulated ways for public market investors to gain crypto exposure. Everstake spot ETFs have leveraged DATs' passive exposure premiums to leverage treasury firms' exposure to equities, defi loans, MEV capture and other leveraged strategies.
ETH treasury data compiled by Everstake. Source: Everstake
“DATs based on actual vulnerability are being structurally reversed,” Everstack co-founder Bohdan Opryshko said in the report. The deployment is “no longer limited to standard protocol storage” and now includes liquid storage, defi lending and verifier-level mechanisms, he added.
Opryshko told Cointelegraph that the study does not argue that the inclusion of income alone can support every ETH treasury model or compensate for all risks. ETH price volatility, dilution, net asset value discounts, financing costs and operating costs can outweigh profits, especially for companies with weak capital structures or ineffective treasury management, he said.
The report's point is narrow, he said: “Passive ETH stocks are becoming increasingly difficult to justify as a stand-alone public market strategy, especially after spot crypto ETFs offer passive exposure to investors.”
In that environment, holding stocks and other active asset deployments may be “necessary but not sufficient” for ETH treasury companies to continue their models, he added.
An ETF is important, but it may not be the only pressure point.
According to Ignacio Aguirre, chief marketing officer at crypto exchange Bitget, spot ETFs have allowed ETH treasury companies to offer premiums based solely on ETH exposure. But he cautioned against giving the discount entirely to ETAFs.
“I'm not going to single out ETFs,” Aguirre told Cointelegraph. ETH treasury companies are still equity vehicles, meaning investors weigh ETH price performance, balance sheet quality, dilution risk, treasury strategy, performance and broader market sentiment, he said.
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Aguirre staking can improve the ETH treasury model by creating a recurring revenue stream, although the impact is generated at a scale sufficient to offset operational costs, depletion and volatility.
He added that stock-enabled ETH ETF treasury companies could be a future pressure point, but described them as “more helpful than existing threats.”
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