Overview

• Digital Asset Treasury firms collectively hold about $105 billion in crypto across bitcoin, ether and other majors, according to Ryan Watkins’ Sept. 23 analysis now covered by multiple outlets.
• Watkins argues a small cohort could evolve from passive token holders into entities that finance development, operate businesses and participate in governance within their native ecosystems.
• Programmable assets such as ETH and SOL let treasuries stake for fees, supply liquidity, lend and acquire infrastructure like validators or RPC nodes, creating yield-generating balance sheets.
• He contrasts this approach with bitcoin-only balance-sheet strategies and likens prospective winners to hybrids of closed-end funds, REITs, banks and Berkshire Hathaway, with returns accruing in crypto per share rather than fees.
• Watkins cautions that many first-generation, financially engineered vehicles may falter as conditions normalize, with consolidation and potentially risky balance-sheet moves likely if market-to-NAV pressures intensify.