At the beginning of the year, it was also regarded as one of the best trades in the stock market, and in just a few months it became one of the worst investments. Many listed companies thought they had discovered a way to make money like perpetual motion machines: using company cash to buy bitcoins or other digital tokens, the stock price would soar, and the increase would even exceed the value of the purchased tokens. This strategy was pioneered by Michael Saylor, who transformed his company Strategy Inc. into a publicly listed Bitcoin holding platform. In the first half of 2025, more than 100 companies that followed Saylor's lead will benefit from it. As a result, these companies are known as “digital asset banks,” and have become one of the hottest trends in the open market. As stock prices soared, people from all walks of life, from Peter Thiel to the Trump family, poured in. SharpLink Gaming Inc. surged more than 2,600% in a few days. The company announced that it would transform and abandon its original gaming business and buy a large number of Ethereum tokens through stock sales. Its chairman is one of the co-founders of Ethereum. However, it has always been difficult to justify the assertion that the token alone is held by a listed company should increase in value. The derailed train initially glided slowly, then sped out of control. As far as SharpLink is concerned, its stock price has plummeted 86% from its peak, causing the company's overall market value to fall below the value of the digital tokens it holds. The company's current share price is only 0.9 times the value of its Ethereum holdings. At least it avoided the fate of Greenlane Holdings, whose share price plummeted by more than 99% this year even though the latter holds approximately $48 million worth of BERA crypto tokens. Fedor Shabalin, an analyst at B. Riley Securities, pointed out in an interview, “Investors have found that the benefits of holding these assets are far less than sitting on cash, so they have reduced their holdings one after another.” According to compiled data, among the US and Canadian listed companies that have switched to DAT, their share prices have fallen 43% this year. In contrast, Bitcoin has only declined around 6% since the beginning of the year.

At the beginning of the year, it was also regarded as one of the best trades in the stock market, and in just a few months it became one of the worst investments. Many listed companies thought they had discovered a way to make money like perpetual motion machines: using company cash to buy bitcoins or other digital tokens, the stock price would soar, and the increase would even exceed the value of the purchased tokens. This strategy was pioneered by Michael Saylor, who transformed his company Strategy Inc. into a publicly listed Bitcoin holding platform. In the first half of 2025, more than 100 companies that followed Saylor's lead will benefit from it. As a result, these companies are known as “digital asset banks,” and have become one of the hottest trends in the open market. As stock prices soared, people from all walks of life, from Peter Thiel to the Trump family, poured in. SharpLink Gaming Inc. surged more than 2,600% in a few days. The company announced that it would transform and abandon its original gaming business and buy a large number of Ethereum tokens through stock sales. Its chairman is one of the co-founders of Ethereum. However, it has always been difficult to justify the assertion that the token alone is held by a listed company should increase in value. The derailed train initially glided slowly, then sped out of control. As far as SharpLink is concerned, its stock price has plummeted 86% from its peak, causing the company's overall market value to fall below the value of the digital tokens it holds. The company's current share price is only 0.9 times the value of its Ethereum holdings. At least it avoided the fate of Greenlane Holdings, whose share price plummeted by more than 99% this year even though the latter holds approximately $48 million worth of BERA crypto tokens. Fedor Shabalin, an analyst at B. Riley Securities, pointed out in an interview, “Investors have found that the benefits of holding these assets are far less than sitting on cash, so they have reduced their holdings one after another.” According to compiled data, among the US and Canadian listed companies that have switched to DAT, their share prices have fallen 43% this year. In contrast, Bitcoin has only declined around 6% since the beginning of the year.