It was immediately questioned after its listing. How far can the world’s first RWA stock go?

Everyone’s heard of ETFs, right? They bundle a basket of stocks into an index, managed by a fund manager, leveraging the power of large capital to help everyone profit. With the development of the crypto industry, countries have begun to build cryptocurrency reserves, and the crypto version of ETFs has emerged.

At this year’s Hong Kong Bitcoin Conference, Dr. Xiao Feng, known as the “Godfather of China’s Blockchain,” bluntly stated: DAT may become a more suitable investment tool for Crypto than ETF.

The “hand in hand” of ETF and Crypto

In fact, the US already has crypto ETFs, and regulatory oversight is increasingly positive. On July 29, 2025, the SEC officially allowed Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs to be created and redeemed in “physical form,” putting them on par with gold and oil ETFs, no longer limited to cash settlement.

Traditional financial giants are also not far behind – for example, the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) launched by BlackRock is a typical case, allowing institutions and retail investors to easily configure Bitcoin through brokerage accounts; this year, ETF products with Ethereum as the underlying asset have also appeared, attracting billions of dollars in funds.

DAT: Putting Cryptocurrency into the “Vault” of Enterprises

The core logic of a DAT is that a publicly traded company converts cash, assets, and even mortgages into working capital, uses this to purchase cryptocurrencies and place them on its balance sheet. The company then becomes a “Digital Asset Treasury Company” (DATCO), and its stock price is directly linked to the price of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum.

The most notable example is MicroStrategy (now known as Strategy Corporation). During the dot-com bubble, its stock plummeted to the point of near delisting. However, the company went all-in on Bitcoin, buying from as low as $11,650. As a result, its market capitalization peaked at $70 billion, and its stock price increased nearly 20-fold in five years.

Inspired by it, more and more companies have begun to put cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum, SOL, Doge, and BNB into their own “vaults”.

According to public data, there are currently about 7 listed companies holding more than 6.4 million SOL (market value of over US$1.4 billion), and nearly 70 companies have listed tokens such as BNB, Doge, and SOL as reserve assets.

At the beginning, the stock prices of these companies generally soared, but the risks of DAT are also obvious – once the currency price falls, the company’s stock price will be hit and the market value will shrink.

DAT is more ruthless than you think

DAT is not just about buying coins; it also uses financial leverage.

Traditional hedge funds use margin loans to speculate on assets and are forced to close their positions if prices fall too far. However, listed companies can issue multi-year bonds and use the low-interest money to buy Bitcoin, making them more resilient to risk.

More importantly, many regulated funds around the world (pension funds, endowment funds, etc.) cannot directly purchase digital assets, but can purchase stocks of listed companies. Therefore, DATCO has become a “bridge” for them to legally access cryptocurrencies.

What’s even more interesting is that MicroStrategy’s stock market value can be as high as 2.8 times higher than the value of its Bitcoin holdings because investors are willing to pay a premium for this “leveraged coin-stock” model.

Why DATs May Replace ETFs

ETF subscriptions and redemptions with greater liquidity require multiple processes and may take 1-2 days to complete, while DAT stock transactions can be completed in minutes on the exchange, or even within two minutes on the chain.

Better price elasticity: DAT’s stock price fluctuations are more “flexible” than pure Bitcoin, which gives hedge funds and alternative investors more arbitrage opportunities.

For more suitable leverage, you only need to buy stocks, and the company will help you build the leverage structure, allowing you to enjoy a premium that is higher than the increase in Bitcoin spot.

It has built-in “downside protection”. If the stock price falls below the net value of the Bitcoin held by the company, it is equivalent to buying Bitcoin at a discount, and the market will quickly eliminate the price difference.

Overall, DAT may be the most noteworthy new trend in the next 3-5 years, and may even become the new “ETF” for crypto investment.

RWA: The next piece of the DAT puzzle?

RWA (real-world assets on-chain) seems to be another major track in the crypto industry, tokenizing real assets such as real estate, bonds, and accounts receivable so that they can circulate on the chain.

But the biggest problem facing RWA is liquidity: if the underlying assets are not attractive enough, trading will not be active, liquidity will be insufficient, and it may even be manipulated by short-term market makers.

In contrast, the highlight of the DAT model is that it utilizes financing tools of the stock market (such as ATM – additional issuance at market price) to allow all investors to participate fairly and combine crypto investment with the equity market.

In the future, if DATCO incorporates RWA into its digital asset portfolio, it may give rise to a new “RWA-DAT” model, truly connecting traditional assets and crypto assets.

Conclusion

ETFs ushered in the era of index investing, while DATs may usher in the era of “digital asset vaults.”

The entry of RWAs may make this market larger and more robust. In the coming years, learning about RWAs and DATs, and understanding their logic and opportunities, may help you discern the next major trend in financial innovation.

This article is sourced from the internet: It was immediately questioned after its listing. How far can the world’s first RWA stock go?Recommended Articles

Related: Moonbirds’ rise, fall, and rebirthRecommended Articles

Written by June, TechFlow The world of NFTs has its ups and downs, but few projects have taken it as far as Moonbirds. From a glorious high of 38.5 ETH to a mere 0.22 ETH, it completed a breathtaking comeback in just three months. The turning point came when Spencer acquired Moonbirds. From peak to fall, and then to rebirth, it has gone through one of the most insane curves in the history of digital collectibles. Spencer stood center stage, reshaping a forgotten project into the hottest NFT in the crypto world. Peak start On April 16, 2022, Moonbirds, created by Digg co-founder Kevin Rose, officially launched with a mint price of 2.5 ETH. 7,875 NFTs sold out within 48 hours through whitelisting. Holders believed they were buying more than…