More than a dozen crypto treasury companies are abandoning pure-play token accumulation and racing into AI and data-centre businesses — but so far the strategy hasn’t convinced investors.
Why the pivot
Digital asset treasury (DAT) firms built businesses by raising equity, debt or private placements to hoard cryptocurrencies on their balance sheets. The model hinges on a market premium: investors pay more for the stock than the value of its tokens, allowing management to issue shares and buy more crypto. That setup breaks down when token prices fall or when shares trade at or below net asset value, making fresh share sales unattractive while debt obligations remain. VanEck warned in January that several DATs were trading at NAV discounts, ramping up pressure for consolidation and strategic shifts.
Who’s switching and how they’ve fared
Bloomberg reports that more than a dozen DATs have announced moves into AI, GPU rentals, hosting and related data-centre ventures — yet those announcements have not halted steep sell-offs in many names.
- K Wave Media: In May the company said it could redirect up to $485 million from a Bitcoin treasury plan into data centres, GPU rental operations and AI acquisitions, along with selling its legacy unit and cutting about $48 million in debt and related liabilities. The stock plunged nearly 25% on the first trading day after the announcement and has fallen roughly 71% since the May pivot, per Bloomberg. K Wave later sold its remaining 88 BTC to repay $6 million of debt, effectively ending a strategy that once targeted 10,000 BTC.
- Lixte Biotechnology: Having entered the DAT space in 2025 by buying 10.5 BTC and 300 ETH (about $2.6 million), with crypto representing roughly 43.6% of its treasury and an authorised allocation up to 50%, Lixte in June 2026 agreed to acquire NOMAD Transportable Power Systems and rebrand as NOMAD Power Solutions to offer mobile battery storage for data-centre customers. The shares dropped about 33% after the announcement.
- AlphaTON / Alpha Compute: AlphaTON launched a Toncoin treasury strategy in September 2025 targeting roughly $100 million in TON and Telegram infrastructure. In April 2026 it rebranded as Alpha Compute and shifted to GPU services, confidential computing and AI infrastructure. Bloomberg finds the stock down about 33% since the rebrand. The company has reported AI contracts and acquisitions, but changing the business label has not restored a treasury premium.
Other treasury firms have also sold portions of their crypto hoards to finance AI or data-centre plans — Empery Digital is one such example — and several names now trade at or below the value of their crypto holdings as markets abandon the once-lucrative treasury premium.
Why investors remain skeptical
Advisers are blunt: Toufic Adlouni, managing partner at Renno & Co, told Bloomberg that “the vast majority are trying to switch gears or are dead or dying.” That might be hyperbolic, but it captures investor sentiment: markets want proof of funding, customer traction and execution before rewarding a business pivot.
The economics of AI infrastructure are materially different from a treasury model. Data centres and GPU-hosting businesses can generate recurring operating revenue from compute contracts and hosting, but they require heavy upfront capital expenditure, substantial electricity, specialised chips and long-term customer commitments. Companies that struggled to raise capital for token purchases may face the same funding bottlenecks when building out AI capacity. Related plays — from battery storage to small modular reactors and space projects — also carry long development timelines and regulatory risks.
What it means going forward
The pivots don’t guarantee that every DAT will leave crypto. Larger firms with steady access to capital may continue to raise money and hold tokens. For smaller players, AI provides a narrative focused on operating revenue rather than speculative asset appreciation. Early market reactions suggest investors aren’t easily persuaded; they are placing a premium on demonstrable funding, real customers and clear execution roadmaps before valuing these companies for their new business models.
In short: the treasury-to-AI pivot may be logical on paper, but success will depend on capital, execution and time — all things markets currently doubt many DATs possess.
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