Understanding mNAV (Market Net Asset Value) for Digital Asset Treasuries: An Investor’s Guide
Why mNAV (market net asset value) matters, and why it’s not enough
As public companies rush to hold Bitcoin and other digital assets on their balance sheets, a new category of equities has emerged: Digital Asset Treasuries (DATs). These firms, from Strategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) to Metaplanet (TSE: 3350) and Sharplink Gaming (NASDAQ: SBET), are often treated as proxies for crypto exposure.
But surface-level metrics only tell part of the story.
To truly evaluate these companies, investors are increasingly turning to market net asset value (mNAV) – a simple but revealing ratio that compares a company’s market valuation to the value of its crypto holdings.
It sounds like a pricing tool. But in reality, mNAV is a signal: of how a company structures capital, monetizes volatility, and engineers upside beyond the spot price of Bitcoin.
This guide breaks down mNAV for the investor looking to understand how it’s calculated, what it actually reflects, and why you should look beyond the ratio to understand the true drivers of value in this fast-evolving category.
What Is mNAV, Exactly?
Think of mNAV as the crypto-native cousin of price-to-book or EV/EBITDA. Instead of valuing earnings, it benchmarks how much investors are paying for access to a company’s digital assets.
There are two common formulas:
Enterprise value mNAV
(Market cap + debt – cash) ÷ market value of crypto holdings
Market cap mNAV
Market cap ÷ (value of crypto holdings – crypto-linked liabilities)
Either way:
1.0x means the company trades exactly in line with its net crypto assets
>1.0x implies a premium
<1.0x implies a discount
But mNAV isn’t just accounting. It flexes with narrative, sentiment, structure, and execution. That makes it a live diagnostic for understanding what the market is rewarding – and why.
What mNAV Actually Measures
At a glance, mNAV gives a pulse check on investor confidence:
High mNAV → Investors are paying above NAV for product innovation, capital efficiency, or institutional access.
Low mNAV → Investors may be discounting dilution risk, governance opacity, or a broken capital formation loop.
But mNAV isn’t just sentiment; it’s a direct reflection of how well a company plays the capital markets game.
The strongest DATs, also the ones that we term Crypto Asset Product Companies (CAPs), don’t just buy and hold crypto.
They actively structure their balance sheets to build exposure and capture arbitrage:
Issuing convertible debt at 0% coupons
Deploying moving-strike warrants for tax efficiency
Running ATM equity programs above NAV to raise with minimal dilution
And work with many other instruments available to them based on their stage and jurisdiction
This is financial product engineering – and mNAV is how the market prices the product.
Premiums Are Built, Not Given
Why do investors pay a premium for some crypto treasuries and not others?
Because they’re not just buying exposure. They’re buying engineered access: to products, to leverage, to upside
For example:
Strategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) has raised billions through convertibles and equity at favorable terms, compounding BTC per share
Metaplanet (TSE: 3350) executed Japan’s largest moving-strike warrant issuance to scale its Bitcoin treasury with minimal dilution
DeFi Development Corp (NASDAQ: DFDV) structured prepaid forwards to optimize its Solana exposure
Premiums arise when the market believes a company can raise accretively, deploy efficiently, and keep the flywheel turning. But that flywheel is fragile. A collapsing mNAV shrinks capital access. Dilution gets expensive. But while the loop holds, CAPs are rewarded with the most coveted arbitrage in public markets: buying tokens at a discount through their own equity.
Not All NAVs Are Created Equal
mNAV is not the same as net asset value (NAV). Traditional NAV just shows what assets are backing each share, but it doesn’t capture capital efficiency, leverage, or velocity.
That’s why serious investors often turn to more nuanced variations:
Market-to-Fair Book Value (MFBV): Market cap ÷ (crypto holdings – debt)
Strips out debt to estimate liquidation value
Risk-adjusted mNAV: Projects post-raise BTC-per-share based on expected issuance
Forward mNAV: Applies discount factors for governance, liquidity, or leverage
These variations help investors see not just what the company holds, but how securely, flexibly, and intelligently it’s held.
A Real-World Example
Let’s walk through a basic model:
Company holds 100,000 BTC
BTC price = $112,000
Crypto value = $11.2B
Debt = $3B, cash = $0.5B
Market cap = $15B
Enterprise Value (EV) = 15B + 3B – 0.5B = $17.5B
mNAV = $17.5B ÷ $11.2B = 1.56x
This implies the stock trades at a 56% premium to its net crypto holdings.
That premium exists because the market believes this company can:
Raise more capital at a premium
Buy more BTC
Do it all faster and more efficiently than any individual investor could
But that belief is reflexive. If sentiment shifts, or dilution outpaces growth, mNAV collapses. And with it, the valuation.
Why mNAV Isn’t Enough
At BSF, we view mNAV as one of five key levers for evaluating digital asset treasuries.
It tells you where a company trades today. But it doesn’t tell you how it got there, or whether that premium is sustainable.
Here’s how we assess a high-performing DAT:
Asset Appreciation → Do they have meaningful crypto exposure that compounds?
mNAV Premium Capture → Is the market valuing their structure over spot?
Product Value Generation → Are they engineering convertibles, warrants, staking yields?
Capital Efficiency → Can they raise with minimal dilution and optimal timing?
Network Effects → Are they trusted by institutions? Do they command liquidity and visibility?
Download our 3-Part Evaluation Framework
A practical toolkit to evaluate crypto exposure, capital structure, and NAV-accretive design in public-market CAPs.
The Bottom Line
mNAV is one of the sharpest tools investors have to value digital asset treasuries.
But it’s not the full picture.
Used well, mNAV signals who the market trusts to turn crypto into capital power. But understanding what drives and threatens this number - is where the true edge lies.
The companies that sustain 2–4x mNAV multiples won’t be the biggest holders.
They’ll be the best financial engineers.
That’s what BlockSpaceForce backs.
And that’s the future of blockstocks.
Explore Further
Explore the full investment thesis behind CAPs and blockstocks in our Fund Thesis.
For more insights on digital asset treasuries, crypto capital innovation, and financial product engineering, follow BlockSpaceForce on Twitter and LinkedIn.
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