A loss-making asset manager saw its stock leap on Tuesday in just the latest example of how a corporate announcement of the purchase of a digital asset has sparked sensational returns.
CaliberCos shares, which ended Monday at $2.15, soared by over 1,000% to around $35 in early New York following the company’s announcement that it has purchased Chainlink tokens — a move it previously said it would undertake.
That comes one day after Eightco Holding’s stock surged to $45.08, up from $1.45 on Friday, after a $250 million investment from a group of investors to purchase a Sam Altman cryptocurrency called Worldcoin.
Dan Ives, Wedbush Securities’ colorful tech analyst, was named chair of the company. BitMine, which is chaired by Fundstrat strategist Tom Lee, agreed to buy a $20 million stake in Eightco at $1.46 per share.
“The market’s animal spirits are more than alive and well; they are as frenzied as ever,” said Mike O’Rourke, chief market strategist of JonesTrading.
He pointed out that the company’s only material assets are $250 million in sponsor financing, yet it ended the day with an $8.5 billion market capitalization. It’s likely, he added, that the company will soon launch an at-the-market offering to build up its multiple of net asset value, or mNAV.
Eightco wasn’t even the only digital-asset treasury conversion on Monday. Forward Industries shares jumped 59% to $25.96 after that company made a $1.65 billion investment to buy Solana.
In the case of both Eightco and Forward Industries, the sponsors now hold some 98% of the companies.
“The public’s willingness to pay a premium — and in some cases wild premiums — to have an equity wrapper around a digital asset they can purchase individually remains amazing,” said O’Rourke. He called it an example of “extreme greed.”
It’s a playbook borrowed from Michael Saylor at Strategy, the company previously known as MicroStrategy, and now copied not just in bitcoin but other crypto assets. Ironically, at the original, the multiple of net asset value has shrunk from over 3 to 1.5.
O’Rourke pointed out that MicroStrategy’s strength prior to 2025 was its scarcity value as an investment option. “Now that Digital Asset Treasury conversion deals are announced on a weekly, if not daily, basis, that scarcity value is quickly eroding for every equity in the space,” he added.