TD Cowen has flagged four crypto treasury firms as buying opportunities, noting that they trade at meaningful discounts to the value of their bitcoin holdings. The investment bank tracked 13 bitcoin-buying public companies and identified Semler Scientific, Sequans Communications, DDC Enterprise, and Bitcoin Treasury Corp as the most attractively priced of the group.
TLDR KEYPOINTS
- TD Cowen identified four bitcoin treasury firms trading at discounts of 4% to 25% below their crypto holdings value.
- The four companies have accumulated a combined $1.15 billion in bitcoin, all pivoting to treasury strategies in 2025.
- SEC filings confirm substantial holdings: Semler Scientific held 4,636 BTC worth $496.9 million as of June 30, 2025.
What TD Cowen’s Call Means for Crypto Treasury Firms
Crypto treasury firms are public companies that have adopted bitcoin accumulation as a core balance-sheet strategy, following the playbook pioneered by Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy). Rather than holding excess cash in traditional reserves, these firms convert capital into bitcoin, betting that long-term appreciation will reward shareholders.
TD Cowen tracked 13 such firms and found four trading at meaningful discounts to the value of their crypto holdings: Semler Scientific at -4%, Sequans at -25%, DDC Enterprise at -18%, and Bitcoin Treasury Corp at -18%. The combined bitcoin value across these four companies reached $1.15 billion.
The selective nature of the call matters. TD Cowen did not declare the entire segment a buy. It singled out four names where the market appeared to be pricing shares below the net asset value of the bitcoin on the books.
A Note on Source Limitations
The original TD Cowen research note is not publicly available. The specific “buying opportunities” framing comes from secondary reporting, according to unconfirmed reports, and the exact analyst language could not be independently verified. The company-level data below, however, is drawn directly from SEC filings.
SEC Filings Reveal the Scale of These Treasury Bets
Semler Scientific disclosed in its June 30, 2025 Form 10-Q that it held 4,636 BTC acquired for $430.0 million, with an aggregate fair value of $496.9 million. The filing also reported fair-value increases of $83.8 million and $41.9 million for the three and six months ended June 30, 2025, while warning that bitcoin volatility and evolving U.S. digital-asset policy could materially affect results.
Sequans Communications announced on June 23, 2025 that it was establishing a bitcoin treasury and expected approximately $384 million in gross proceeds through equity and convertible debt private placements to fund the initiative. The company represents a fresh entrant to the strategy, having pivoted from its core IoT semiconductor business.
DDC Enterprise said on September 4, 2025 that it launched its bitcoin accumulation strategy in the first half of 2025 and had purchased 1,008 BTC by the reporting date. Fair-value gains from bitcoin contributed $3.8 million to first-half profit.
Bitcoin Treasury Corp, incorporated on December 20, 2024, disclosed its intent to grow both total bitcoin holdings and bitcoin per share through a reverse-takeover transaction announced in May 2025. It is the youngest of the four firms.
Why These Firms Trade at Discounts
GSR research analyst Carlos Guzman offered a blunt explanation for why smaller treasury firms struggle to command premiums.
“A lot of this is an attention game.”
Carlos Guzman, GSR research analyst
The comment underscores a structural challenge. Strategy dominates institutional attention in the bitcoin treasury space, leaving smaller entrants like the four TD Cowen flagged with less analyst coverage, thinner trading volumes, and weaker price discovery. The result is persistent discounts even when the underlying bitcoin position is growing.
Bitcoin traded near $72,756 at press time, up roughly 1% over the prior 24 hours. The Fear and Greed Index sat at 16, deep in “Extreme Fear” territory, a backdrop that helps explain why discount-trading treasury equities face additional selling pressure.
The risk-off environment also creates a feedback loop. As sentiment deteriorates, investors shed smaller-cap crypto equities first, widening the very discounts TD Cowen identified. Some newer bitcoin-focused financial products, such as after-hours Bitcoin ETF strategies, attempt to capture volatility that these treasury firms experience on their balance sheets.
Risks, Limits, and What Investors Should Watch
Key Risk Factors
All four firms carry concentrated bitcoin exposure, meaning a sustained drop in bitcoin’s price would erode the asset base that underpins the discount-to-NAV thesis. Semler’s own 10-Q explicitly warned of material risk from bitcoin volatility and shifting U.S. digital-asset regulation.
Liquidity is another concern. Sequans and DDC are relatively small public companies. Thin trading volumes can amplify price swings in both directions, making it harder for institutional investors to build or exit positions without moving the stock. The broader trend of corporate bitcoin accumulation has drawn increased attention from crypto-native platforms seeking to capitalize on institutional interest.
The accounting regime matters as well. Under ASU 2023-08, these firms report bitcoin at fair value, meaning quarterly earnings swing with the spot price. A sharp drawdown between now and the next reporting date could turn paper gains into reported losses, regardless of the company’s long-term conviction.
What to Confirm Before Acting
Investors evaluating the TD Cowen thesis should verify several details as more information becomes available: the exact discount methodology TD Cowen used, whether any of the four firms carry significant debt against their bitcoin positions, and how each company plans to fund further accumulation without excessive dilution.
The emergence of automated DCA tools for bitcoin accumulation at the retail level mirrors what these treasury firms are doing at the corporate scale, but the risk profiles differ substantially.
Bitcoin Treasury Corp’s status as a 2024-incorporated entity pursuing a reverse takeover deserves particular scrutiny. Its operating history is minimal compared to Semler Scientific, which has an established medical device business alongside its treasury strategy.
TD Cowen’s selective call highlights a real structural feature of the market: a growing number of public companies are accumulating bitcoin, and some trade below the value of what they hold. Whether that gap closes depends on attention, liquidity, and bitcoin’s own trajectory in a period of extreme fear.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Cryptocurrency and digital asset markets carry significant risk. Always do your own research before making decisions.
