Markets are always looking for the next big deal. In 2026, I believe trading will be a new twist on traditional basis trading where investors bet on digital asset treasury (DAT) companies and short futures. While sophisticated market participants have generated positive returns with the long ETF and short futures strategy for bitcoin and ether, this time, a new variation of the base trade will include DAT and extend to a wide range of crypto projects that are commonly known as “alts.”
Digital Asset Treasuries (DATs) had their breakout year in 2025. Typically public companies, DATs issue and sell public shares and use the proceeds to purchase a dedicated crypto asset. By doing so, they try to increase their crypto tokens per share. Therefore, for the typical investor, DATs can be traded, held and hedged like any other stock. This eliminates operational complexity or regulatory uncertainty for traditional investors who are uncomfortable managing native crypto assets. For this reason, DATs are emerging as a bridge between crypto markets and traditional finance.
What makes DATs especially powerful is their flexibility. These companies can implement a wide range of treasury and performance strategies with the goal of increasing their multiple to net asset value, or “mNAV.” By maximizing token ownership per share, DATs seek to outperform their underlying token. A successful example is the strategy of Michael Saylor, whose stock price increased 22 times since he started buying bitcoins on TKYEAR until September 2025, while the digital asset he accumulates, bitcoin, appreciated almost 10 times during the same period.
But volatility works in both directions. Recent market movements have caused some DATs to decline and mNAVs to fall. Even with the operational ease and regulatory clarity that the structure offers, many DATs remain out of reach for many investors due to their volatility. To date, hedging options have been limited due to restrictions on Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regulated futures for token preponderance.
The Missing Link: CFTC-Regulated Futures
In traditional markets, futures are contracts that allow investors to lock in the future price of an asset. For centuries, futures have played an important role in risk management, providing institutions with a way to hedge exposure, speculate on price movements, and scale efficiently. In crypto, however, regulated futures exist only for a small subset of tokens, such as bitcoin and ether.
The absence of full crypto futures can largely be attributed to former SEC Chairman Gary Gensler. During his tenure, Chairman Gensler stated that most crypto assets were securities. Futures are derivatives on commodities that would have placed them outside their jurisdiction and control. Gensler then suppressed its launch, depriving investors of important risk management tools.
The world has changed. As US President Donald Trump’s administration aggressively pursues its agenda to make the United States the “crypto capital of the planet,” new SEC Chairman Paul Atkins has made it abundantly clear through numerous public statements that “most crypto tokens are not securities.”
With this regulatory hurdle cleared, futures are now in the spotlight. These futures are not just stand-alone products: they are a gateway to broader market access. Through its generic listing standards guide, the SEC recently clarified that tokens with six months of futures trading can more easily be listed as ETFs, opening the door to institutional capital and widespread adoption. And as crypto futures become liquid, the short futures and long DAT strategy becomes possible.
DAT based trading
A basis trade is when an investor purchases an asset in the spot market and simultaneously sells a futures contract on the same asset, with the goal of profiting from the price difference (or “basis”) between the two. “Contango” is when future prices are higher than spot prices. In these market conditions, basic trading strategies tend to be profitable.
DATs hold, stake, and even roll over digital assets, earning real on-chain returns. By purchasing its shares, investors gain exposure to that cryptocurrency and its performance. By shorting corresponding futures of DAT cryptocurrency holdings, investors hedge against price swings in those assets. What remains is the spread between the future price of the token and the spot holdings of the DAT. When a DAT is trading below its net asset value or when the future price of the token (or “total return” token, which is a future that includes staking returns) is higher than the spot crypto holdings of the DATs, investors earn a steady and relatively market-neutral return. While it is difficult to project the size of the base, for alts the differences may be more pronounced than in other assets, resulting in a higher return for the investor.
The positive side is clear. When mNAVs rise and futures are in contango, DAT-based trading could generate compelling returns. But, like all strategies, there are many risks and negative scenarios. Perhaps the most obvious is a scenario in which mNAV declines precipitously and losses in the equity segment are not fully offset by futures hedging. Additionally, DATs trading at a discount to NAV can become obvious takeover targets. While this could erase losses by restoring mNAV, acquirers could move to another asset class, requiring an unwinding of the deal.
For those sensitive to these risks, ETFs, where mNAVs are designed to remain stable at par, may be preferred to DATs when it comes to executing a regulated basis trade. But comprehensive alternative ETFs, along with futures on the underlying asset, are just beginning to appear online. So in the meantime, the bridge that DATs offer plays an important role in educating traditional investors about the possibilities as cryptocurrency investing becomes normalized.
As regulated futures proliferate in the alternatives, the Long DAT, short futures Trading could become an ideal way for Wall Street to capture the performance of cryptocurrencies without touching a wallet or suffering the intense volatility that defines cryptocurrencies as an asset class. In 2026, I think it will be the trade of the year.
