First public DAT merger – Strive scales up, surpasses Tesla in Bitcoin treasury holdings

Strive has finalized the acquisition of Semler Scientific, marking the first merger between publicly traded Bitcoin treasury companies. 

The outcome? The digital asset treasury (DAT) consolidation has allowed Strive to scale its holdings to 12,798 BTC from 7,626 BTC. Strive is now the 11th-largest BTC treasury firm, surpassing Tesla and Trump Media. 

As part of the deal, Semler’s team, Avik Roy, Joe Burnett, and Eric Semler will join the Strive board. 

The merger was first floated in September 2025, valuing Semler at a 210% premium to its trading price at that time. 

As such, Semler’s share would be exchanged for 21.05 Strive Class A shares. Subsequent shareholder voting in late 2025 sealed the deal that was finally closed on 16 January. Strive’s share ASST surged negligibly, but it has since rallied 28% on a year-to-date (YTD) basis. It was trading at $0.96 at press time. 

What the merger means for Bitcoin DATs

Most of the Bitcoin [BTC] treasury fears have been – Low mNAV (share price trading below their crypto holdings), a debt crisis, and muted BTC prices could trigger forced crypto liquidations. 

However, such scenarios would present opportunities for larger players to acquire or merge with smaller firms, according to some market watchers. The Strive-Semler deal validates this point. 

Regarding the debt crisis, the top player, Strategy, has increased its U.S. dollar reserves to $2.25 billion to cover mid-term obligations (32 months or nearly three years of coverage). This means the risk of a forced BTC sell-off has been minimized until 2028. 

Additionally, the immediate MSCI index exclusion risk was cleared after the global index opted to retain the DATs. Especially as it seeks more feedback and discussion with stakeholders. 

In fact, Grayscale characterized the fears as overblown and projected, 

“These vehicles (DATs) are likely to be a permanent feature of the crypto investing landscape but are unlikely to be a major source of new demand for tokens or a major source of selling pressure in 2026.”

Bitcoin treasury demand in 2025

Here, it’s worth pointing out that BTC treasury firms have accumulated a total of 855,200 BTC as of early 2026. In Q4 2025, the firms added over 55k BTC. This means that they took advantage of the discounted window as BTC fell over 30% to scale positions. 

Final Thoughts

• The Strive-Semler deal became the first public merger in the Bitcoin treasury space and could help reduce liquidation risks.
• Corporate treasuries scooped up over 55k BTC in late 2025 despite Q4’s market rout.