Digital Asset Treasury (DAT) companies—public firms holding bitcoin on their balance sheets—were in the spotlight at BTC Asia in Hong Kong. But Hex Trust CEO and Co-Founder Alessio Quaglini cautioned that not all strategies are created equal, warning that excessive leverage could undermine the trend.

“Indirect exposure to bitcoin through listed companies is great for adoption,” Quaglini told CoinDesk on the sidelines of the event. “It gives billions of people access via local exchanges and Nasdaq.”

Still, he drew a distinction between genuine diversification and financial engineering. “If a listed company exists solely to hold crypto, then it’s essentially a publicly traded hedge fund,” he said.

Quaglini flagged leverage as the key risk, noting that recent Galaxy research shows loan volumes at their highest since 2022, alongside a $1 billion wave of liquidations. Korean regulators have already moved to restrict new lending products amid concerns about systemic stress.

“If these companies issue debt to buy bitcoin with tight covenants, markets can anticipate forced selling,” he warned. “That creates a prisoner’s dilemma scenario, triggering spirals of volatility.”

Despite the risks, Quaglini sees treasury adoption as an early stage. The true breakthrough, he said, would come if major corporates with strong cash flows—such as Apple or Google—begin allocating reserves into bitcoin. “That would be extremely positive,” he added.

Ultimately, Quaglini argued, the viability of DATs won’t be proven by smaller firms turning themselves into bitcoin proxies, but by whether the largest global companies are willing to move their cash reserves on-chain.

Market Snapshot

• BTC: Trading above $109K, stabilizing after August’s rotation from BTC ETFs into ETH funds capped demand. Price remains below mid-August highs.
• ETH: At $4,298, consolidating after last month’s surge to record levels, with ETF flows tilting in its favor.
• Gold: Near a four-month high, buoyed by expectations of a September Fed rate cut and a softer U.S. dollar.
• Nikkei 225: Gained 0.31% as Asia-Pacific markets reacted to tariff uncertainty and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, following a U.S. court ruling that struck down most of Trump’s global tariffs.