Understanding the Shareholder Activism Risks of DATs and Crypto-Pivot Companies (Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance)

In their recent Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance article, Goodwin partners Leonard Wood, Daniel Roeser, and Karen Ubell explain that the emergence of digital asset treasury companies (DATs) and crypto-pivot companies — public companies that have repositioned all or a substantial portion of their corporate strategy around the acquisition, accumulation, and management of digital assets — has introduced a new and rapidly evolving sector of public companies to the market. Since the beginning of 2025, a growing number of public companies have adopted some version of the playbook: reposition legacy businesses around digital asset treasury strategies; accumulate digital assets on the balance sheet; and, in some cases, deploy digital assets to generate returns through staking, lending, protocol participation, and related activities. Early DATs and crypto-pivot companies attracted substantial institutional and retail capital because their stocks traded at a significant premium to the market values of their accumulated digital assets (i.e., their net asset value).

Read the full analysis: “DATs and Crypto-Pivot Companies: Understanding and Mitigating Shareholder Activism Risks” (Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance)