Guide · Markets
mNAV Explained: Bitcoin Treasury Stocks' Premium or Discount
mNAV compares a bitcoin treasury company's market value with the bitcoin it holds. Above 1 is a premium; below 1, as Strategy's 0.89 on Nov 11, 2026, is a discount.
On November 11, 2026, shares of Strategy, the company formerly known as MicroStrategy, closed at $122.35. According to Yahoo Finance's calculation that day, each share was backed by about $137.21 of bitcoin. Divide one by the other and you get about 0.89: the market valued the whole company at roughly 11% less than the coins on its balance sheet. That ratio is called mNAV, short for multiple of net asset value, and it has become the single most watched number for the dozens of listed companies that hold cryptocurrency as their main asset.
The basic formula is simple. Take the company's market capitalisation and divide it by the market value of its crypto holdings. An mNAV of 2 means investors pay $2 for every $1 of bitcoin the company owns; an mNAV of 1 means the shares are worth exactly the coins; below 1 is a discount. Companies and analysts often use refined versions. Strategy, for example, has used enterprise value, which adds debt and preferred stock to the market value of the common shares, and some versions use a fully diluted share count that includes convertible notes. The choice changes the result, so always check which definition a quoted figure uses.
Why would anyone pay more than the coins are worth? For most of 2024 and 2025, Strategy traded well above 1 because the premium was itself a source of growth. A company with an mNAV of 2 can sell $1 billion of new shares, buy $1 billion of bitcoin, and increase the amount of bitcoin behind each existing share, since the new investors paid double the asset value. Strategy raised $5.41 billion through at-the-market share sales in the third quarter of 2026 alone. Some investors also valued access: funds that cannot hold bitcoin directly could own a listed stock that tracks it, with the added leverage of the company's borrowing.
Below 1, the same machine runs in reverse. Selling new shares at a discount to asset value reduces the bitcoin per share, so the cheapest source of funding closes. The company then has three main choices: stop buying, borrow, or buy back shares, which at a discount increases the bitcoin per share for holders who remain. Selling coins to fund buybacks is possible but signals that the original strategy has changed. A discount can persist for a long time; closed-end funds have traded below their net asset value for years.
The November 2026 episode shows how outside forces can push the ratio around. Bitcoin fell below Strategy's average purchase price of $75,456 per coin, and on November 11 index provider MSCI confirmed it would remove the stock from its indexes after November 30 under a new rule for non-operating companies, whose value comes mainly from assets they hold. JPMorgan estimated about $2.8 billion of related selling by index-tracking funds. Neither event changed the number of bitcoin Strategy owns; both lowered what investors would pay for the wrapper around them.
To use mNAV yourself, track three numbers over time rather than one snapshot: the coins held, which companies usually report after each purchase; the share count, including convertibles; and the bitcoin price. A rising mNAV while bitcoin is flat means investors are paying more for the company itself. A falling mNAV during a bitcoin sell-off is the leverage cutting the other way, and it usually means the stock will fall further than the coin on the next bad day.