DAT Company executives expect "Integration and M&A" to be one of the themes of 2026

BlockBeats News, January 2nd. After putting digital asset reserve strategies in the spotlight and experiencing a turbulent end of the year in the historic year of 2025, some reserve strategy executives expect that in 2026, with continued regulatory improvement, the industry will see consolidation, asset diversification, and deeper institutional participation.

“Consolidation and mergers will be one of the themes of 2026,” said Tyler Evans. “The market will have a clearer judgment on the winners.” Evans is the Chief Investment Officer of KindlyMD, a Nasdaq-listed Bitcoin reserve company that transformed into a digital asset reserve institution after merging with Nakamoto Holding Company in August last year.

Hyunsu Jung, CEO of the reserve institution Hyperion DeFi at Hyperliquid, also believes that market consolidation is imminent and points out that increasingly stringent investors will take a new perspective on digital asset reserve institutions. “The market will continue to scrutinize the value proposition of digital asset reserve institutions, which should ultimately depend on how they drive ecosystem development through revenue generation,” Jung stated.

Rudick, Chief Strategy Officer of Upexi, holding over $250 million in SOL assets, stated that digital asset reserve institutions may conduct value creation experiments through revenue generation, new income streams, and selective acquisitions, but he does not believe there will be large-scale consolidation. “I don’t think we will see a lot of mergers among digital asset reserve institutions because sellers lack the motivation to sell below 1x mNAV—they can easily sell assets on the market at market prices, while buyers have no reason to acquire digital asset reserve institutions above 1x mNAV because they can directly purchase these assets in the market. However, given that many digital asset reserve institutions trade at a significant discount, if we see aggressive investment funds getting involved in such companies in 2026, I wouldn’t be surprised.”