With the recent addition of $HYPE as an underlying in the crypto treasury strategy, it’s becoming clear that these structures are here to stay. As exposure expands beyond BTC and strategies grow more complex, mixing equity and debt, yield generation, and increasingly diverse tokens, Crypto Per Share (CPS) is emerging as a key metric. It’s a simple but powerful way for shareholders to cut through the noise and see how much real crypto backs each share, regardless of structure or strategy.

Existing metrics

As treasuries diversify across token types, a handful of company-level metrics are becoming more widely used to assess performance and exposure. Below some of the key ones:

• Market-based Net Asset Value (mNAV) - Company marketcap divided by value of token.
• Cost Basis - Total $ spent on token acquisitions.
• NgU - Ratio between current token value and cost basis.

These are all useful but they’re company-level metrics, which is exactly why CPS stands out as a shareholder-focused measure. Adding shareholder metrics alongside existing company-level metrics will become more important as:

• The landscape becomes more competitive.

• Financial engineering of these companies becomes more complex.

• The type of underlyings becomes more exotic.

The case for Crypto Per Share

CPS matters because it captures what actually accrues to the shareholder in a way other metrics don’t. In traditional corporate finance, metrics like EPS and book value per share emerged for similar reasons, to measure how efficiently companies turn capital into value per unit of ownership. 

CPS does the same for crypto treasuries. It is a direct measure of how much crypto backs each share, net of dilution, leverage, and yield. As crypto treasury strategies mature, many will take on debt, issue more stock, or layer on structured products, all of which can inflate market cap or enterprise value without necessarily increasing what shareholders actually own. 

That’s where CPS brings discipline: it shows whether treasury growth (more tokens held) is translating into per-share growth, or whether value is being eroded behind the scenes. The more complex and competitive these capital structures become, the more important it will be to have clear, investor-aligned metrics like CPS to keep management accountable.

Triangulating CPS

Like any good metric, CPS gains meaning when paired with others. It’s not just about the number itself, but also:

• How that crypto exposure is generated
• And how sustainable that exposure is over time

So ideally, CPS is combined and triangulated with other metrics. Below are key examples of how CPS, when combined with other metrics, reveals deeper insights into capital efficiency and shareholder value

Potential Shortcomings

As with many things that are simple and straightforward, CPS isn’t a perfect metric. As illustrated above, it truly comes to life when combined with complementary metrics. One of its main limitations is that it treats all tokens within a treasury equally, regardless of differences in liquidity, vesting schedules, or market depth. This can be especially limiting when comparing CPS across vehicles with very different underlying exposures. 

Still, despite its shortcomings, it’s safe to say that metrics like CPS will only become more relevant as the crypto treasury meta continues to heat up.