Bitcoin balance sheet strategy: Hive CFO Darcy Daubaras

Large companies are no longer simply buying Bitcoin and hoping it appreciates. They are securitising it, lending against it and raising capital without selling — treating cryptocurrency as a strategic balance sheet asset rather than a speculative bet. This shift in how chief financial officers approach digital assets is the subject of this episode.

Guest

Darcy Daubaras is Chief Financial Officer at Hive Digital Technologies, a publicly traded cryptocurrency mining company with operations across Iceland, Sweden, Canada and Paraguay. He joined Hive in 2018 when the company mined Ethereum and has overseen its expansion into Bitcoin mining and its transition to treating mined cryptocurrency as a managed financial asset.

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Episode Summary

Daubaras argues that Bitcoin is crossing a threshold from speculative asset to strategic treasury instrument. The distinction matters: companies holding Bitcoin speculatively wait for price appreciation, while companies treating it strategically use it as collateral, borrow against it and integrate it into capital-raising activities without liquidating their holdings.

At Hive, Daubaras explains, the Bitcoin mined and held on the balance sheet functions as a long-term strategic asset. The company sells when operationally necessary but manages holdings with a multi-year horizon rather than reacting to short-term price movements. This approach, he argues, is beginning to spread beyond cryptocurrency-native companies into mainstream corporate treasury functions.

The episode examines why this shift is happening now. Daubaras points to declining trust in traditional financial systems, citing government actions that have frozen citizen access to funds and excessive money printing that erodes currency value. Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, he argues, offer an alternative that provides financial autonomy — though he acknowledges the technology remains years away from functioning as everyday money.

Volatility remains the primary barrier to wider CFO adoption. Daubaras addresses this directly: the price swings that characterise cryptocurrency markets make finance and operations teams hesitant to rely on Bitcoin as a stable asset. Yet he observes that a growing cohort of CFOs are learning to manage this volatility rather than avoid the asset class entirely.

The conversation traces Hive’s geographic expansion from its origins in Iceland and Sweden to current operations in Canada and planned growth in Paraguay — a trajectory that illustrates how cryptocurrency mining companies follow energy availability and regulatory conditions across borders.

Key Quotes

Large companies are now using Bitcoin on their balance sheet as a strategic asset — buying and holding it, securitising it, lending against it and even raising capital without having to sell.

— Darcy Daubaras, Hive Digital Technologies

Bitcoin is becoming a financial asset that CFOs are beginning to manage. At Hive, the Bitcoin we mine and hold is treated as a strategic asset. We sell when needed, but manage it with a long-term view.

— Darcy Daubaras, Hive Digital Technologies

The episode is available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts and Google Podcasts, with new episodes published weekly. You can listen to the episode wherever you get your podcasts.