Years ago, the idea of ​​public companies buying Bitcoin for reserves was considered ridiculous. Because the leading cryptocurrency is too volatile and too far-fetched to be adopted by serious companies.

Last year, spurred by the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, that taboo was broken, as demonstrated by a number of large institutional investors buying Bitcoin. The first door opened when software company MicroStrategy bought $ 425 million worth of Bitcoin in August and September 2020. Many other giants followed, including payment processor Square and electric vehicle maker Tesla.

For investors who don’t want to buy bitcoin directly, buying stocks of public companies that hold bitcoin can be a way to gain access to the asset without the hassle of safekeeping. In fact, some experts suspect that MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin purchases de facto turned the company into a Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund (ETF).

MicroStrategy

MicroStrategy, a well-known business analytics platform, uses Bitcoin as its primary reserve asset.

Throughout 2021, the company that makes mobile software and cloud-based services will continue to run a campaign to buy Bitcoin. They currently hold 105,085 BTC in reserve, which equates to over $ 3.3 billion in BTC. At one point, CEO Michael Saylor said he was buying $ 1,000 in Bitcoin every second.

Unlike other CEOs who are often reluctant to talk about their personal investments, Saylor has made public that he personally holds 17,732 BTC – currently valued at more than $ 565 million. Brothers tweets:

“Some have asked me how much BTC I own. Personally, I hodl 17,732 BTC which I bought at an average price of $ 9,882. I informed MicroStrategy of these holdings before the company decided to buy Bitcoin itself. “

According to data from BitInfoCharts, Saylor is among the top 100 Bitcoin holders – provided they are all held at a single address. It appears that the CEO of MicroStrategy completely changed his mind when he stated in 2013 that Bitcoin was running out.

Distribution of bitcoins according to the number of addresses | Source: BitInfoCharts

On New Year’s Eve 2021, Morgan Stanley announced that it had acquired 10.9% of the shares in MicroStrategy. And MicroStrategy is trying to get other companies to invest in Bitcoin. In February 2021, during the World.Now conference, they organized the “Bitcoin for Corporations” program, which aims to encourage companies to accelerate access to this crypto asset.

Speaking at the conference, Saylor said he expected “a number of companies” to switch their balance sheets to Bitcoin over the next year.

At Binance Blockchain Week, Saylor explained why he chose Bitcoin as a reserve asset over gold. Saylor said:

“The return on gold is not as attractive as on Bitcoin. If you are looking for a store of value for non-fiat derivatives in an inflationary environment, it makes sense to use Bitcoin as digital gold. “

Tesla

Electric vehicle maker Tesla has joined the ranks of Bitcoin holders with SEC filings Disclosure that the company is investing “a total of 1.5 billion US dollars” in the leading cryptocurrency. Tesla sold 10% of its Bitcoin holdings in the first quarter of 2021. According to CEO Elon Musk, “To demonstrate the liquidity of Bitcoin as an alternative to keeping cash on the balance sheet”.

Tesla’s 42,902 BTC is now worth $ 1.37 billion. Given Bitcoin’s bearish condition in 2021, analysts say the company is likely to lose $ 25 million to $ 100 million in the next quarter.

According to the SEC filing, Tesla’s purchase of Bitcoin is the implementation of an updated investment policy aimed at diversifying cash sources and maximizing profits. The filing states: “We may invest some of our cash in certain alternative currency reserves such as digital assets, gold bars, exchange-traded gold funds and others destined for the future”.

The company’s move to buy Bitcoin comes after months of speculation, as CEO Elon Musk discussed on Twitter. At the end of 2020, Saylor from MicroStrategy proposals Musk shared his Bitcoin investing “tactic” after arguing that switching to Bitcoin would bring “$ 100 billion in profit” to Tesla shareholders.

Shortly afterwards, in late January 2021, Musk changed his Twitter bio to the hashtag #Bitcoin. In retrospect, this seems to allude to Tesla’s interest in crypto.

Musk’s relationship with Bitcoin is not entirely positive, however. After announcing that Tesla would accept Bitcoin payments for its products and services in March 2021, just 2 months later, the CEO suddenly announced that the company would no longer accept cryptocurrencies for payment.

Citing the “rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels to mine and trade bitcoin,” Musk revealed that the company will not sell any of its bitcoin assets and will consider using it in transactions. He then made it clear that the company will continue to use Bitcoin for transactions once the miners use 50% of the clean energy.

Galaxy Digital Holdings

The largest Bitcoin holder directly involved in the crypto industry is crypto-focused merchant bank Galaxy Digital Holdings, which holds 16,400 BTC – worth more than $ 522 million based on the current price of bitcointreasaries – according to bitcointreasaries.org. org.

Founded in January 2018 by Michael Novogratz, the company works with crypto companies such as Block.one and BlockFi. No wonder Novogratz is an ardent supporter of Bitcoin. In April 2020, he found that the stimulus measures announced in response to the corona pandemic sparked interest in cryptocurrencies, called this a “moment” for Bitcoin, and argued that “nothing wrong” should be wasting money.

However, at the end of the year, Novogratz argued that cryptovolatility makes gold a safer bet, saying:

“My feeling is that Bitcoin outperforms gold, but I would recommend people hold much less than gold because of this volatility.”

Voyager Digital LTD

The cryptocurrency brokerage Voyager Digital holds 12,260 BTC worth about $ 390 million at current prices, according to bitcointreasaries.org. The company aims to provide a one-stop shop for trading digital assets and has until May 2021 report Revenue for the quarter was $ 60.4 million, 16 times the prior quarter. CEO Steven Ehrlich said at the time:

“We saw how the acceptance of crypto as a recognized and investable asset class has grown exponentially.”

in the file Sent to Canadian regulators in June 2021, the company adopted a more deliberate tone, noting that “a significant drop in the price of Bitcoin could have a material adverse impact on the company’s operating results,” pointing out the “severe decline.” . of the Bitcoin exchange rate in March 2020 due to the market turbulence surrounding the corona pandemic.

Square Inc.

Along with Tesla’s purchase of Bitcoin, Square’s $ 50 million investment in Bitcoin started the trend of institutional investments in crypto in October 2020.

Since then, the payment company has continued to invest in Bitcoin, revealing that it raised an additional $ 170 million in its fourth quarter 2020 earnings report. Perhaps unsurprisingly, CEO Jack Dorsey is an ardent supporter of Bitcoin (even running). Bitcoin node have). Brothers tweets:

“More important than Square, which is investing $ 50 million in Bitcoin, is sharing how we did it (so others can do the same).”

At the time, the company described the investment as “part of Square’s continued commitment to Bitcoin,” noting that “the company plans to benchmark its overall investment in Bitcoin with other investments.”

With their holdings of 8,207 BTC valued at $ 255 million at current prices, Square currently remains unchanged on Bitcoin. In March 2021, Square CFO Amrita Ahuja argued in an interview with Fortune that it was “absolutely the case that every balance sheet contains Bitcoin,” while reiterating the company’s commitment to holding cryptocurrencies “long-term.”

In May 2021, the company reiterated its commitment to its bitcoin buying strategy after an interview in which Ahuja said the company had no plans to buy more bitcoin. Square has also put an extra effort into building the Bitcoin ecosystem by launching a $ 5 million fund to provide more crypto literacy and protect Bitcoin with an impact protection whitepaper.

In July 2021, the company announced plans to develop a Bitcoin hardware wallet; perhaps they will transfer assets to their own products.

Marathon Digital Holdings Inc.

Unsurprisingly, the Bitcoin miner Marathon Digital is also a big owner of Bitcoin, with 5,784 BTC in the company’s coffers (worth around $ 184 million at current prices). Initially, the company mostly held patents (and is often referred to as patent trolls) before getting into cryptocurrency mining. Currently, they are aiming to build “the largest bitcoin mining operation in North America with one of the lowest energy costs.”

The company had a good year, starting with a $ 200 million financing round in 2021 before ending with a $ 150 million Bitcoin purchase in January. In the past year, their share price has soared more than 3,000%, fueled by the exodus of miners from China (in fact, the company’s stock outperforms Bitcoin year-to-date).

Marathon Digital aims to have over 103,000 Bitcoin miners earning 50-60 BTC per day. As of June 2021, they were producing 265.6 BTC per month, which is still far from the target. But with the company receiving 18,000 ASIC mining rigs in June and another 1,000 on the way, it looks like they’re on the right track.

Coinbase Global, Inc.

Probably the best known crypto company …