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The 10 Public Companies With the Biggest Bitcoin Portfolios

by admin August 18, 2025

For many years, the idea that publicly traded corporations might buy Bitcoin for their reserves was considered laughable. The top cryptocurrency was considered too volatile, too fringe to be embraced by any serious business.

That taboo has been well and truly broken, with a number of major institutional investors buying up Bitcoin in recent years.

The floodgates first opened when cloud software company Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) bought $425 million worth of Bitcoin in August and September 2020. Others followed suit, including payments processor Block and electric car manufacturer Tesla.

Per BitcoinTreasuries, public companies holding Bitcoin now account for nearly 4.5% of the total supply of 21 million BTC. These are the biggest holders as of this writing.

1. Strategy

Strategy, a prominent business analytics platform turned Bitcoin treasury company, has adopted BTC as its primary reserve asset. The company is perhaps better known as MicroStrategy, but changed its name in February 2025 with co-founder Michael Saylor citing the “power and positivity” of “strategy.”

The firm, which produces mobile software and provides cloud-based services, has aggressively pursued a Bitcoin buying spree, scooping up millions of dollars worth of the cryptocurrency. As of this writing in August 2025, it holds 628,946 BTC in reserve, equivalent to more than $73 billion and more than 2.8% of the total number of Bitcoin that will ever be issued.

At one point, Strategy Executive Chairman Michael Saylor said, he was buying $1,000 in Bitcoin every second. In the company’s Q1 2024 earnings call, Saylor claimed that the company’s adoption of a “Bitcoin strategy” had enabled it to deliver 10x to 30x the performance of rival enterprise software companies in the business intelligence sector.

Unlike other executives who typically shy away from discussing their personal investments, Saylor has made it public that he personally purchased 17,732 BTC—currently worth over $1.6 billion and still holds them as of September 2024. It’s something of an about-face for the Strategy co-founder, who in 2013 claimed that Bitcoin’s days were numbered.

“We’re at the beginning of the stage of rapid institutional adoption of digital property in the form of Bitcoin,” Saylor said during the company’s Q1 2024 earnings call. He added that in the future, Bitcoin won’t compete against other crypto assets, but against, “gold, art, equities, real estate, bonds, and other types of store-of-value money in wealth creation, wealth preservation, and the capital markets.”

Strategy plans to buy even more Bitcoin in the near future, as it’s in the midst of raising a planned $42 billion to do just that, and Saylor is making the pitch to other public companies as well—like Microsoft, though shareholders ultimately voted against the proposal.

Perhaps the loudest Bitcoin proponent out there, Saylor has already said the firm will be “buying the top forever.”

2. Marathon Digital Holdings Inc.

Bitcoin mining company Marathon Digital, unsurprisingly, is also a large holder of Bitcoin, with 50,639 BTC in its corporate treasury according to a recent social update. That’s worth nearly $6 billion at today’s prices.

The company, which aims to build “the largest Bitcoin mining operation in North America at one of the lowest energy costs,” originated as a patent holding firm (and was often referred to as a patent troll) before its pivot into crypto mining.

The firm noted that it is accelerating its growth plans following the 2024 Bitcoin halving, in a bid to “mitigate the impact” of receiving half the BTC rewards per each successfully mined block. The firm had said that it aimed to double the scale of its mining operations in 2024.

The company increased its revenue by 64% in Q2 2025, marking its highest ever revenue quarter at $238.5 million. It recently raised nearly $2 billion via convertible notes, most of which has been used to buy Bitcoin.

3. Twenty-One (XXI)

The Jack Mallers-led Twenty One (XXI) expects to hold 43,514 Bitcoin—over $5 billion worth currently—when transactions are finalized and it begins trading publicly.

Set to launch via a planned SPAC merger with Cantor Equity Partners, the firm is also working alongside stablecoin giant Tether, crypto exchange Bitfinex, and Japanese investment firm SoftBank to build its Bitcoin treasury.

Unlike other treasury firms that may accumulate Bitcoin for their balance sheets while operating non-crypto businesses, Twenty One’s primary focus will be on acquiring BTC and providing Bitcoin-related services to help differentiate itself from others.

The firm pledges a long-term focus with plans not to “outperform inflation,” but instead “render the concept of inflation irrelevant.”

4. Bitcoin Standard Treasury Company

Bitcoin Standard Treasury Company (BSTR) is another soon-to-be public entity that will launch with more than 30,000 Bitcoin when its transactions finalize, expected to take place in Q4 2025.

The firm, which will be led by early Bitcoiner and BTC whale Adam Back, is the result of a merger between BSTR and the Cantor Fitzgerald-linked special purpose acquisition company, Cantor Equity Partners I.

As part of the merger, Back and founding shareholders will contribute 25,000 Bitcoin to the company, with another 5,021 Bitcoin provided via an in-kind PIPE, or private investment in public equity.

“We are putting unprecedented firepower behind a single mission: maximizing Bitcoin ownership per share while accelerating real-world Bitcoin adoption,” Back said of the firm, in a statement.

In addition to its 30,031 Bitcoin, currently valued at $3.5 billion, the firm also announced it could raise up to $1.5 billion in funding for more purchases.

5. Riot Platforms, Inc.

Another crypto mining outfit, U.S.-based Riot Platforms, holds 19,273 BTC—worth $2.25 billion at today’s prices.

With its valuation surging from below $200 million in 2020 to highs of over $6 billion in 2021, the Nasdaq-listed company went on an aggressive expansion drive. In April 2021, it spent $650 million on a one-gigawatt Bitcoin mining facility in Texas, eventually expanding further in 2022 before rebranding to Riot Platforms to diversify its business model in 2023.

In 2024, it warned shareholders that there was “no guarantee” the Bitcoin halving would improve profitability and while RIOT shares traded briefly around $18 in the early part of the year, the stock fell gradually before ranging below $10 from August until late October. After such, it gained alongside a resurgence for Bitcoin mining stocks and the broader cryptocurrency market after Donald Trump was named President-elect in November.

The company also reached a settlement with Bitcoin mining firm, Bitfarms, as it attempted a hostile takeover of the rival in 2024.

6. Metaplanet

Metaplanet, a Tokyo-listed firm nicknamed the “Asian Strategy,” now holds 18,113 Bitcoin after its latest purchase, worth over $2.1 billion at today’s prices.

Outside of its Bitcoin operations, the company owns and operates a hotel that is being rebranded to the “Bitcoin Hotel,” and claims that it is the first and only publicly listed Bitcoin treasury company in Japan.

Following in Strategy’s footsteps, the firm has aggressively added to its Bitcoin holdings of late, increasing its reserves more than 10x from less than 400 BTC in September 2024 to more than 4,500 in April 2025. It then more than tripled that number in just a couple months as it heads towards a goal of owning more than 210,000 Bitcoin by 2027.

In other headline news, the company added President Donald Trump’s son Eric Trump to a Strategic Advisory Board in March.

7. Trump Media & Technology Group

President Trump’s publicly traded media and technology firm is the 7th largest holder of Bitcoin with an estimated 15,000 BTC, according to data from Bitcointreasuries.net.

That number is likely derived from the firm’s recent $2 billion purchase of Bitcoin and Bitcoin-related securities in July—although it has not publicly detailed exactly how much of that purchase is denominated in BTC itself.

Trump Media has been leaning into crypto heavily since the president returned to the White House in January.

In addition to its Bitcoin purchases, it also teased the launch of a crypto token and wallet for its Truth Social platform, and has filed to launch multiple crypto ETFs.

8. CleanSpark

U.S. Bitcoin mining firm CleanSpark holds 12,703 BTC as of July 31, worth just under $1.5 billion at today’s prices.

Ahead of the 2024 Bitcoin halving, the firm expanded its operations, snapping up three Bitcoin mining facilities in Mississippi for $19.8 million and adding up to 2.4 EH/s to its mining capacity. The company also added a third facility in Dalton, Georgia to its lineup, with a further 0.8 EH/s.

Today $CLSK reported fiscal year third quarter 2025 results (ended 6/30/25).

*Quarterly revenue: $198.6 million (up 90.8% from same prior fiscal quarter)

*Quarterly bitcoin production: 2,012

*Quarterly average revenue per coin: $98,753

Full press release here:… pic.twitter.com/PcZ0wXPUZA

— CleanSpark Inc. (@CleanSpark_Inc) August 7, 2025

In June 2024, CleanSpark revealed that it had mined 417 BTC in the month of May, claiming to have “outperformed industry expectations” in its first full month of production following the halving. The company added that it would further expand to a site in Wyoming.

While other public companies on the list have made it a habit of buying Bitcoin for their treasuries, CleanSpark CFO Gary Vecchiarelli said in February 2025, “We continue to invest in ourselves, because why buy Bitcoin at current spot prices when we can mine it for $34,000?”

9. Coinbase

Arguably the best-known crypto firm in this list, crypto exchange Coinbase went public in a landmark direct listing on the Nasdaq in April 2021.

Ahead of its listing, in February 2021, Coinbase revealed that it held $230 million in Bitcoin on its balance sheet. As of its most recent 10-q filing, it holds 11,776 BTC in its treasury for investment, currently worth nearly $1.4 billion.

The company’s stock has charged back towards its previous all-time high in the wake of the 2024 Presidential election, later surpassing the mark in June 2025 and pushing to a new high again in July.

It continues to innovate with Bitcoin, recently announcing its own wrapped Bitcoin product, cbBTC. Coinbase also recently restarted Bitcoin lending services.

10. Tesla

Electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla joined the ranks of companies holding Bitcoin in December 2020, with an SEC filing revealing that the company invested “an aggregate $1.5 billion” in Bitcoin. Today the company holds 11,509 BTC according to its July 2025 10-Q, or about $1.35 billion worth.

After its first purchase, the company sold 10% of its Bitcoin holdings in Q1 2021; according to CEO Elon Musk, this was “to prove liquidity of Bitcoin as an alternative to holding cash on balance sheet.”

The company’s Bitcoin play followed months of speculation, after CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter (aka X) to discuss the cryptocurrency. In late 2020, Strategy’s Saylor offered to share his “playbook” for Bitcoin investing with Musk, after arguing that a move into Bitcoin would be doing Tesla shareholders a “$100 billion favor.”

However, Musk and Tesla have had an on-and-off relationship with Bitcoin. After announcing that Tesla would accept payments in Bitcoin for its products and services in March 2021, just two months later the CEO abruptly announced that the company would no longer accept the cryptocurrency for payments.

Arkham Intelligence believes the acceptance of Bitcoin payments fueled a jump in the Tesla Bitcoin holdings, placing its current treasury at 11,509 BTC compared to a once widely reported 9,720 BTC based on its previous purchases and ensuing sales. Tesla’s latest financial reports validate the total of 11,509.

It remains to be seen whether Tesla will add to its balance sheet, but Musk has said that “he’s open to increasing its Bitcoin holdings in the future.”

Musk is perhaps best known as a keen advocate of another cryptocurrency, Dogecoin. Tesla has enabled Dogecoin purchases for some merchandise, plus Musk led the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) earlier this year, spawning new meme coins and a swift movement upward for Dogecoin.

Additional reporting by Daniel Phillips

Editor’s note: This article was first published in July 2022 and last updated with new details on August 15, 2025.

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August 18, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

Is the window for generative AI adoption closing for companies?

by admin June 26, 2025

The technology world is no stranger to hype cycles, but the arrival of generative AI marks something fundamentally different: not a wave of disruption, but a new epoch in digital transformation. Just as cloud computing redefined business operations in the last decade, generative AI is poised to reshape how entire industries operate.

It’s important to note that generative AI should not be seen as an incremental tool for productivity, but as a foundational capability that will dictate tomorrow’s winners and losers. In the next 12 to 18 months, companies that strategically embrace AI will redefine their value propositions, business models, and operational capacity. Those that hesitate risk being left behind in what is becoming an increasingly divided digital economy.

This emerging divide signals what could be seen as a “Divergent Future” – a world where companies with access to powerful AI capabilities accelerate exponentially, while those without face systemic disadvantages. The division won’t just be commercial, it will be societal. Access to AI tools is already beginning to impact education, economic mobility, and organizational competitiveness. Companies with the foresight to invest and the means to implement will shape markets; those without may find themselves more and more struggling to compete.

AI sovereignty as a strategic priority

As demand for AI infrastructure surges globally, sovereign infrastructure is quickly becoming a key differentiator. But AI sovereignty isn’t about ticking compliance boxes, it’s about having true control. This means owning your infrastructure, ensuring independence from foreign entities, managing proprietary data entirely within a given jurisdiction, and maintaining legal autonomy. These four areas – infrastructure control, foreign independence, data ownership, and legal autonomy – form the basis of meaningful AI sovereignty.

Recent shifts in geopolitical sentiment, especially regarding data residency and access, are driving demand for AI infrastructure located outside the jurisdiction of US-based hyperscalers. Sovereign cloud infrastructure offers organizations – especially those in regulated sectors such as finance, healthcare, and government – a secure alternative that avoids exposure to extraterritorial legislation like the US Patriot Act.

But genuine AI sovereignty doesn’t come from a sticker that says, “local cloud.” It requires intentional design – where your data lives, who owns the IT infrastructure, and where the provider itself is based all matter. Without aligning all three, claims of sovereignty can fall apart under scrutiny.

However, the AI landscape is rarely quiet, and recent political developments have only added to its complexity. In the United States, the Biden administration introduced the BIS diffusion bill, a policy designed to control global distribution of GPUs. Under the framework, countries are categorized into tiers, with allied nations such as the UK and most of Europe granted wider access, while others face restrictions or outright bans. This has significant implications for AI development, creating a controlled environment for where infrastructure can be located.

In this new reality, companies can’t afford to treat infrastructure strategy as a back-office decision. Companies must now factor geopolitical volatility, supply chain dynamics, and regulatory risks into their AI infrastructure strategies.

The environmental cost of AI: What questions companies must ask

The environmental footprint of AI cannot be ignored. With large-scale model training and inference workloads becoming the norm, data centers are consuming more energy than ever before. A single AI GPU today can draw over 1,200 watts, equivalent to 12 standard laptops. In aggregate, these GPUs are housed in facilities that can contain tens of thousands of units, representing a significant strain on energy systems globally.

Sustainability must be built into the process from the start. That begins with selecting data center locations based on proximity to abundant renewable energy. Unlike traditional infrastructure, AI data centers don’t need to be close to urban areas. They can be strategically located in regions with surplus wind, hydro, or solar energy, as long as they have the right fiber connectivity to handle real-time data flows.

However, despite this flexibility, many hyperscalers continue to site infrastructure in fossil-fuel-dominated grids, and there is often a lack of transparency in how energy is sourced or used. Companies should ask tough questions about where their AI workloads are running, what powers them, and what emissions are associated with that usage. Without this accountability, greenwashing will continue to undermine genuine sustainability efforts.

Data centers also need to be built for long-term efficiency. This includes using the latest generation of GPUs and implementing modular architecture that supports hardware swaps without costly retrofits. Advanced cooling systems are equally critical. Traditional air cooling just isn’t enough anymore. Closed-loop liquid cooling systems should become the norm, as they’re much more efficient and use less water, which helps protect local water resources.

Selecting AI infrastructure is no longer just a technical decision — it is a sustainability commitment that demands rigorous due diligence on energy use, location strategy, and cooling technologies. Companies must embed environmental considerations into their AI strategy from the outset, asking the hard questions when selecting an AI cloud partner.

Strategic timing: The 12–18-month window

We are now in a critical phase. The next 12 to 18 months represent a strategic window for companies to act. The market is maturing rapidly, foundational models are stabilizing, and the tools to deploy AI effectively across sectors are becoming more accessible.

But this accessibility comes with responsibility. Companies must think strategically about how they deploy AI. This means more than just selecting a tool or API. It’s time to align AI with business models, workforce planning, ethical values, and environmental goals. This should be accompanied by selecting AI infrastructure partners who provide sovereignty and sustainability.

The risk of waiting is real. Late adopters will not only miss early efficiency gains, but may find themselves structurally disadvantaged in adapting to a world where AI dictates economic competitiveness. The divide will grow, and catching up will become significantly harder.

AI isn’t a “maybe” anymore – it’s foundational. It’s going to be a key factor in defining competitive advantage, not just for companies, but for entire nations and economies in the years to come. But with this shift, we need to think long-term. We need to build AI infrastructure that is scalable, ethical, sovereign, and sustainable. We must regulate AI in ways that protect society without paralyzing innovation. And we should recognize that in this era, performance alone is not enough. Trust, responsibility, and transparency will be just as important as speed and scale.

We list the best business cloud storage.

This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro’s Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro

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June 26, 2025 0 comments

Bitcoin eyes multi-year breakout, ETF inflows hit $1.3b

Crypto Trends

Companies continue to spawn Bitcoin treasuries: Here’s why

by admin June 15, 2025

For several years, Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) was the sole public company whose modus operandi was buying millions of dollars worth of Bitcoin with borrowed capital. These days, several other companies are trying to follow in Strategy’s footsteps.

As more companies go all-in on stacking Bitcoin, critics are raising concerns about the growing centralization of crypto treasuries. Currently, just 216 entities—101 of which are public companies—hold nearly 31% of the circulating BTC supply, with corporate treasuries alone accounting for approximately 765,300 bitcoins, or 3.7% of total supply (excluding lost coins).

This trend shows no sign of slowing, with existing firms continuing to accumulate and new players entering the space. This prompts debate over the benefits and risks of corporate Bitcoin ownership.

The trend is in full swing

A wave of high-profile crypto treasury launches is underway, led by figures like Jack Mallers with 21 Capital, David Bailey with Nakamoto, and most recently Anthony Pompliano with ProCapBTC, which is reportedly raising $750 million in equity and convertible debt to accumulate Bitcoin.

Each new treasury announcement is met with bullish fanfare on Crypto Twitter, where influencers routinely frame the news as a catalyst for BTC price appreciation. Yet with such announcements now occurring almost daily, their actual impact is increasingly unclear.

The familiar refrain of “this is not priced in” has become a cliché, while comment sections often reflect confusion over why Bitcoin’s price continues to fall despite seemingly bullish developments.

Do Bitcoin treasuries pump BTC’s price?

According to the Gemini research, the growing adoption among sovereign and regulated financial institutions led to decreased volatility in all time frames after 2018.

The launch of Bitcoin ETFs in 2024 made the trend even stronger. Despite the stabilization of the Bitcoin price, it doesn’t stop gaining value. The main difference is that now the price rises steadily without the frequent high-amplitude fluctuations it had in the past.

According to Unchained, Bitcoin’s price is stuck between $100,000 and $110,000, and it will take a long time for it to exceed the $130,000 mark. People don’t pay attention to many things while reading bombastic announcements. One is a lack of retail interest, as the public tends to pay attention to Bitcoin when it hits an all-time high or at similar periods.

Another reason for slower price movement is that Bitcoin treasuries not only buy BTC but dump it, too, as they need cash to repurchase shares. Additionally, the announcements usually display the full amount of the deal (i.e., “Pompliano to raise $750 million to invest in Bitcoin treasury”), whereas, in reality, these amounts are raised slowly; it may take several months to complete the deals.

So it comes that the purchases made by Bitcoin treasuries are not what they may seem to be.

Finally, the relentless accumulation of Bitcoin is pulling coins away from circulation, making a notable part of the supply dormant and somewhat purposeless for years. Bitcoin treasuries need this crypto to attract more investors and clients.

However, it drives Bitcoin away from its initial role as an alternative electronic cash, and some in the crypto community raise critical voices directed at Bitcoin treasuries.

This mass accumulation of Bitcoin by corporates & ETFs is getting very close to Satoshi’s original vision of us never having to actually use the Bitcoin network.

— Nic (@nicrypto) June 12, 2025

The ‘not your keys, not your coins’ attitude is alive and well

Many Bitcoin enthusiasts prefer actually to own their bitcoins and don’t outsource all the hassle to corporations. Maximalists remind us that any entity does not control Bitcoin, and it is free to purchase, so there is no need for a company to buy and maintain Bitcoin on your behalf.

Some criticize Bitcoin treasuries for not representing the spirit of Bitcoin, while others emphasize the troubled past of Bitcoin treasury frontmen.

For instance, MicroStrategy had a questionable episode during the dot-com bubble era, whereas the company restated its profits, resulting in losses for the investors. The SEC accused the company of fraud.

At the time, Saylor spoke about his plans to donate $100 million to the Internet university that will provide “free education for everyone on earth, forever.”

This kind of evangelism may sound familiar to those who follow Saylor’s modern-day speeches, while he is more grounded when dealing with Bitcoin.

What Magoo really means, is that bitcoin treasury companies need a professional Orange Washer

An influencer already trusted by the plebs, who can toe the line between LARP’ing as a maxi, and shilling his stock as being superior to real BTC

Aka, the used car salesman type https://t.co/nb9VuLJ66w

— Pledditor (@Pledditor) June 11, 2025

For some, Pompliano is an ambiguous candidate for helming the new mighty Bitcoin treasury. While Pompliano is a well-known and recognizable Bitcoin advocate, some remember his involvement in promoting fraudster crypto exchange FTX and its associated platform, BlockFi.

Collapses of these platforms were painful not only for its users but also impacted the entire crypto sector, crashing the market and infusing cryptocurrency distrust among the community outsiders and, more importantly, regulators.

So true. For example, I lost most of my savings after listening to your podcast and putting it into BlockFi. Completely changed my life!

— GSx (@Wade24T) November 28, 2022

Some Bitcoin owners watch the performance of the treasury company’s stocks or ETFs and sell their bitcoins to buy these assets, hoping for quicker gains.

Adam Back, a Blockstream CEO and the only person whose work is referenced in the Bitcoin whitepaper urged his followers not to sell their bitcoins to buy ETFs or similar assets as they won’t be able to buy them back.

some are selling their btc to ETFs and pubCos. dudes: HODL. you won’t be able to buy them back before long. but also other users are buying, this is the way.

— Adam Back (@adam3us) June 12, 2025

Then, what’s good in Bitcoin treasuries?

The same person urging us not to sell bitcoins, Adam Back, explained that Bitcoin treasuries “are bringing forward the Bitcoin adoption curve.”

$MSTR & $BTC Treasuries by @adam3us:
“They are basically an arbitrage between the fiat current [system] and the hyper-bitcoinezed future. And if you can buy #Bitcoin today and pay for it in 5 years or convert into equity you are bringing forward the Bitcoin adoption curve..” pic.twitter.com/UAF4bmCZUC

— Marco ₿attistoni (@Battistoshi93) June 2, 2025

Back pointed out that most people don’t have money and opportunities to acquire Bitcoin. In contrast, public companies have these opportunities to raise capital by selling their shares or vice versa.

These companies don’t need free money to invest in Bitcoin as they can buy Bitcoin in advance and pay for it years later. “They are basically an arbitrage between the fiat [monetary system] and the hyper-bitcoinized future.”

A more mainstream explanation is that shares and ETFs are easier to deal with for institutional investors than Bitcoin.

So they don’t have to worry about the Bitcoin legal status and lack of the company around it. Instead, they can deal with a public company that offers some guarantees and is traded just like other public companies while exposing clients to the Bitcoin price appreciation.

Generally speaking, these treasuries are helping TradFi traders and investors to benefit from Bitcoin’s long-term price appreciation without having to deal with Bitcoin.

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June 15, 2025 0 comments

NFT Gaming

What Are Internet Capital Markets? Why Companies Are Launching Meme Coins

by admin June 15, 2025

In brief

Internet capital markets involve companies raising money or promoting their business using digital-native financial instruments.
These instruments often exhibit characteristics common to meme coins, which have no utility and are purely speculative assets tied to hype around a project.
While advocates argue that internet capital markets are an innovative way of raising funds or generating interest in a project, lawyers caution that they currently operate in a legal grey area.

Startups and established companies are launching meme coins—and crypto degens are sending their valuations skyrocketing—in a trend known as “internet capital markets.”

In traditional capital markets, entities can raise capital by selling stocks, bonds, commodities, and more. Internet capital markets advances on this idea by implementing a digital-native fundraising tool: meme coins.

As a result, established companies like classic video platform Vine have launched multi-million dollar tokens, while emerging companies like podcasting app JellyJelly have also attracted huge market capitalizations.

What are internet capital markets?

Internet capital markets is a term that refers to companies raising money or promoting their business using digital-native financial instruments, most commonly a form of cryptocurrency.

Most of the time, the tokens have no utility and are purely speculative assets tied to the hype of a project—effectively acting as a meme coin. This is a major distinction between internet capital markets and traditional capital markets, where stocks represent a share of a company and often promise certain privileges or dividend returns.

Companies first started this novel approach to raising capital by launching meme coins via Solana launchpad Pump.fun. Rival platforms such as the Believe app have since rose in popularity as options more directly focused on internet capital markets.

“Internet capital markets is itself a powerful meme, and it’s among the most significant and OG meta-narratives and use cases for crypto,” Alon Cohen, co-founder of Pump.fun, told Decrypt. “In principle, it represents the ability to efficiently and instantly crowdsource liquidity on decentralized crypto rails.”

How did this start?

In January 2025, Rus Yusupov, the co-founder of mobile video app Vine, launched Vine Coin via Pump.fun. On its first day, the token skyrocketed to an astonishing market cap of $498 million as traders cashed in on nostalgia for the TikTok predecessor.

Days later, Yusupov posted a waitlist link as onlookers speculated that the app was going to be relaunched. More eyes and attention were on Vine than ever before, so much so that xAI bought Vine, and Elon Musk hinted at a relaunch of the app—though it’s not clear if the meme coin played a role in this move. Vine Coin is still yet to deliver any utility and has plummeted 92.5% from its all-time high.

Technically, this wasn’t the first company to release a meme coin; a wave of AI projects launched tokens in 2024, with many using them to fund their projects. However, Vine Coin was the first high-profile example that was branded as internet capital markets, with a wave of projects following suit early in 2025.

The trend slipped off the radar for several months, but was revitalized in May 2025 with the emergence of Believe as a launchpad.

As a result, new product finding tool Dupe saw its token spike to a market cap of $79 million, according to DEX Screener, before dropping 78% to $17 million. AI social media assistant Creator Buddy peaked at $23.5 million and no-code Web3 builder Uber.fun $13.7 million—down 76% and 99% respectively from their all-time highs, as of June 2025.

Why use internet capital markets?

There are two primary reasons a company may choose the internet capital markets model: money or marketing.

Most commonly, a project is looking to raise capital and will launch a meme coin to help fund its operations. This can either come in the form of selling tokens dedicated to the project—such as the Truth Terminal creator selling Fartcoin—or simply using the creator revenue fees.

This approach comes as traditional fundraising strategies are broken, 0xdetweiler, the pseudonymous founder of investment firm 3rd Street Capital, told Decrypt. He said that companies are over-reliant on venture capitalism, which cuts out regular investors from the conversation. As a result, the target audience for the product usually does not have an opportunity to invest.

In many ways, the internet capital markets trend is a repackaging of the initial coin offering movement that dominated the industry in 2017, 0xdetweiler said.

“Web3 was built on allowing founders to raise funds from the public [and] ship innovative products,” he explained. “They gain a community, capital and find product market fit. The go to market is a lot faster than traditional Web2 startups.”

But some projects don’t need capital; instead, the meme coin strategy is a marketing ploy.

For example, Russian research lab Neiry Lab told Decrypt that it had already secured venture capital funding when traders pumped a token dedicated to its rat experiment. Considering that, the lab embraced the meme coin as a marketing tool to help it grow its social media presence.

Iqram Magdon-Ismail, co-founder of JellyJelly and Venmo, said that JellyJelly attracted 10,000 signups the day that it launched its meme coin—which touched a $248.5 million market cap. The founders categorically ruled out ever selling the tokens for funding, but have since integrated it into the app as a way to tip creators on the short-form podcasting platform.

However, market participants have noted that a lot of the projects that launch under this strategy aren’t serious long-term projects worth investing in. Despite what some are calling “vibe coded bullshit” and “vaporware” products, the tokens often still pump to multi-million dollar market caps.

Good teams with good marketing and vaporware products.

We are back in ICO bubble but call it internet capital markets.

— SpiderCrypto 🧑‍🍳🧲 (@SpiderCrypto0x) May 14, 2025

Fortunately Matthew Nay, Senior Research Analyst at Messari, doesn’t think this is such a bad thing.

“I think it’s healthy when the market overreacts to this idea,” Nay told Decrypt. “Speculation drives prices higher, which in turn leads to more capital entering the market, and then leads to more projects being funded that want to explore these new ideas.”

Is this all legal?

It’s worth noting that in the wake of 2017’s ICO boom, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission cracked down on companies for violating securities laws—with several multi-million dollar victories.

With some pointing to internet capital markets as a repackaging of the ICO model, should companies be concerned about riding the hype train?

“Companies considering launching meme coins—particularly those tied to their brand or business—should seek legal guidance to assess whether their token functions as a capital raise or implies an investment opportunity,” digital asset lawyer Carlo D’Angelo told Decrypt.

“This requires a fact-specific legal analysis,” D’Angelo explained. “If the token ‘walks and talks’ like a capital raise, it may satisfy the elements of an investment contract under the Howey test and require registration with the SEC.”

That said, times have changed since 2017, with U.S. President Donald Trump clearly being more open to crypto-infused financial models—he launched his own meme coin, after all.

D’Angelo pointed to the SEC’s February 2025 staff statement on meme coins, which appears to mark a shift from its previous hardline stance against crypto. The statement claims that meme coins “may not be subject” to federal securities laws.

“The central legal question remains: does the token function as a capital raise or as a purely speculative, community-driven meme?” D’Angelo said, adding that, “The answer is critical in determining whether securities laws apply.”

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June 15, 2025 0 comments

Crypto Trends

Why Are So Many Public Companies Pivoting to Crypto, And What Happens If Bitcoin Crashes?

by admin June 14, 2025

In brief

Depending on how they raise funds, Bitcoin treasury firms may eventually be forced to sell the asset.
Observers say that these firms may also become a target for acquisitions.
For smaller firms, copying Strategy’s playbook may require a meaningful amount of time.

Distillers, cannabis producers, and energy storage firms are among a wave of publicly traded companies loading their balance sheets with Bitcoin, but observers say that the strategy carries great risk if the asset’s price falls to certain levels or their ability to raise cash becomes constrained.

They might then be forced to sell their holdings, potentially at a discount, or even the firm itself.

“There might be an opportunity for highly credit-worthy operating companies to go and consolidate this industry and go buy Bitcoin for 90 cents on the dollar if they’re distressed,” Ben Werkman, chief investment officer at financial services firm Swan Bitcoin, told Decrypt. “If you’re looking at a prolonged bear market, that could be a real possibility.”

Experts’ wariness comes as a fast-growing number of companies build treasuries based on Bitcoin and other digital assets, an approach popularized by Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, to great success. But the possible downside has been largely overlooked as Bitcoin has soared, alongside the share price of some newly Bitcoin-focused firms.

Earlier this month, Geoff Kendrick, head of digital asset research at U.K.-based bank Standard Chartered, wrote in a note that “Bitcoin treasuries are adding to Bitcoin buying pressure for now, but we see a risk that this may reverse over time.”

The number of companies trying to follow Strategy’s path, leveraging debt as a way to buy more Bitcoin than they otherwise could, has mushroomed under the more crypto-friendly policies of U.S. President Donald Trump. Strategy began purchasing Bitcoin in 2020, and over the course of several years, it has issued convertible bonds, common stock, and preferred shares to fund acquisitions—a playbook that several nascent firms are trying to emulate.

Strategy, which has seen its share price skyrocket over 2,500% since it started pivoting away from software development, owns roughly 582,000 Bitcoin worth just over $61 billion, accounting for 2.7% of the asset’s total possible supply.

Among 130 public companies, no other owns more than 0.25% of the 21 million Bitcoin that advocates say will ever be mined, according to Bitcoin Treasures. At the beginning of this year, only 75 public companies held Bitcoin, an archived version of the website shows.

“If Bitcoin treasury companies are blowing up, it might be 50 cents [on the dollar],” Matt Cole, CEO of Strive Asset Management, a firm co-founded by former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, told Decrypt. “I think that there’s a good chance that there will be a risk in the future. It’s just something to watch.”

Today, Cole sees the risk of Bitcoin liquidations from Bitcoin treasury firms collapsing as low, describing its potential to disrupt markets as no more impactful than the “average derivatives blowup on a random weekend.”

Depending on market conditions, Cole said that Strive, which manages over $2 billion in assets, could start to see actionable opportunities in the future.

“I’m not sitting here saying today [saying], ‘We need to be prepared to acquire 10 different Bitcoin treasury companies,’” he said. “There’s a good likelihood that that could be a view that we have in the future. And when it is, we’ll prepare for it.”

In a report published Thursday, Coinbase’s Global Head of Research David Duong wrote that “forced selling pressure is not a concern in the very short-term,” and refinancing methods may ultimately help leveraged firms avoid liquidating their Bitcoin holdings.

‘Destiny out of their own hands’

Most public companies seek to maximize shareholder value by growing revenue, increasing operating margin, or honing capital efficiency. Many firms engaged in a Bitcoin treasury strategy, however, aim to maximize shareholder value by growing the Bitcoin they own per share. (Shareholders do not have a direct claim on the Bitcoin held in these firms’ treasuries.)

Using the proceeds to buy Bitcoin, Strategy has historically leaned on convertible bonds, with $8.2 billion worth of debt outstanding that could one day be converted into shares. Although demand for Strategy’s instruments has grown dramatically, smaller companies adopting Bitcoin may need a significant period of time to get to that point, Werkman said.

For a company’s convertible bonds to become popular among convertible arbitrage desks, which have gravitated towards trading Strategy’s debt, Werkman said that a firm needs robust options markets first, which can be contingent on factors like an equity’s trading volume.

“In the convertible bond markets, you have to build scale to do that at meaningful size, and you need to have a derivatives market first so that the people buying the bonds can hedge against it,” he said. “Not all companies have an options market right out of the gate.”

As an alternative method of levering up their balance sheets, Werkman said some firms are using bank term loans, which under certain provisions, could turn them into forced sellers.

“If they go and take bank debt, they’ve taken their destiny out of their own hands,” he said. “That’s when you need to start getting nervous about some of these companies.”

As far as assessing Bitcoin treasury companies goes, mNAV, or multiple-to-net asset value, has become an informal yet popular standard. As of Friday’s close, Strategy’s mNAV was 1.7, indicating that its $107 billion market cap was above the value of its Bitcoin holdings.

Still, analysts, including Greg Cipolaro, global head of research at Bitcoin financial services firm NYDIG, have argued that the valuation metric is lackluster as a comprehensive gauge.

“Metrics like ‘mNAV,’ the market cap to Bitcoin holdings, are woefully deficient in comparing Bitcoin treasury companies across the spectrum accounting for [operating company] and capital structure differences,” he wrote in a recent note.

‘Part of the magic’

When a company trades at a premium relative to its Bitcoin holdings, growing its Bitcoin per share by issuing common stock is easy, Werkman said. But if that premium flips to a discount, a company’s prospects could shift reflexively, he warned.

“Your ability to raise capital and the credit-worthiness of your business during a bear market where Bitcoin is not continually going up is greatly impaired,” he said. “If you can’t raise capital during that time period, investors are going to see that you don’t have an ability to operate.”

Werkman said a fledgling Bitcoin treasury firm’s operating company, or the value of the underlying business, “matters a lot” in the early days.

Not all companies buying Bitcoin are trying to replicate Strategy’s playbook, Werkman noted. Mirroring the logic behind some state-level Bitcoin bills, some firms are electing to swap cash and U.S. Treasuries for Bitcoin to preserve their purchasing power, he added.

At the end of the day, Werkman said that Strategy’s Bitcoin treasury strategy revolves around volatility. As the price of Strategy’s common stock swings, the company is able to raise capital at a premium, through products like convertible bonds, collecting money at a future value.

“They’ve captured an arbitrage there, and that arbitrage is what increases the Bitcoin per share for the common stockholders,” Werkman said. “They’re using the capital markets and the incentive structure of all these different pools of investors in capital to build lasting value.”

As more Bitcoin treasury companies pop up, Werkman posited that investors will start to segment them into “growth” plays and “value” plays, depending on how fast their Bitcoin per share is expected to grow. Although smaller players may ultimately be acquired, their endgame, he said, will likely evolve alongside Bitcoin as an asset class.

“That’s a part of the magic right now,” he said. “They’re opting out of the collapsing financial system, and they’re moving to what they think the future financial system is, and there’s a first-mover advantage to being there.”

Edited by James Rubin

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June 14, 2025 0 comments

GameFi Guides

South Korea Stablecoin Bill to Allow Companies to Issue the Tokens: Report

by admin June 10, 2025

In brief

Crypto-friendly Lee Jae-myung won the presidency in South Korea last week.
He is now pushing ahead with a stablecoins bill.
If approved, the law would allow companies to issue their own stablecoins.

South Korea’s newly elected president pushed ahead with a crypto-friendly agenda on Tuesday, announcing new stablecoin legislation, according to reports.

As first reported by Bloomberg, Lee Jae-myung, proposed the Digital Asset Basic Act—a law which, if approved, will allow companies to issue stablecoins if they have 500 million won ($366,749) in equity capital.

Stablecoins are digital tokens pegged to the value on a non-volatile asset—typically the U.S. dollar. Such cryptocurrencies run on a number of different blockchains and are supposed to be backed by reserves of the stable asset.

Crypto is popular in South Korea and Jae-myung—who won the election last week—is friendly toward the space. The Democratic Party leader in 2022 experimented with NFTs during his previous campaign and has said he will allow Bitcoin ETFs to trade in the country.

He has also proposed launching a won-pegged stablecoin to prevent capital flight, saying that the country urgently needs “to prevent national wealth from leaking overseas.”

And the Bank of Korea last month said it was considering issuing deposit tokens on a public blockchain to coexist with private stablecoins.

Stablecoins are a hot topic in the crypto industry: Regulators have been fighting over how to control the assets for years; President Trump backs one digital token; and lawmakers in Washington will vote on a stablecoin bill this week.

A number of high-profile businesses and banks are also weighing—or have already—launched stablecoin products.

Edited by James Rubin

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June 10, 2025 0 comments

Esports

SAG-AFTRA reaches tentative agreement with major games companies to end strike

by admin June 10, 2025

SAG-AFTRA has reached a tentative agreement with a bargaining group including some of the industry’s largest studios and publishers.

The agreement for its Interactive Media Contract is now “subject to review and approval by the national board and ratification by the membership council”.

Specific details of the terms will be released once these actions have taken place.

The terms of a strike suspension agreement is also expected to be finalised with employers. SAG-AFTRA members will remain on strike until an agreement has been reached.

The bargaining group with whom SAG-AFTRA has been negotiating with includes representatives from Activision, Blindlight, Disney Character Voices, Electronic Arts, Epic Games, Formosa Interactive, Insomniac Games, Take 2 Productions, and WB Games.

“Everyone at SAG-AFTRA is immensely grateful for the sacrifices made by video game performers and the dedication of the Interactive Media Agreement Negotiating Committee throughout these many months of the video game strike,” said SAG-AFTRA national executive director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland.

“Patience and persistence has resulted in a deal that puts in place the necessary AI guardrails that defends performers’ livelihoods in the AI range, alongside other important gains.

“Thank you, Interactive Media Agreement negotiating chair Sarah Elmaleh and chief contracts officer Ray Rodriguez for your hard work and advocacy in pursuit of this contract.”

“Their incredible courage and persistence […] has at last secured a deal. The needle has been moved forward and we are much better off than before”

Fran Drescher, SAG-AFTRA president

SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher added: “Our video game performers stood strong against the biggest employers in one of the world’s most lucrative industries.

“Their incredible courage and persistence, combined with the tireless work of our negotiating committee, has at last secured a deal. The needle has been moved forward and we are much better off than before.”

Drescher concluded: “As soon as this is ratified we roll up our sleeves and begin to plan the next negotiation. Every contract is a work in progress and progress is the name of the game.”

Back in September 2023, 98% of union members voted to authorise a strike to protect video game actors and performers against generative AI and to ensure job security.

The strike officially began last July following a year and a half of negotiations about the Interactive Media Agreement without reaching a deal.

SAG-AFTRA issued an update about its strike earlier this year, noting that it remained “frustratingly apart” from the bargaining group.

Though it did note it found “great success with other employers”, highlighting that 160 upcoming games had signed up to its interim and independent agreements.

“Those agreements contain the protections we have been asking the bargaining group for – terms that are clearly feasible and acceptable to a great number of game companies of all sizes, even as the bargaining companies resist,” the union said.

SAG-AFTRA recently published counterproposals during its ongoing negotiations regarding performer rights and AI.

This included a “revised approach to the secondary performance payment (SSP) and questioning the video game employers’ parameters of when it would be acceptable to seek a ‘vocal digital replica […] in lieu of a performer’.”

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June 10, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

Warner Bros. Discovery Is Splitting Into Two Companies (Again)

by admin June 9, 2025

Just three years after they first merged, Warner Bros. Discovery is separating off into two different companies in an attempt to carve away the lucrative studio and streaming sections of the company from its struggling networks.

“The cultural significance of this great company and the impactful stories it has brought to life for more than a century have touched countless people all over the world. It’s a treasured legacy we will proudly continue in this next chapter of our celebrated history,” Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said in a statement (via Variety). “By operating as two distinct and optimized companies in the future, we are empowering these iconic brands with the sharper focus and strategic flexibility they need to compete most effectively in today’s evolving media landscape.”

For those who love frequently reading news about unpopular industry decisions, Zaslav will continue to lead one of the two companies–neither of which have new names quite yet–primarily focused around WBD’s streaming and studio assets, including the Warner Bros. TV and movie studios (including the likes of DC Studios, and so on), HBO, and the newly-rechristened HBO Max, as well as the company’s video game and experience divisions. WBD CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels will lead the new network company, which will include the myriad non-Warner TV brands and their associated streaming platforms, including CNN, Discovery (and Discovery+), TNT Sports, and Discovery’s international TV channels.

The move comes after much of the last three years were spent by the streaming side of things largely cannibalizing the struggling network side, and a series of broad cuts and controversial decisions to try and mitigate the losses caused there. Although the public-about face on decisions like re-renaming HBO’s streaming platform might have caused a good deal of mockery recently, Warner Bros has found some strong successes lately as it reverts back to focusing on the premium nature of brands like HBO with the successes of shows like The Last of Us, House of the Dragon, White Lotus, and The Pitt earlier this year, and ahead of the relaunch of the DC cinematic universe with James Gunn’s Superman next month, things are looking up at the box office as well.

Subject to closing, the split is expected to go through by the middle of 2026.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

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June 9, 2025 0 comments

Crypto Trends

Robinhood CEO Predicts AI-Driven Companies, Likens Them to Bitcoin and Satoshi

by admin May 28, 2025

In brief

AI could lead to more “single-person” companies, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev said.
Speaking at Bitcoin 2025, Tenev said that AI could enable more value to be created from minimal resources.
He compared this to how Satoshi Nakamoto created the biggest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin.

Robinhood boss Vlad Tenev said that artificial intelligence will lead to minimal staffing requirements in companies—and compared such hypothetical structures to how Satoshi Nakamoto created Bitcoin.

Speaking at Bitcoin 2025 in Las Vegas, the payments entrepreneur said that AI-powered “single-person companies” would become the norm, along with tokenized assets.

The Robinhood CEO and co-founder alluded to Satoshi Nakamoto—Bitcoin’s mysterious, pseudonymous creator (or creators)—saying that the leading cryptocurrency was created by one person and now people can invest in it.

“I think you’ll have more single-person companies, and you have to imagine that they’ll be tokenized, and they’ll they’ll trade on blockchains—just like other assets,” he said. “So you’ll be able to essentially invest in a person or the economic activities of a project that is run by a single person.”

He added: “That’s Bitcoin, in a sense, right? It’s the personal brand of Satoshi Nakamoto, backed by technology.”

Satoshi Nakamoto released a white paper on a cryptography blog at the end of 2008 before mining the top cryptocurrency’s first block on the distributed ledger known as a blockchain in 2009. He then disappeared and no one knows who—or where—he (or she) is.

But Nakamoto’s creation spawned a multi-trillion crypto industry, with countless more subsequent digital coins aiming to do just what Bitcoin promised it would do—and more.

And the technology that Nakamoto created has now lots of other use cases—many mainstream—other than payments. For example, Walmart has used blockchain to track its food supply chain to increase safety, tokens are used to represent unique artwork and video game items, and major banks have deployed it for their own financial products.

Talk that AI will streamline businesses has been a hot topic for years now, and many are predicting it could lead to huge job losses.

But Tenev sounded more upbeat about how it would help entrepreneurs. “One of the things that AI is making possible is more and more value being created with fewer and fewer resources,” he said.

Robinhood is a trading platform that allows its users to buy and sell stocks, commodities and cryptocurrencies. The app has expanded its crypto arm in recent years, offering more and more digital tokens for trading—including meme coins.

Edited by Andrew Hayward

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May 28, 2025 0 comments

NFT Gaming

What is a Corporate Bitcoin Treasury? The Strategy Behind Companies Holding Crypto

by admin May 26, 2025

In brief

Companies are increasingly adding Bitcoin to their corporate treasuries to hedge against inflation, diversify assets, and project a tech-forward image.
Game theory and investor pressure are accelerating adoption, with companies like Rumble and GameStop following the lead of pioneering firm Strategy.
Despite risks and market uncertainty, analysts predict that treasuries will hold up to $330 billion in Bitcoin by 2029.

From boardrooms to balance sheets, Bitcoin is no longer just a bet—it’s becoming a part of corporate financial strategy.

A small but growing number of companies are allocating portions of their treasuries to the number one cryptocurrency by market capitalization, aiming not only to protect assets and diversify beyond traditional finance but also to signal a forward-thinking stance.

What are corporate treasuries, anyway?

A corporate treasury refers to a company’s financial assets, including cash, stocks, and investments. To preserve capital and maintain liquidity, a company traditionally places surplus cash in instruments such as government bonds or money market accounts, which are seen as low-risk. However, an increasing number of companies are now turning to Bitcoin as an alternative asset.

“Any assets held are usually held to be counter-cyclical to the rest of the economy,” James Davis, co-founder of crypto futures market platform Crypto Valley Exchange, previously told Decrypt. “Strategic reserves are meant to counteract economic cycles,” he said. “What matters isn’t just price appreciation, but how the asset performs during downturns.”

This article will examine how companies are shifting focus to Bitcoin and integrating it into their treasury strategies to hedge against inflation, preserve value, and enhance financial resilience.

Why hold Bitcoin as a corporate treasury asset?

The number of companies holding Bitcoin continues to grow. Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) gained a first-mover advantage by aggressively accumulating BTC under the direction of its chairman, Bitcoin bull Michael Saylor, starting in 2020. The trend gained momentum when Saylor offered to share his Bitcoin playbook with Tesla later that year, with the EV manufacturer subsequently purchasing $1.5 billion worth of BTC in February 2021.

Companies such as streaming platform Rumble and video game retailer GameStop had joined the trend. As of May 2025, both have added—or are in the process of adding—Bitcoin to their corporate treasuries, marking another step in the cryptocurrency’s mainstream adoption.

Game theory could explain this momentum, suggesting that as more companies adopt Bitcoin, others may feel pressure to follow suit—not necessarily out of conviction, but to stay competitive in public perception.

Companies that create Bitcoin treasuries often cite the cryptocurrency’s decentralized nature and fixed supply as a hedge against inflation, currency debasement, and the declining yield of traditional cash holdings.

“For most companies getting into Bitcoin, it’s hard to see these moves as more than a brand play,” Dr. Matthew Stephenson, Head of Research at venture capital firm Pantera Capital, previously told Decrypt. “The most strategic move, beyond just wanting Bitcoin people to think they’re cool, is addressing investors who keep asking, ‘What are you doing with new tech? What are you doing with crypto?’ Holding Bitcoin satisfies them.”

Which firms hold Bitcoin as a treasury asset?

The trend is gaining traction. As of May 2025, publicly traded companies holding Bitcoin in their treasuries include:

Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy): 580,250 BTC, approximately $64 billion
Marathon Digital Holdings: 48,237 BTC, approximately $5.3 billion
Riot Platforms: 19,211 BTC, approximately $2.1 billion
Tesla: 11,509 BTC, approximately $1.3 billion
Coinbase: 9,267 BTC, approximately $1 billion

How do companies hold Bitcoin in their treasuries?

Holding Bitcoin is more complex than simply transferring BTC to a crypto wallet. Companies typically use custodial services—specialized firms that store and secure digital assets. Coinbase Custody, BitGo, and Fidelity Digital Assets offer institutional-grade security, including cold storage, multi-signature wallets, and insurance.

However, holding Bitcoin does not guarantee safety from market uncertainty and risk.

“Crypto’s volatility makes it highly unpredictable compared to traditional assets,” Crypto Valley Exchange’s James Davis said. “It is also pro-cyclical, meaning its value tends to drop when the market requires liquidity the most, making it a risky reserve asset.”

The future of corporate Bitcoin treasuries

With inflation concerns lingering and digital assets gaining credibility, more companies are turning to Bitcoin as a strategic part of their treasury management.

Biotech firm Atai Life Sciences announced plans to adopt a Bitcoin treasury in March 2025. Just two months later, Strive Asset Management—co-founded by Vivek Ramaswamy—announced plans to accumulate Bitcoin.

Firms including Japanese investment company Metaplanet and medical device manufacturer Semler Scientific continue to add to their holdings, while in May 2025, the Financial Times reported plans by Trump Media to raise $3 billion to purchase Bitcoin and other digital assets.

While Strategy’s push to accumulate Bitcoin as a long-term store of value has influenced other firms, many—including crypto companies—remain hesitant due to the asset’s volatility. In May 2025, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong revealed that the company once considered allocating 80% of its balance sheet to Bitcoin but ultimately backed off, fearing the move could “kill the company.”

Despite some companies’ risk aversion, Bernstein analysts argued in a May 2025 research note that corporate treasuries will add $330 billion in Bitcoin by 2029.

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May 26, 2025 0 comments