In brief
- Purchases will be funded through equity offerings, debt financing, and operational cash flow.
- The company appointed Joe Burnett as director of Bitcoin Strategy to execute the acquisition plan.
- The ultimate 105,000 BTC goal by 2027 would represent 0.5% of Bitcoin’s fixed 21 million supply.
Semler Scientific plans to acquire up to 105,000 Bitcoin by 2027, aiming to become the second-largest corporate holder of the asset after Michael Saylor’s Strategy.
The NASDAQ-listed healthcare technology firm revealed the aggressive timeline on Thursday as part of a new three-year plan focused on expanding its treasury reserves by accumulating Bitcoin.
Since adopting the world’s largest crypto as its primary treasury reserve asset in May last year, Semler has framed the move not as a speculative play, but as a long-term balance sheet move, describing the digital asset as foundational rather than opportunistic.
The plan directs Semler to expand its Bitcoin holdings to 10,000 within the year, and to 42,000 BTC by the end of 2026, a nearly tenfold increase from its current stash of approximately 4,449 BTC.
Semler’s plan “is a big deal not just for spot markets, but also for perps.” Michael Cameron, co-founder of Superp (formerly Vanilla Finance), told Decrypt. “As a non-crypto firm taking such a large directional bet, it can create demand shocks that ripple into perpetual markets, especially during aggressive accumulation phases.”
In line with those plans, Semler has appointed Joe Burnett as director of Bitcoin Strategy. Burnett previously led market research at Unchained and had been one of the most vocal proponents of holding Bitcoin as a corporate reserve ever since Saylor’s Strategy began the trend five years ago.
If executed properly, the Bitcoin acquisition plan would “place them alongside the largest institutional holders globally, potentially influencing market dynamics and institutional attitudes towards the asset,” Kevin He, co-founder of Bitlayer, told Decrypt.
Semler plans to fund its acquisition spree through three channels: equity financing, debt financing, and operational cash flow.
Semler has already demonstrated its fundraising capabilities, securing $136.2 million through a $500 million at-the-market stock offering program launched in April.
Later that month, it upped its holdings to $314 million, with CEO Eric Semler telling investors they could “sell or stop if you don’t like what we’ve done with Bitcoin.” By June, its holdings had ballooned to nearly $472 million.
The Bitcoin Standard
Semler first began acquiring Bitcoin in May 2024, becoming the second U.S. public company to adopt what it calls the “Bitcoin Standard,” in a nod to the now-famous book by author Saifedean Ammous.
Its prospects with Bitcoin “taps the ongoing trend of business embracing Bitcoin as digital gold,” Vincent Liu, chief investment officer at crypto and quantitative trading firm Kronos Research, told Decrypt.
Yet while “one buy won’t move markets,” the move “reinforces confidence in BTC’s role as a macro hedge,” Liu said, adding that current geopolitical tensions in the Middle East “fuel market uncertainty,” and highlight Bitcoin’s role.
The same tensions have driven even governments to “actively explore, or even adopt Bitcoin,” Jakob Kronbichler, CEO & co-founder of decentralized marketplace Clearpool, told Decrypt earlier this month when Bitcoin volatility hit a new low.
Some do this as part of their strategic reserves, while others have recognized it as legal tender, Kronbichler explained.
Still, those moves aren’t “about choosing between competing powers,” but more about “stepping outside the binary altogether and gaining access to a financial system that’s open, permissionless, and globally accessible.”
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
Daily Debrief Newsletter
Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.
