Publicly traded firms are rapidly acquiring bitcoin as a core business strategy, turning into ‘bitcoin treasury companies’ in a high-stakes trend led by MicroStrategy, Metaplanet, and Trump Media.
Corporations Bet Big on Bitcoin as Prices Soar
Publicly traded companies are increasingly shifting their financial strategies to center around bitcoin, riding the wave of soaring cryptocurrency prices and transforming themselves into major crypto players in the process.
The latest entrant is President Donald Trump’s media company, which recently unveiled a plan to raise $2.5 billion to acquire bitcoin. The move places the firm among a growing group of “bitcoin treasury companies” – corporations stockpiling bitcoin, often as a primary asset on their balance sheets.
The motivations vary. Some firms see bitcoin as a hedge against inflation. Others use the purchases to signal ideological support for digital currencies. Still, others have made the acquisition of bitcoin their main business model, funding purchases through stock sales or issuing debt.
“The world at large has no idea what’s happening and they’re in for a big shock,” said Dylan LeClair, an executive at Metaplanet, a Japan-based company that recently pivoted from operating budget hotels to becoming a bitcoin treasury company. “This is a one-way train, nothing is going to stop this.”
MicroStrategy Leads the Bitcoin Charge
Leading the pack is MicroStrategy, now rebranded as Strategy, which began its bitcoin journey in 2020. Initially using reserve cash, the firm has evolved into a relentless bitcoin-buying machine, using stock offerings and debt issuance to build its holdings.
MicroStrategy owns more than 1% of the total bitcoin supply—more than every other bitcoin-holding public company combined, and even more than all nation-states, according to bitcointreasuries.net.
The company’s transformation has also made headlines for the skyrocketing value of its stock. Over the past five years, MicroStrategy’s share price has surged by more than 1,000%, rivaling the gains of bitcoin itself and tech giants like Nvidia, which soared by around 1,500% during the same period.
The Cult of Michael Saylor
At the heart of MicroStrategy’s meteoric rise is its founder and chairman, Michael Saylor. Saylor has become a polarizing figure in the crypto world, revered by some as a visionary and criticized by others for his all-in bitcoin gamble.
“Bitcoin is a swarm of cyber hornets serving the goddess of wisdom, feeding on the fire of truth, exponentially growing ever smarter, faster, and stronger behind a wall of encrypted energy,” Saylor proclaimed on social media.
Saylor’s success has spurred a wave of imitators across industries. Eric Semler, chairman of Semler Scientific, a healthcare firm that began buying bitcoin last year, remarked: “It’s kind of shocking … that it took someone four years after Michael Saylor started doing it to finally do it and pull the trigger and now it feels like everyone’s pulling the trigger.”
High Stakes, High Rewards
While some companies have seen their stock prices explode alongside bitcoin’s surge, analysts warn of the volatility and potential for sharp reversals. A major downturn in crypto markets could lead to steep losses for firms that have tied their fortunes so closely to bitcoin.
Nonetheless, the momentum behind bitcoin treasury strategies continues to build, fueled by price optimism, ideological fervor, and a sense that the corporate race into crypto has only just begun.
