Latest news with #DylanLeClair
CTV News
2 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Crypto's hottest new trend: Publicly traded companies buying bunches of bitcoin
It's one of crypto's hottest trends: publicly traded companies buying bitcoin and then buying even more. U.S. President Donald Trump's media company just announced a plan to raise US$2.5 billion to buy bitcoin, joining a growing number of so-called 'bitcoin treasury companies' as the world's most popular cryptocurrency hits all-time highs. The companies buy bitcoin for different reasons: Some hold it as a hedge against inflation or to signal support for the cryptocurrency industry, while some firms have made using debt and stock sales to buy bitcoin their primary business strategy. 'The world at large has no idea what's happening and they're in for a big shock,' Dylan LeClair, an executive at the Japan-based Metaplanet, which recently went from being a budget hotel firm to a bitcoin treasury company, said at a recent crypto conference. 'This is a one-way train, nothing is going to stop this.' The massive increases in some firms' stock price may seem to validate LeClair's bravado, but there are plenty of warnings that a downturn in bitcoin's prices could lead to large selloffs. Here's a look at bitcoin treasury companies by the numbers: 582,000 That's how many bitcoins owned by MicroStrategy – the undisputed goliath of bitcoin treasury companies. With nearly 3% of the total bitcoin supply, MicroStrategy owns more bitcoins than every other bitcoin treasury company combined. It also owns more bitcoin than every nation state combined, according to the tracking site Now called Strategy, the software company first started buying bitcoin in 2020 with reserve cash. Now, its software business is a small part of a perpetual bitcoin-buying machine that uses a variety of strategies – like selling shares or issuing debt – to keep growing its bitcoin holdings. More than 3000% That's how much MicroStrategy's stock price has increased in the last five years, compared to around 1,000% gain in bitcoin and the 1,500% jump for chipmaker and stock market darling Nvidia during that same period. The company's success has boosted the profile of MicroStrategy's founder and chairman, Michael Saylor, who has visited Trump at Mar-a-Lago and the White House while becoming bitcoin's enigmatic high priest. '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 said in a social media post. Saylor's success has also spawned many imitators. '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,' said Eric Semler, the chairman of Semler Scientific, a healthcare company that started acquiring bitcoin last year. $90,000 That's the average purchase price of bitcoin for half of the 61 publicly traded bitcoin strategy companies, excluding bitcoin mining companies and bitcoin exchange-traded funds, according to a recent analysis by Standard Chartered. Geoff Kendrick, the bank's head of digital assets research, said in the report that restrictions on investors buying bitcoin directly help explain the popularity of bitcoin treasury companies, as their stocks can serve as bitcoin proxies. But as crypto becomes more mainstream, the case for investing in bitcoin treasury companies becomes weaker, Kendrick said. He added that bitcoin's volatility could force some newer bitcoin treasury companies to sell their holdings to satisfy their debts if it falls under the purchase price. 'The question then becomes, how much pain can companies withstand before being forced to sell their BTC?' Kendrick said, referring to the symbol for bitcoin. Triple digits That's how much of a one-day percentage increase in stock prices firms have seen after recently announcing plans to hold other types of cryptocurrencies as corporate treasuries, highlighting how the appetite for such companies extends beyond bitcoin. SharpLink Gaming, a gambling marketing firm, saw its share price increase by more than 400% after it announced plans to buy up to $425 million in Ethereum, the second most popular form of cryptocurrency. And crypto firm Upexi saw its stock price soar more than 300% after it announced plans to buy $100 million of Solana, a cryptocurrency popular in the meme coin ecosystem. Alan Suderman, The Associated Press
The Independent
2 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
Crypto's hottest new trend: publicly traded companies buying bunches of bitcoin
It's one of crypto's hottest trends: publicly traded companies buying bitcoin and then buying even more. President Donald Trump's media company just announced a plan to raise $2.5 billion to buy bitcoin, joining a growing number of so-called 'bitcoin treasury companies' as the world's most popular cryptocurrency hits all-time highs. The companies buy bitcoin for different reasons: Some hold it as a hedge against inflation or to signal support for the cryptocurrency industry, while some firms have made using debt and stock sales to buy bitcoin their primary business strategy. 'The world at large has no idea what's happening and they're in for a big shock,' Dylan LeClair, an executive at the Japan-based Metaplanet, which recently went from being a budget hotel firm to a bitcoin treasury company, said at a recent crypto conference. 'This is a one-way train, nothing is going to stop this.' The massive increases in some firms' stock price may seem to validate LeClair's bravado, but there are plenty of warnings that a downturn in bitcoin's prices could lead to large selloffs. Here's a look at bitcoin treasury companies by the numbers: 582,000 That's how many bitcoins owned by MicroStrategy – the undisputed goliath of bitcoin treasury companies. With nearly 3% of the total bitcoin supply, MicroStrategy owns more bitcoins than every other bitcoin treasury company combined. It also owns more bitcoin than every nation state combined, according to the tracking site Now called Strategy, the software company first started buying bitcoin in 2020 with reserve cash. Now, its software business is a small part of a perpetual bitcoin-buying machine that uses a variety of strategies – like selling shares or issuing debt – to keep growing its bitcoin holdings. More than 3000% That's how much MicroStrategy's stock price has increased in the last five years, compared to around 1,000% gain in bitcoin and the 1,500% jump for chipmaker and stock market darling Nvidia during that same period. The company's success has boosted the profile of MicroStrategy's founder and chairman, Michael Saylor, who has visited Trump at Mar-a-Lago and the White House while becoming bitcoin's enigmatic high priest. '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 said in a social media post. Saylor's success has also spawned many imitators. '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,' said Eric Semler, the chairman of Semler Scientific, a healthcare company that started acquiring bitcoin last year. $90,000 That's the average purchase price of bitcoin for half of the 61 publicly traded bitcoin strategy companies, excluding bitcoin mining companies and bitcoin exchange-traded funds, according to a recent analysis by Standard Chartered. Geoff Kendrick, the bank's head of digital assets research, said in the report that restrictions on investors buying bitcoin directly help explain the popularity of bitcoin treasury companies, as their stocks can serve as bitcoin proxies. But as crypto becomes more mainstream, the case for investing in bitcoin treasury companies becomes weaker, Kendrick said. He added that bitcoin's volatility could force some newer bitcoin treasury companies to sell their holdings to satisfy their debts if it falls under the purchase price. 'The question then becomes, how much pain can companies withstand before being forced to sell their BTC?' Kendrick said, referring to the symbol for bitcoin. Triple digits That's how much of a one-day percentage increase in stock prices firms have seen after recently announcing plans to hold other types of cryptocurrencies as corporate treasuries, highlighting how the appetite for such companies extends beyond bitcoin. SharpLink Gaming, a gambling marketing firm, saw its share price increase by more than 400% after it announced plans to buy up to $425 million in Ethereum, the second most popular form of cryptocurrency. And crypto firm Upexi saw its stock price soar more than 300% after it announced plans to buy $100 million of Solana, a cryptocurrency popular in the meme coin ecosystem.
Associated Press
2 days ago
- Business
- Associated Press
Crypto's hottest new trend: publicly traded companies buying bunches of bitcoin
It's one of crypto's hottest trends: publicly traded companies buying bitcoin and then buying even more. President Donald Trump's media company just announced a plan to raise $2.5 billion to buy bitcoin, joining a growing number of so-called 'bitcoin treasury companies' as the world's most popular cryptocurrency hits all-time highs . The companies buy bitcoin for different reasons: Some hold it as a hedge against inflation or to signal support for the cryptocurrency industry, while some firms have made using debt and stock sales to buy bitcoin their primary business strategy. 'The world at large has no idea what's happening and they're in for a big shock,' Dylan LeClair, an executive at the Japan-based Metaplanet, which recently went from being a budget hotel firm to a bitcoin treasury company, said at a recent crypto conference. 'This is a one-way train, nothing is going to stop this.' The massive increases in some firms' stock price may seem to validate LeClair's bravado, but there are plenty of warnings that a downturn in bitcoin's prices could lead to large selloffs. Here's a look at bitcoin treasury companies by the numbers: 582,000 That's how many bitcoins owned by MicroStrategy – the undisputed goliath of bitcoin treasury companies. With nearly 3% of the total bitcoin supply, MicroStrategy owns more bitcoins than every other bitcoin treasury company combined. It also owns more bitcoin than every nation state combined, according to the tracking site Now called Strategy, the software company first started buying bitcoin in 2020 with reserve cash. Now, its software business is a small part of a perpetual bitcoin-buying machine that uses a variety of strategies – like selling shares or issuing debt – to keep growing its bitcoin holdings. More than 3000% That's how much MicroStrategy's stock price has increased in the last five years, compared to around 1,000% gain in bitcoin and the 1,500% jump for chipmaker and stock market darling Nvidia during that same period. The company's success has boosted the profile of MicroStrategy's founder and chairman, Michael Saylor, who has visited Trump at Mar-a-Lago and the White House while becoming bitcoin's enigmatic high priest. '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 said in a social media post . Saylor's success has also spawned many imitators. '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,' said Eric Semler, the chairman of Semler Scientific, a healthcare company that started acquiring bitcoin last year. $90,000 That's the average purchase price of bitcoin for half of the 61 publicly traded bitcoin strategy companies, excluding bitcoin mining companies and bitcoin exchange-traded funds, according to a recent analysis by Standard Chartered. Geoff Kendrick, the bank's head of digital assets research, said in the report that restrictions on investors buying bitcoin directly help explain the popularity of bitcoin treasury companies, as their stocks can serve as bitcoin proxies. But as crypto becomes more mainstream, the case for investing in bitcoin treasury companies becomes weaker, Kendrick said. He added that bitcoin's volatility could force some newer bitcoin treasury companies to sell their holdings to satisfy their debts if it falls under the purchase price. 'The question then becomes, how much pain can companies withstand before being forced to sell their BTC?' Kendrick said, referring to the symbol for bitcoin. Triple digits That's how much of a one-day percentage increase in stock prices firms have seen after recently announcing plans to hold other types of cryptocurrencies as corporate treasuries, highlighting how the appetite for such companies extends beyond bitcoin. SharpLink Gaming, a gambling marketing firm, saw its share price increase by more than 400% after it announced plans to buy up to $425 million in Ethereum, the second most popular form of cryptocurrency. And crypto firm Upexi saw its stock price soar more than 300% after it announced plans to buy $100 million of Solana, a cryptocurrency popular in the meme coin ecosystem.
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Japan's Metaplanet Plans to Buy 21,000 Bitcoin by 2026
Tokyo-listed Metaplanet said on Tuesday that it would accumulate 10,000 bitcoin (BTC) by the end of 2025 and 21,000 bitcoin by the end of 2026 as part of a corporate treasury plan. The strategy is designed to establish Metaplanet as one of the world's largest corporate holders of bitcoin, the company said. It holds over $180 million worth of asset as of Wednesday, data shows. The so-termed "21 Million Plan' — a likely nod to bitcoin's total supply — involves issuing 21 million shares via moving strike warrants to raise approximately 116.65 billion yen (or nearly $740 million at current exchange rates), marking one of the largest equity capital raises for bitcoin in Asia. This plan aims to protect shareholder value by setting the exercise price at 100% of the previous day's closing price, avoiding the dilution often seen with traditional warrants. Metaplanet targets an expected 35% BTC Yield each quarter. It achieved a 309.82% BTC Yield for Q4 2024 following a 41.7% BTC Yield in Q3 2024 — a move that proves its acquisition strategy was on the right path, per the release. 'BTC Yield is the foundation of our strategy and the ultimate measure of our success,' said Dylan LeClair, Director of Bitcoin Strategy at Metaplanet. 'We don't measure performance in fiat currencies like the yen or the dollar—our benchmark is Bitcoin itself.' 'Our mission is to maximize bitcoin per share for our shareholders. Bitcoin is not just an asset; it's the exit strategy. We're here to accumulate and lead, not sell,' LeClair added. Shares of Metaplanet closed 5% higher on Wednesday.
