Corporate Bitcoin treasuries control over 3% of total BTC supply

1 day ago 2

The Bitcoin reserve strategy trend has led to at least 61 corporate treasuries now holding a combined 3.2% of all Bitcoin that will ever exist, according to Standard Chartered.

Publicly listed companies worldwide now own a combined 673,897 Bitcoin (BTC), Standard Chartered’s global head of digital asset research, Geoff Kendrick, said in a June 3 report seen by Cointelegraph.

In the report, Kendrick focused on the implications of Bitcoin’s growing popularity as a treasury asset, warning about potential risks stemming from rapid corporate adoption.

“Bitcoin treasuries are adding to Bitcoin buying pressure for now, but we see a risk that this may reverse over time,” the analyst said.

Bitcoin treasuries as a downside price pressure

According to the report, 58 out of the analyzed 61 corporate treasuries have net asset value (NAV) multiples above 1, meaning that their market valuation is greater than the value of their net assets.

“For now, we think this is justified by market inefficiencies, including regulatory hurdles to investor access and conservative investment committee processes,” Kendrick wrote, adding:

“But as these inefficiencies are eventually removed, we think Bitcoin treasuries could become a source of downside price pressure and volatility.”

Additionally, Bitcoin’s volatility itself may drive the BTC price below the average purchase prices of many new treasures, as 50% of the companies have average purchase prices above $90,000. The figure is significantly higher than the average cost of Strategy’s 580,955 Bitcoin holdings acquired at the price of $70,023 per BTC.

Strategy “imitators” double BTC holdings in two months

Kendrick also observed that a large portion of Strategy “imitators” have started Bitcoin accumulation recently, with holdings rising significantly in the past few months.

Specifically, the amount of Bitcoin held by those 60 companies has doubled in the past two months, from below 50,000 BTC to about 100,000 BTC, the report said.

Kendrick said that such a pace of buying notably outstrips the speed of buying by Strategy, which added 74,000 BTC in the past two months, versus 47,000 by the others.

Canada’s SolarBank among the latest adopters

Standard Chartered’s report came amid a new batch of companies announcing Bitcoin strategy adoption, including Canada’s renewable energy developer SolarBank.

SolarBank officially announced its Bitcoin treasury strategy on June 3, reporting it has filed an account opening application with Coinbase Prime to provide secure custody, USDC (USDC) services and a self-custodial wallet for its Bitcoin holdings.

On the same day, Paris-based crypto firm Blockchain Group announced a $68 million Bitcoin acquisition, following in the footsteps of Norwegian crypto brokerage firm K33, which raised $6.2 million to buy BTC in late May.

“Not taking risks is a risk in itself,” says CZ

While Standard Chartered’s concerns about the risks of increasing corporate Bitcoin adoption in the volatility context may look alarming, Strategy, the key Bitcoin strategy inspirer, is optimistic about its BTC stash no matter the price.

According to Strategy co-founder Michael Saylor, the company’s capital structure is constructed to remain stable even if Bitcoin falls 90% and “stays there for four or five years.”

“It wouldn’t be a good outcome for the equity holders. The people at the top of the capital structure would suffer because they’re levered, but everybody else in the capital structure would get paid out,” Saylor said in a Financial Times documentary in May.

Research, Banks, Investments, MicroStrategy, Companies

According to some prominent industry figures, such as former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, the companies that add Bitcoin to their balance sheets are definitely taking risks, but these risks are manageable.

“Not taking risks is a risk in itself,” Zhao concluded in an X post on Tuesday.

Magazine: US risks being ‘front run’ on Bitcoin reserve by other nations: Samson Mow

Read Entire Article