In a newly released memo dated January 13, 2025, Bitwise Chief Investment Officer (CIO) Matt Hougan argues that the phenomenon of corporations purchasing bitcoin for their treasuries is much more widespread and influential than most realize. of investors believe. According to Hougan, “We will see hundreds of companies purchasing bitcoin for their treasuries over the next 12 to 18 months, and their purchases will substantially lift the entire bitcoin market.”
Hougan's <a target="_blank" href="https://experts.bitwiseinvestments.com/cio-memos/companies-buying-bitcoin-an-overlooked-megatrend” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener nofollow”>memorandumTitled “Companies Buying bitcoin: An Overlooked Megatrend,” it states that while MicroStrategy and its outspoken founder, Michael Saylor, often dominate the headlines, they are simply the most visible part of a rapidly expanding corporate movement into btc.
Despite ranking 220th globally by market cap, “a little bigger than Chipotle and a little smaller than Sherwin-Williams,” according to Hougan, MicroStrategy's btc acquisitions significantly outpace all new bitcoin supply. extracted last year.
“Last year, MicroStrategy bought ~257,000 btc… more than all the bitcoin mined in 2024 (218,829 btc),” Hougan wrote. He also noted that MicroStrategy has announced plans to raise more than $42 billion to purchase more bitcoin, roughly equivalent to “approximately 2.6 years of new supply” at current production rates.
Hougan poses a direct question about what could happen if “really big companies start taking a page from MicroStrategy's book,” specifically pointing to Mark Zuckerberg's Meta, which he described as “20 times the size of MicroStrategy.”
While MicroStrategy's moves have attracted the most attention, Hougan emphasizes that many other companies are already including btc on their balance sheets. In total, “70 publicly traded companies hold bitcoin on their balance sheets,” a figure that encompasses both crypto-centric companies like Coinbase and Marathon Digital, as well as mainstream players like Block, Tesla, Semler Scientific and Mercado Libre.
Together, excluding MicroStrategy, these companies own 141,302 btc. Private companies also hold significant amounts of bitcoins. Hougan cites data from BitcoinTreasuries.com showing that private companies like SpaceX and Block.one collectively own at least 368,043 btc. “That is significant. It means that, even today, MicroStrategy represents less than 50% of the corporate btc market,” he wrote, predicting that MicroStrategy’s share “will eventually be a small fraction.”
Why Corporate bitcoin Adoption Is About to Explode
Hougan points out two main factors that have historically limited corporate adoption (reputational risk and unfavorable accounting rules) and explains why both have changed rapidly.
“Last year, the CEO of a large publicly traded company faced enormous obstacles when adding bitcoin as a treasury asset,” he wrote, describing the persistent fear of negative media coverage, shareholder lawsuits and attention regulatory. “But reputational risks have decreased significantly in recent months. Post-election, with Washington embracing cryptocurrencies at the highest levels, it is becoming much more common and popular to own bitcoin.”
Hougan then highlights a new accounting guideline introduced by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) called ASU 2023-08. Previously, btc was classified as an “intangible asset” subject to impairment testing, forcing companies to write down the value of their bitcoin if its price fell, but never allowing them to re-up the value if it rose. Now, companies can value btc to the market and make profits when its price appreciates.
“If 70 companies were willing to add bitcoin to their balance sheets when, from an accounting perspective, it could literally only go down, imagine how many would add it… now,” Hougan wrote. “Two hundred? Five hundred? One thousand?”
Addressing skepticism about why companies choose to own btc, Hougan argues that corporate motivations largely reflect those of individual investors. “Some companies are greedy… Others are worried about the devaluation of the dollar… Others want to point out that they are part of the bitcoin tribe… Some probably just have a hunch,” he wrote.
Ultimately, however, Hougan argues that understanding each company's motivations is less important than looking at the magnitude of overall demand. “You just have to look at the numbers and ask yourself two questions: Where does all this business demand seem to be headed? And what would that mean for the market?
Hougan's memo concludes on a bullish note, predicting that if large corporations follow the path paved by MicroStrategy (now aided by more favorable accounting and reputation climates), the influx of corporate capital could significantly drive up the price of btc in the future. course of the next year.
“My prediction: We will see hundreds of companies buy bitcoin for their treasuries over the next 12 to 18 months.” – Matt Hougan, CIO of Bitwise
At the time of publication, btc was trading at $95,039.
Featured image from YouTube, chart from TradingView.com
