Author: Ruth Ochuba

Publicly traded healthcare services provider Semler Scientific has announced yet another round of 211 Bitcoin purchases for $21.5 million at an average cost of $101,890 per BTC. The firm spread out its purchases over 10 days, from December 5 to December 15, to buy at different prices because the Bitcoin market is volatile.

The latest purchase brought the company’s total holdings to 2,084 BTC. It was funded with proceeds from its at-the-market(ATM) offering and operating cash flow.

Meanwhile, the healthcare tools manufacturer stated that it has filed a second prospectus with Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. to supplement the first filed in August. The second prospectus will allow Semler Scientific to offer an additional $50 million worth of shares under its existing ATM offering.

Semler Scientific’s Bitcoin Journey

Recall that the publicly traded firm stepped into the crypto space earlier in May by acquiring 581 BTC. It plans to make Bitcoin its primary treasury asset, as it views the king crypto as a store of value and an asset with growth potential.

Since then, the medical tech firm has repeatedly pledged loyalty to the pioneering coin and has been on several Bitcoin purchase sprees. For instance, Semler Scientific bought 247 BTC in June after its initial purchase a month earlier, costing $17 million.

Profitable Bitcoin Yield Year-to-Date

The healthcare services-providing firm’s bitcoin holding has recorded a BTC yield of 92.8% year to date, while in Q3, Semler Scientific had a 67.0% BTC yield.

At the time of writing, data found on Bitcoin Treasuries, a crypto platform that provides comprehensive data and insights on bitcoin holdings of private and public companies, reveals that Semler Scientific now takes the 14th position among publicly traded firms holding bitcoin.

Amid growing institutional Bitcoin adoption, Bitcoin strengthens its qualification as a store of value and a means of exchange. Like MicroStrategy and Riot Platforms Inc., today’s purchase by Semler Scientific indicates its belief in Bitcoin as an asset class.

Bitcoin mining and digital infrastructure company Riot Platforms, Inc., announced Monday that it plans to raise $500 million from senior convertible note sales. The firm explained that the offering would occur via a private offering. The cash raised will be injected into its BTC stash. This move further portrays the mining firm’s belief in the pioneer crypto as a long-term investment strategy.

Riot to Raise Cash

Per the announcement, in compliance with Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933, the digital firm will offer the senior notes exclusively to individuals reasonably believed to be institutional investors.

Noting that the convertible notes are subject to market conditions, Riot Platform hopes to offer up to $75 million in aggregate principal amount of notes to early birds who purchase the notes within the first three days from the date of issuance.

Moreover, the mining company emphasized that the notes will be due by January 15, 2030. However, depending on certain circumstances not revealed, Riot retains the right to redeem all or any portion of the notes starting January 20, 2028.

Suppose Riot Platforms decides to redeem less than all the outstanding notes. In that case, a minimum of $50 million aggregate principal amount of the Notes will be left outstanding and not subject to redemption before the stipulated redemption date.

Meanwhile, data found on Bitbo.io reveals that as of September 12, 2024, Riot Platforms had a total Bitcoin holding of 10,019 BTC. At the time of writing, the Colorado-based mining company currently holds 11,425 BTC, worth over $1 billion.

More Bitcoin Buyers

Riot Platforms is not the only institution showing unswerving loyalty to Bitcoin. Other institutional investors like MicroStrategy have solidified their position as a top player in the Bitcoin purchase game. In November alone, the business intelligence company allocated $13 billion to acquire BTC.

With a total holding of 402,100 Bitcoins, Michael Saylor intends to transform MicroStrategy into a trillion-dollar company and become the world’s leading Bitcoin bank.

In a new filing by the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR), shareholders at American-based multinational technology company Amazon proposed that the tech giant should consider adding Bitcoin to its treasury holdings.

According to NCPPR, a self-acclaimed think tank in the United States, the proposal recommends that Amazon consider allocating at least 5% of its treasury holdings to Bitcoin.

Although Bitcoin is a highly volatile asset, the NCPPR argued that Amazon’s stock has also experienced volatility in the past, and therefore adding the pioneering digital asset to the tech firm’s treasury holding is in the “best long-term interest of shareholders.”

In a similar development, holding Bitcoin as a hedge against inflation raised dust between Microsoft’s leadership board and its shareholders. Both parties were required to vote for or against investing at least 1% of their total assets in Bitcoin.

Amazon to Rub Shoulders With MicroStrategy

Per today’s filing, the proposal compels Amazon to borrow a leaf from business intelligence company MicroStrategy. NCPPR compared Amazon’s stock value to that of MicroStrategy, whose stock outperformed Amazon’s by 537% in 2023 because the Bitcoin-loving firm holds Bitcoin on its balance sheet.

Meanwhile, with $585 billion in total assets, Amazon has $88 billion in cash, U.S. government bonds, corporate bonds, cash equivalents, and marketable securities, of which cash is “constantly being debased.” The proposal adds, “Amazon isn’t adequately protecting billions of dollars of shareholders’ value simply by holding these assets.”

MicroStrategy Takes Lead

Institutional and corporate firms holding Bitcoin are gradually becoming the norm, with MicroStrategy as their leader. The business intelligence company recently solidified its stance on Bitcoin by acquiring large amounts of Bitcoins throughout the year, bringing its total Bitcoin holdings to over $40 million in value.

As Bitcoin continues to gain ground as a global financial asset, MicroStrategy plans to raise $2.6 million from senior convertible notes to accumulate more Bitcoins.

Japan-based investment company Metaplanet has acquired an additional 124.117 BTC, worth approximately $11.4 million, at $90,750 per bitcoin, to combat inflation in the country.

This move comes just a few hours after the firm announced that it has raised funds from its third series of ordinary bond issuance, of which secure yield returns are expected to mature by November 17, 2025.

Metaplanet’s latest purchase brings the company’s total Bitcoin holding to 1,142 BTC, which is valued at an approximate cost of $74.1 million. The company’s total Bitcoin holding was bought at $65,038 for one BTC.

*Metaplanet purchases additional 124.11 $BTC* pic.twitter.com/4QLVrsGTei

— Metaplanet Inc. (@Metaplanet_JP) November 19, 2024

Metaplanet Adopts Bitcoin

In May 2024, the Japanese firm mentioned officially adopting Bitcoin as a major Treasury Reserve Asset to combat the financial and economic crisis and the high volatility facing the Japanese yen.

Since then, Metaplanet has taken a bullish stance for Bitcoin. Securing hundreds of units of the pioneer crypto, the publicly traded firm has been on a BTC shopping spree, leading digital asset adoption in Japan. Between May and today, the Bitcoin-friendly investment firm has topped its BTC appetite with more bitcoins.

For instance, on July 1, 2024, the Japanese company bought an additional 20 BTC worth $1.2 million. In early August, Metaplanet borrowed an aggregate of $6.8 million from one of its Shareholders, MMXX Ventures Limited, channeled to the BTC acquisition. On October 1, 2024, Metaplanet paid back the loan before the scheduled date.

Institutional Investors Hodl BTC at High Esteem

In recent developments, adopting Bitcoin as a hedge against economic crisis and inflation has been a major driving force for institutional investors. MicroStrategy, like Metaplanet, has also been a series of Bitcoin acquisition sprees.

Less than 24 hours ago, MicroStrategy spent $4.6 billion, adding $51,780 to its BTC stash, bringing the company’s total bitcoin Hodling to 331,200 BTC. The latest big buy comes after over four years of continuous BTC accumulation, a practice that has made MicroStrategy the largest corporate BTC holder.

As the popular crypto asset, Bitcoin, smashes a new all-time high((ATH), heading towards $90,000, data on CompaniesMarketCap reveals that the asset class has overtaken the physical asset Silver in the position of the hierarchy.

The latest move puts Bitcoin at the 8th largest position by market cap ranking, while Silver took the 9th position with a market cap of around $1.6 trillion. At the time of writing, the crypto’s market capitalization surpassed $1.8 trillion. Meanwhile, gold retains the leading role with a whopping market cap of $17.17 trillion.

Apex Coin Will Rise Above $100k

In the midst of market volatility, bitcoin rose above $88,000 at press time. The new ATH record follows the just-concluded United States election as market speculators and analysts predict that the world’s leading cryptocurrency will hit $100,000 before Republican Donald Trump is sworn in as president by January 20, 2025.

Recall that the Republican said during his campaign that he had plans to make the U.S. “the bitcoin and cryptocurrency capital of the world.” Since his electoral campaign, to date, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have taken up a bullish run and made headlines.

It is also worth noting that Binance CEO Richard Teng speculated that Bitcoin would sell for over $80,000 by the end of 2024. The outlook of the apex coin has surpassed $80,000 and counting.

Bitcoin’s Volatility This Year

This year has been characterized by bullish price trends for the leading crypto asset. In the first quarter (Q1) of 2024, the digital asset saw a notable price pump from $42,000 to somewhere above $73,000 in March, which was an ATH record at the time.

However, in Q2, BTC’s bullish streak dropped as its price declined from $71,000 to $60,000, revealing a bearish backward flip. Some factors accounting for the reversal were the Federal Reserve’s delay in reducing interest rates and miner capitulation.

In a recent report, Bitcoin topped the list of the best-performing assets for 2024. It outpaced Silver and Gold by gaining 49.2% year-to-date, while Gold and Silver gained 26.5% and 30.6%, respectively.

A new filing by the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR) over the Bitcoin investment strategy has raised dust between Microsoft’s leadership board and its shareholders, requiring both parties to vote for or against the proposal in December 2024.

NCPPR, a self-acclaimed conservative think tank in the U.S., recommended that Microsoft consider investing at least 1% of its total assets in Bitcoin.

More than that, the NCPPR claims that Bitcoin is an “excellent, if not the best, hedge against inflation,” thereby urging shareholders to support the most popular digital currency.

Microsoft Love-Hate For Bitcoin

The tech giant has taken an adamant position against the proposal, stressing that such an assessment was unnecessary. This highlighted that since the company already has “strong and appropriate processes to manage and diversify” its investment, adding Bitcoin to its corporate balance sheet is not “necessary.”

Although the tech company has yet to add Bitcoin to its asset holding, Microsoft has integrated Bitcoin and blockchain technology into its ecosystem in other ways. For example, Microsoft is one of the first tech firms to accept Bitcoin payments for its digital product.

The recent proposal comes when institutional investors are massively taking an interest in cryptocurrency. Asset manager BlackRock, for instance, recently added 12,272 BTC worth $742 million to its BTC holding, bringing its total holding to a total of 369,822 BTC, approximately $23.2 billion.

In addition to BlackRock, which holds 5.7% as a stakeholder with Microsoft, other institutional investors like Fidelity and Microsoft’s former CEO, Steve Ballmer, will vote on the proposal in December.

Who Will Win?

Results from the vote to a large extent, will determine how other institutional investors and possibly tech firms will come closer or farther from cryptocurrency.

It is currently uncertain whether Microsoft shareholders will vote to add Bitcoin to 1% of the company’s total corporate assets or side with the Microsoft leadership board to exclude the digital asset.