As part of its new treasury management strategy, Brazilian fintech firm Meliuz has injected $4.1 million in the purchase of 45.72 bitcoins. The move makes Meliuz the first Brazilian publicly traded company to add the king coin to its treasury reserves.
Founded in 2011, Meliuz is an online platform that provides customers with digital solutions and integrates marketplaces with financial services in Brazil. The fintech giant bought its latest bitcoin at an average cost of $90.296.
Growing Institutional Bitcoin Adoption
Joining the growing trend of institutions adopting bitcoin as an asset class and strategic treasury reserve, chairman and largest shareholder at Meliuz, Israel Salmen believes that bitcoin is a smarter alternative for investing cash. He said,
“We see bitcoin as a long-term store of value, we are not interested in selling the bitcoins we buy, we want to build value over the long term.”
Meliuz made the smart move to invest in bitcoin at a time when the company had lost investors’ attention because its share price had dwindled in market value and the firm could no longer provide liquidity in the options market.
Responding to Brazil Journal, a local news agency, the chairman stated that by holding Bitcoin as a strategic treasury reserve, the company hopes to revamp its market value for shareholders and other investors.
Bitcoin Is Risky, but Cash Is Riskier
Despite bitcoin’s volatility and criticism of the digital currency as high risk, Salman considers holding cash reserves riskier, as cash is subject to devaluation from the government’s ever-changing policies.
The tech firm follows the influence of Metaplanet and MicroStrategy (now Strategy), the first institution to hold bitcoin in its treasury reserve. The software company started its journey with bitcoin in 2020. To date, MicroStrategy has spent $33.1 billion on the acquisition of 499,096 BTC, which is only 904 bitcoins away from reaching the 500,000 bitcoin mark.
