Keep buying, buying, buying, how many Bitcoins do U.S. listed companies and fund giants hold?

Original author: Ana Paula Pereira, Sander Lutz

Original compilation: Moni, Odaily Planet Daily

Nasdaq-listed BlackRock IBIT has reached an important milestone 40 trading days after listing its spot Bitcoin ETF. The number of Bitcoins it holds already exceeds the Bitcoin holdings of Michael Saylor’s publicly traded company MicroStrategy. This achievement marks BlackRock IBIT’s strong performance in the cryptocurrency market and demonstrates its success in the field of digital asset investment. As Bitcoin holdings increase, BlackRock IBIT’s influence and status in the digital currency field is also increasing, attracting the attention of more investors

Data shows that as of March 8 , IBIT holds a total of approximately 195,985 BTC (as shown below), with a market value of more than 13.579 billion US dollars, while MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin holdings are approximately 193,000 BTC, and on the same day, Bitcoin exceeded US$70,000 for the first time in history.

In addition, spot Bitcoin ETFs have also reached a cumulative trading volume of more than $100 billion in less than two months. According to the latest data released by Yahoo Finance on March 10, as of March 8, the cumulative transaction volume of spot Bitcoin has reached 106.59 billion US dollars.

In fact, unknowingly, a battle for Bitcoin reserves has begun among U.S. listed companies.

U.S. listed companies/funds’ Bitcoin reserves have become a “three-headed force”?

As the price of Bitcoin reaches a record high, US stock listed companies/funds are also accelerating their accumulation of Bitcoin. They are "eating" Bitcoin faster than Bitcoin is mined. According to the current market trend, US listed companies have formed a "three-headed" trend, and these "three heads" are: spot Bitcoin ETF, MicroStrategy, and Tesla (and SpaceX).

First of all, let’s take a look at the spot Bitcoin ETFs listed on the US stock market. According to data compiled by BitMEX Research, in addition to Grayscale’s GBTC, the remaining nine spot Bitcoin ETFs are The ETF has been adding to its Bitcoin reserves since it received approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to go public on January 11.

The reason why spot Bitcoin ETF issuers continue to accumulate BTC is that one thing cannot be ignored, and that is regulatory requirements, because among the previous approval conditions for spot Bitcoin ETFs, The SEC requires the creation of so-called cash rather than so-called physical funds, which means fund issuers must use cash to buy Bitcoin when they create shares, or sell Bitcoin for cash when they have excess shares.

Of course, one thing is undeniable. As a stock-like product, ETFs not only provide more capital-efficient trading options, but also open the door to increased leverage. It is expected that a large number of retail users will flood into the market. Institutions will gradually enter the cryptocurrency market, and increasing their holdings will also bring more confidence to institutional and retail investors.

MicroStrategy, another US-listed company, can now be regarded as a "veteran" in the Bitcoin market, and every time it adds Bitcoin, it always has the right timing.

Just three days before Bitcoin exceeded $70,000 for the first time on March 8, MicroStrategy "suddenly" issued an announcement announcing plans to sell principal to qualified institutional buyers through private placements based on market conditions and other factors. A total of US$600 million of convertible senior notes due in 2030. One day later, they announced that they planned to expand the issuance of convertible senior notes to US$700 million.

At the end of February, MicroStrategy and its subsidiaries purchased approximately 3,000 Bitcoins for approximately US$155.4 million in cash. According to the latest data from Coinglass, MicroStrategy’s current The Bitcoin holdings are approximately 129,698 BTC. If calculated based on the price of more than 70,000 US dollars, MicroStrategy's Bitcoin holdings have gained approximately US$7 billion.

The reason why MicroStrategy competes for Bitcoin reserves is probably to "kill two birds with one stone", because in addition to the increase in value of the position itself, its stock price has also begun to rebound at an accelerated pace. According to US stock data, benefiting from the price of Bitcoin exceeding US$70,000, MicroStrategy's stock price successfully exceeded US$1,400 and rose to US$1,425.59 at the close of last week. The increase in the past year has reached 538.82%, and the increase in the past five years has reached an astonishing 861.09%.

At least for now, MicroStrategy’s investment strategy seems to be successful. Since August 2020, the value of Bitcoin held by MicroStrategy has increased several times, bringing generous returns to the company’s shareholders. It is reported that MicroStrategy Chairman Michael Saylor, MicroStrategy's largest investor, owns about 12% of the company's shares, has increased his personal wealth by about $700 million after consecutive gains in his company's stock and Bitcoin prices. He also revealed that he personally owned 17,732 Bitcoins in 2020, so his holdings and positions climbed to $2.96 billion from $2.27 billion at the beginning of the week.

Finally, compared to the "high-profile" spot Bitcoin ETF and MicroStrategy, Elon Musk's Tesla and SpaceX seem to be much lower-key, although no relevant data was disclosed in the recent financial report (Note: Tesla and SpaceX have not yet disclosed (Announcement of financial report for the first quarter of 2024), but according to on-chain data analysis platform Arkham monitoring, Tesla currently holds approximately 11,510 BTC (worth approximately US$780 million) in 68 addresses, and SpaceX holds approximately 8,290 BTC in 28 addresses. BTC (worth approximately $560 million), which means Tesla currently holds approximately 1,789 BTC more than the 9,720 BTC balance reported in its last financial report.

The crypto community has speculated that Tesla has started buying back Bitcoin or whether the recent change in numbers is due to an accounting error, with some users suggesting that the company may have started buying Bitcoin after its last earnings call and New purchase information may be reported on the next financial conference call.

Why do we need to pay attention to the Bitcoin reserves of listed companies/funds?

Listed companies/funds are important participants in the market economy, and their investment behavior often has benchmark significance. The holding of Bitcoin by listed companies shows that they are optimistic about the future value of Bitcoin, which may attract more investors to pay attention to Bitcoin, thereby driving up the price of Bitcoin.

Not only that, listed companies/funds holding Bitcoin can also increase the market circulation of Bitcoin and make it easier to trade, which is beneficial to the development of the Bitcoin market and can even demonstrate its support for new technologies. open attitude and enhance the company's image.

Market analysts believe that, driven by listed companies/funds increasing their Bitcoin reserves, more crypto whales may be "stimulated" to enter the market. For example, shortly after MicroStrategy announced that it would continue to purchase Bitcoin. , HODL15Capital noticed the buying action of a mysterious whale. After recently adding positions frequently, this address now holds a total of approximately 51,064 BTC, worth approximately US$3.5 billion.

From this perspective, the investment strategies of listed companies/funds also demonstrate their confidence in the long-term value of Bitcoin, which may encourage other crypto whales to continue to hold or increase their holdings of Bitcoin, plus The successful investments in spot Bitcoin ETFs, MicroStrategy, and Tesla may attract other crypto whales to follow suit and may also lead to further increases in the price of Bitcoin.

Of course, Bitcoin is still an emerging asset class and the regulatory environment is not yet complete. Investors need to pay attention to the impact of regulatory policy changes on the Bitcoin reserves of listed companies. Overall, paying attention to the Bitcoin reserves of listed companies/funds can help us understand important information such as market trends, investment risks, company financial conditions and regulatory environment, thereby allowing ordinary investors to make more informed investment decisions.

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