Public companies have reached a historical milestone, accumulating over 1 million bitcoins on their balance sheets. This number accounts for 5.1% of all bitcoins currently in circulation. We're talking serious money — the total value of these assets exceeds $111 billion.
The Bitcoin Treasuries website confirmed the achievement: the exact figure stood at 1 002 103 $BTC The pioneer of corporate bitcoin accumulation was Michael Saylor's company Strategy, which was the first among public companies to announce a bitcoin reserve strategy in August 2020. Today, 184 companies listed on exchanges are following in its footsteps.
Saylor continues to dominate
#Strategy remains the undisputed leader in the volume of accumulations — the company's balance sheet holds 636,505 bitcoins. The second place is held by the mining company MARA Holdings with 52,477 BTC, which replenished its reserve by 705 bitcoins in August.
But competition is intensifying. The XXI company, led by Jack Mallers, has already accumulated 43,514 bitcoins, while Bitcoin Standard Treasury Company has 30,021. The top 10 also includes the crypto exchange Bullish (24,000 BTC), the Japanese investment firm Metaplanet (20,000 BTC), and other major players, including Riot Platforms, Trump Media & Technology Group Corp, CleanSpark, and Coinbase.
Mass purchases of bitcoin by public companies and exchange-traded funds have created a real shock in demand in the current cycle. Many analysts consider this to be the main catalyst for the price of bitcoin rising to a new historical maximum of $124,450 last month.
Appetites are growing, supply is melting
The ambitions of some companies are astounding in scale. Metaplanet plans to accumulate 210,000 bitcoins by the end of 2027 — that's 10 times their current reserves. Semler Scientific aims for 105,000 BTC, which will exceed current reserves by 20 times.
And this is despite the fact that only 5.2% remains to be mined until the maximum issuance of 21 million bitcoins is reached. Further corporate adoption could provoke a real supply shortage in the coming years.
It's interesting to recall how such strategies were criticized during the bear market of 2022. Strategy was one of the few companies that did not succumb to panic when miners sold off 58,770 BTC (compared to 3,500 the year before), and the collapse of FTX crashed the price of bitcoin to $15,740.
Saylor at that moment stated that he was ready to hold bitcoin even if the price fell to zero, despite a wave of criticism. Fortune at that time called his approach a 'crazy experiment' in question. Now the success of Strategy inspires a new wave of corporate adoption — the CEOs of Metaplanet and Semler Scientific openly acknowledged that their companies were 'zombie' before transitioning to a bitcoin strategy.
Wall Street tools in action
Modern companies use sophisticated financial instruments to accumulate bitcoin. Share placements, debt financing through convertible bonds — all of this allows for increasing bitcoin reserves and creating shareholder value based on bitcoin per share.
XXI and Bitcoin Standard Treasury Company have gone even further, launching as special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs). This gives investors quicker and more flexible access to bitcoin exposure compared to traditional IPOs.
The geography of corporate adoption of bitcoin is impressive: 64 companies are based in the USA, 34 in Canada, and 11 each in the UK and Hong Kong. Bitcoin strategies have also appeared in Mexico, South Africa, and Bahrain.
But public companies are not the largest holders of bitcoin. Crypto exchanges and ETF issuers control 1.62 million BTC, governments hold 526,363 bitcoins, and private companies hold 295,015. Another 242,866 BTC are locked in cryptocurrency protocols. The remaining 16.2 million bitcoins are in the hands of individuals — at least those who still remember their private keys.
Corporate adoption of bitcoin is gaining momentum, and the figure of 1 million BTC is just an intermediate stage. At the current growth rate and limited supply, the next milestones could be reached significantly faster.
