The 9 Public Companies With the Biggest Bitcoin Portfolios 9 min read Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund
In the last few months, reports that major institutional investors are scooping up Bitcoin (BTC) in droves have added fire to what can now be considered the biggest crypto bull run since 2017.
Several major firms have collectively purchased hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Bitcoin, while retail interest in Bitcoin has also skyrocketed—with news of Tesla’s $1.5 billion Bitcoin investment pushing the price of BTC to a new all-time high.
In January 2021, inflows into Bitcoin and other crypto investment products hit $1.3 billion, according to asset management firm CoinShares.
As Bitcoin continues its meteoric growth, we take a look at the companies who are stockpiling the cryptocurrency—both on behalf of investors as funds, and as a reserve asset.Publicly traded companies
These publicly-traded firms have adopted Bitcoin as a reserve asset, and hold direct control over their Bitcoin funds.MicroStrategy
MicroStrategy, a prominent business analytics platform, has adopted Bitcoin as its primary reserve asset.
In February 2021, the firm—which produces mobile software and cloud-based services—continued its Bitcoin buying spree with a purchase of 295 BTC; it now holds 71,079 BTC in reserve, equivalent to over $3 billion in BTC.At one point, MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor said, he was buying $1,000 in Bitcoin every second.Bitcoin distribution by number of addresses.Image: BitInfoCharts
Unlike other CEOs who typically shy away from discussing their personal investments, Saylor has made it public that he personally holds 17,732 BTC—currently worth over $831 million.
Some have asked how much #BTC I own.
I personally #hodl 17,732 BTC which I bought at $9,882 each on average.
I informed MicroStrategy of these holdings before the company decided to buy #bitcoin for itself.
— Michael Saylor (@michael_saylor) October 28, 2020
As per data from BitInfoCharts, this positions Saylor among the top 100 Bitcoin owners—assuming it is all held within a single address.It’s something of an about-face for the MicroStrategy CEO, who in 2013 claimed that Bitcoin’s days were numbered.
On New Year’s Eve, 2020, Morgan Stanley revealed that it had purchased 10.9% of MicroStrategy.And MicroStrategy is looking to get other companies invested in Bitcoin; in February 2020, it hosted a Bitcoin for Corporations strand during its World.Now conference, aimed at getting companies up to speed with the crypto asset.
During the conference, Saylor stated that he anticipated an “avalanche of companies” converting their balance sheets into Bitcoin in the coming year.
Speaking at Binance Blockchain Week, Saylor explained why he’d opted for Bitcoin over gold as a reserve asset.“The returns on gold didn’t look nearly as compelling as Bitcoin,” said Saylor, adding, “if you’re looking for a non-fiat derivatives store of value in an inflationary environment, that’s logical that you would settle upon Bitcoin as digital gold.” Tesla A Tesla Cybertruck.
Image: Tesla
Electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla has joined the ranks of companies holding Bitcoin, with an SEC filing revealing that the company has invested “an aggregate $1.50 billion” in the cryptocurrency.The investment amounts to around 7.7% of Tesla’s $19.384 billion cash holdings, as of Q4 2020.More like 7.7%, but still impressive.
Tesla had 19.384 billion in cash at the end of Q4 2020.pic.twitter.com/1MwI2X20Jr
— Siamak Masnavi (@siamakmasnavi) February 8, 2021
According to the SEC filing, Tesla’s Bitcoin purchase reflects an updated investment policy aimed at diversifying its cash on hand and maximizing returns.The filing states that, “we may invest a portion of such cash in certain alternative reserve assets including digital assets, gold bullion, gold exchange-traded funds and other assets as specified in the future.”
Tesla also revealed that it expects to begin accepting Bitcoin as payment for its products “in the near future,” leaving open the question of whether it will liquidate or continue to hold the cryptocurrency upon receipt of payment.
The company’s Bitcoin play followed months of speculation, as CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter to discuss the cryptocurrency.In late 2020, MicroStrategy’s Saylor offered to share his “playbook” for Bitcoin investing with Musk, after arguing that a move into Bitcoin would be doing Tesla shareholders a “$100 billion favor.” Yes.I have purchased over $1.3 billion in #BTC in past months & would be happy to share my playbook with you offline – from one rocket scientist to another.
— Michael Saylor (@michael_saylor) December 20, 2020
Soon afterwards, at the end of January 2021, Musk changed his Twitter bio to the #Bitcoin hashtag; in retrospect, seemingly hinting at Tesla’s interest in the cryptocurrency.
Galaxy Digital Holdings
Crypto-focused merchant bank Galaxy Digital Holdings holds 16,402 BTC, according to bitcointreasuries.org —worth just over $770 million at current prices.
Founded by Michael Novogratz in January 2018, the company has partnered with crypto firms including Block.one and BlockFi.
Novogratz is, unsurprisingly, a keen advocate for Bitcoin.In April 2020, he noted that stimulus measures announced in response to the coronavirus pandemic were driving interest in cryptocurrencies, calling it Bitcoin’s “moment” and arguing that “money doesn’t grow on trees.” Mike Novogratz says hold more gold than Bitcoin—for now
However, later in the year Novogratz argued that the cryptocurrency’s volatility meant that gold was a safer bet, stating that, “My sense is that Bitcoin way outperforms gold, but I would tell people to hold a lot less than they do gold.Just because of the volatility.” Funds
These investment funds don’t hold Bitcoin on their own behalf, instead doing so in order to enable accredited investors to gain exposure to Bitcoin without holding or managing the cryptoasset directly.
Grayscale Bitcoin Trust
Grayscale Investments is undoubtedly one of the biggest names in the Bitcoin space—and for good reason.02/05/21 UPDATE: Net Assets Under Management, Holdings per Share, and Market Price per Share for our Investment Products.
— Grayscale (@Grayscale) February 5, 2021
Grayscale has by far the largest Bitcoin portfolio of any institutional investment platform, with over $30 billion in BTC currently under management in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust , which trades under “ GBTC “.
In total, Grayscale Investments now holds more than 3% of the Bitcoin total supply, with 656,166 BTC currently under management across its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust and the Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund, according to bitcointreasuries.org .{.
