In recent months, billionaire Bitcoin Investor Michael Saylor tried to persuade Microsoft To use some of the more than $78.42 billion of cash and cash equivalents on its balance sheet to purchase Bitcoin.
This strategy was profitable for Saylor and the company he co-founded. Accurate strategy. The company's stock price has risen more than 410% this year, with the company owning approximately 423,650 Bitcoin as of December 8, holdings worth more than $42.3 billion USD. Bitcoin is trading at around $100,000. MicroStrategy acquired those properties for a total price of about $26.5 billion, according to the company.
The balance sheet approach is now Headed to the Nasdaq 100 The major ETFs you track, e.g Invesco QQQwith MicroStrategy joining the tech-heavy index on December 23.
However, Saylor's attempt to convince Microsoft and its partners Contributors To convert cash flows, dividends, buybacks and debt into Bitcoin – he was backed by conservative think tank The Free Enterprise Project, which put forward Microsoft's shareholder proposal and has submitted a similar proposal to Amazon — Didn't come close to passing. Only 0.55% of votes at the company's annual meeting on December 10 supported the plan. Microsoft, along with proxy advisors Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services, suggested shareholders reject the proposal before voting.
The more conservative stance of companies and their shareholders is reflected even as Bitcoin rises in recent times CNBC CFO Council The quarterly survey was released Thursday. When asked for their view on Bitcoin, 78% of survey respondents said Bitcoin is a highly speculative asset class, while only 7% said it is a credible store of value.
But cryptocurrencies are making some progress among CFOs when it comes to the general level of acceptance. Notably, 11% of CFOs in the Q4 survey said bitcoin is a scam, which is a significant decline compared to previous CNBC CFO surveys where this question was asked.
In 2017, 28% of CFOs said it was a scam. In 2021, 19% said it was a scam when asked the same question.
The percentage of respondents who had no idea what bitcoin was — a scam, store of value, or speculative asset class — dropped from 30% in 2017 to just 4% in this latest survey.
CNBC's quarterly CFO Council survey reflects a sample of the views of chief financial officers across the market and sectors, with 27 respondents included in the fourth-quarter survey, which was conducted from December 9 to December 16.
There are three publicly traded companies holding more than 10,000 bitcoins, according to Bitcoin Treasures tracking website. – precise strategy, Digital Marathonand Riot pads. Other crypto industry companies, e.g Coinbase and roadblockand also disclose cryptocurrency holdings.
However, there are very few non-cryptocurrency focused public companies that disclose any holdings – Tesla, Which bought $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin in 2021Being one of the only exceptions – despite the rise in Bitcoin prices this year as well as its increasing focus across the political landscape.
Microsoft is ahead of many companies in its cryptocurrency trading. It was said in October Agent deposit Its Treasury and Investment Services team previously evaluated Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to fund the company's operations and reduce economic risks, adding that it “continues to monitor trends and developments related to cryptocurrencies to guide future decision-making.”
The company also noted at its annual meeting that it began accepting cryptocurrencies for customer payments in 2014.
The vast majority of respondents to CNBC's quarterly CFO survey told CNBC that their company does not own bitcoin or any cryptocurrency, nor does it accept either as payment.
It is unclear to what extent this company's strategy will change based on the Trump administration's actions. President-elect Donald Trump has made several pro-crypto campaign promises, including Call to create From the National Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, which The Texas House of Representatives is now also pushing for it.
“We're going to do something great in cryptocurrency because we don't want China or anyone else to embrace it…but other people are embracing it, and we want to be ahead of it,” Trump told CNBC's Jim Cramer at the conference. New York Stock Exchange earlier this monthIn response to a question about Bitcoin's potential strategic reserve.
In an appearance on CNBC's “Money Movers” on Monday, Saylor continued to defend Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, calling on the US government to allow US banks and companies to issue a token backed by the US dollar.
“The great opportunity in the United States is to issue the world’s reserve digital currency,” he said.
