Data suggest Bitcoin holdings of public companies surged in 2021
The total quantity of Bitcoin currently held by private corporations has reportedly increased to a significant degree during 2021.
On-chain analyst Willy Woo tweeted on January 3, claiming that public companies that are holding significant Bitcoin “have gained market share from spot ETFs as a way to access BTC exposure on public equity markets”.
The figure became more noticeable after MicroStrategy’s “Bitcoin for Corporations” conference took place on February 3 and 4, 2021. The online seminar was aimed at explaining the legal considerations for firms that were seeking to integrate Bitcoin into their businesses and reserves.
Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy is a top business intelligence firm, known particularly for being bullish on Bitcoin, owns almost $6 billion as crypto assets.
On December 30, the firm had purchased a further 1914 BTC, which is worth $94 million, thus gaining more than $2.1 billion in profit since it had initially purchased Bitcoin back in August 2020.
Woo also referenced a chart of Bitcoin holdings inside ETFs and public company treasuries that were available for public ownership via equity markets, all these based on crowdsourced corporate treasury data.
Spot Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) hold Bitcoin as opposed to Futures, wherein companies purchase exposure through contracts from the CME futures market.
The data reflects the digital currency asset management company Grayscale as one to have gained the highest market share by a landslide, peaking at 645,199 Bitcoin by the end of 2021. This comprises 71 per cent of the wider market, as holdings of all spot ETFs and corporations together made a total of 903,988 Bitcoin, according to the data chart.
MicroStrategy became the largest corporate investor by holding 124,391 Bitcoin, which is valued at around $5.8 billion according to BitcoinTreasuries. The second position is held by Tesla that possesses around 43,200 coins which is worth roughly $2 billion at current prices.
In 2020, the amount of Bitcoin held by public companies had surged 400 per cent in 12 months to $3.6 billion.
