Why a Bitcoin Treasury Strategy Is Risky: Analyst
In brief
- Public company SolarBank said Tuesday it plans to buy Bitcoin, following the example of software firm Strategty.
- A Standard Chartered analyst noted that half of all non-crypto public companies's Bitcoin treasuries would go underwater if the token fell below $90,000.
- Bitcoin was recently trading at $106,000, according to CoinGecko data.
Energy infrastructure firm SolarBank is planning to add Bitcoin to its balance sheet, following a growing number of public companies that have begun accumulating the world's oldest cryptocurrency, but one analyst is warning that the strategy—first popularized by software firm Strategy— poses risks.
In a note to investors on Tuesday, Standard Chartered Global Head of Digital Assets Research Geoffrey Kendrick reported Strategy imitators have doubled their Bitcoin holdings to just under 100,000 Bitcoin in the past two months, setting their average cost-per-Bitcoin much higher than that of Strategy.
As a result, roughly half of the Bitcoin treasuries held by 61 non-crypto public companies "would be underwater" if the token fell below $90,000, according to Kendrick. Standard Chartered estimates that bitcoin reaching a price "22% below average purchase prices could lead to liquidations."
Bitcoin was recently trading at $106,000, according to crypto data provider CoinGecko.
“Bitcoin price volatility in and of itself may drive the BTC price below the average purchase prices of many new treasuries,” the analyst note reads.
Kendrick added that corporate Bitcoin treasuries could eventually drive down Bitcoin's price, due to the removal of market inefficiencies such as anti-crypto regulations and conservative investment committee processes in the U.S. and other countries in the future.
“Bitcoin treasuries are adding to Bitcoin buying pressure for now, but we see a risk that this may reverse over time,” Kendrick wrote in the note.
The analyst's observations come amid an uptick in the number of publicly traded firms and other entities buying Bitcoin.
On Tuesday, Canada-based SolarBank, a provider of solar energy, battery storage and clean energy infrastructure, announced a Bitcoin treasury strategy, although it did not specify the among of the asset it would purchase or a start date.
Two-hundred-and-twenty-three entities hold Bitcoin as of publication time, up roughly 7% over the past 30 days, according to bitcointracker.net's data dashboard. Their holdings are worth a combined $359.7 billion worth of Bitcoin, the same data shows.
It also comes a few weeks after Bitcoin soared to a new all-time-high price of a little more than $112,000 earlier this month. The positive price actions coincided with U.S. President Donald Trump's private dinner with 220 holders of his meme coin Official Trump on May 22.
Kendrick issued the warning about Bitcoin treasuries despite his bullish price predictions for the token.
Earlier this month, the analyst predicted Bitcoin would sail to $500,000 by the end of President Trump's second term.
Edited by James Rubin
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