Nasdaq-listed Semler Scientific announced it had purchased 83 Bitcoin price $5 million, ballooning its total cryptocurrency holdings to 1,012 BTC, purchased for $68 million.
Semler Scientific Adds More BTC To Its Balance Sheet
In what appears to be a move inspired by MicroStrategy’s treasury playbook, Semler Scientific has acquired a further 83 BTC price $ 5 million, including fees and transaction expenses. The event is a reminder of the increasingly popular practice of adding the premier cryptocurrency to the corporate’s treasury asset portfolio.
Commenting on the acquisition, Eric Semler, chairman of Semler Scientific noted:
We recently purchased additional bitcoins using primarily money from operations in addition to capital raised through our at-the-market equity program. We’re encouraged by the growing institutional adoption of bitcoin. It was recently reported that for the primary time, institutions own greater than 20% of bitcoin ETF assets under management. We consider this increasing institutionalization will drive value for each bitcoin prices and for our stockholders.
For the uninitiated, Semler Scientific first added Bitcoin to its balance sheet in May 2024 when it purchased 654 BTC for $40 million. On the time, the corporate stated that it views the most important cryptocurrency by market cap as its primary treasury asset.
In June 2024, Semler Scientific made one other purchase of 247 BTC, investing $17 million within the leading digital asset. The identical month, the corporate announced its plans to boost $150 million to extend its BTC reserve.
Moreover, the firm added one other 101 price $6 million to its steadily inflating BTC reserve earlier this month. The newest purchase reaffirms Semler Scientific’s trust in BTC as a long-term asset for its treasury. Nonetheless, Bitcoin price has not witnessed any immediate volatility for the reason that latest purchase was made public.
Increased Institutional Interest In Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies
Based on data from CoinGecko, greater than 320,000 BTC is held by 29 publicly traded corporations worldwide as a part of their corporate treasury. Unsurprisingly, the list is led by MicroStrategy, which owns over 225,000 BTC price greater than $14 billion.
The list comprises corporations corresponding to Galaxy Digital Holdings, Tesla, and Coinbase. These 29 corporations collectively own greater than 1.6% of all BTC in existence, underscoring the rapidly growing popularity of the cryptocurrency as a reliable asset to hedge against inflation induced by currency debasement.
Based on major Wall Street players corresponding to Goldman Sachs, the trend is expected to proceed. Further, the approval of Bitcoin-based exchange-traded-funds (ETF) in recent months has essentially put regulatory approval on the highest digital asset.
The positive effects of approving a crypto-based ETF have cascaded onto other leading digital currencies. As an example, the world’s fifth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, Solana (SOL), has piqued institutional interest in recent months.
Similarly, despite the less-than-ideal market conditions, Ethereum-based ETFs within the US have witnessed a powerful demand in recent months, attracting around $98 million in inflows.
For the reason that starting of 2024, Bitcoin ETFs have earned almost $18 billion. Nonetheless, despite the overwhelming success of such ETFs, some institutional investors remain hesitant, believing that the interest has largely been driven by retail investors.
With the changing macro-outlook spurred by the US Federal Reserve’s long-awaited rate of interest cuts starting in September 2024, there may very well be renewed institutional interest within the orange coin.
Featured image from Unsplash, Chart from TradingView.com