As the global alternative investment market surges, Bitcoin Treasury’s expansion reaches new heights with Altvest Capital becoming the first publicly listed company in Africa to buy bitcoin as a strategic treasury asset.
Altvest Capital, a South African alternative investment firm, has become the first publicly listed company in Africa to buy bitcoin as a strategic treasury asset.
Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency that allows for peer-to-peer transactions without the need for intermediaries like banks.
It was created in 2009 by an anonymous individual or group using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto.
Bitcoin operates on a public ledger called the blockchain, which records all transactions made with the currency.
The total supply of bitcoin is capped at 21 million, and new coins are generated through a process called mining.
The company acquired one bitcoin for its strategic treasury, following a path set by Strategy (MSTR) in the U.S. and Metaplanet (3350) in Japan. Altvest paid 1.8 million rand ($98,200) for just over 1 BTC, and said it doesn’t plan to buy alternative cryptocurrencies.
Altvest’s Reasoning Behind Bitcoin Investment
According to Altvest, bitcoin is the only digital asset that meets its stringent investment criteria for a long-term treasury allocation. The company sees ‘bitcoin as a globally recognized store of value‘ and aims to preserve shareholder value, mitigate currency depreciation risks, and gain exposure to this store of value.
Growing Trend of Corporates Adding Bitcoin to Treasury
Several major corporations have started accepting bitcoin as a form of payment.
In 2021, Tesla announced that it would accept bitcoin for vehicle purchases, while Microsoft and Dell also began accepting the cryptocurrency.
According to a report by Coindesk, over 15,000 businesses worldwide now accept bitcoin payments.
This trend is driven by increasing demand from customers and growing recognition of the benefits of using cryptocurrencies.
Corporates are increasingly adding bitcoin to their treasuries as a strategic asset. Michael Saylor‘s Strategy (formerly known as MicroStrategy) pioneered the move, starting to buy BTC in 2020. It now holds 478,740 bitcoin, worth more than $47 billion at current prices.
Michael Saylor is a renowned American entrepreneur, investor, and advocate for Bitcoin and blockchain technology.
He serves as the CEO of MicroStrategy, a business intelligence company he co-founded in 1989.
Under his leadership, MicroStrategy has become one of the largest publicly traded companies to adopt “Bitcoin” as a reserve asset.
Saylor's influence on the cryptocurrency market is significant, with over $4 billion invested in Bitcoin by MicroStrategy.
He is also a vocal proponent of using Bitcoin for corporate treasuries and has written extensively on the topic.
Since Tokyo-based Metaplanet started buying bitcoin in April last year, it has acquired 2,031 tokens worth nearly $200 million and its shares became the best-performing Japanese equity over the past 12 months, with a gain of 3,900%.
