DeFi Technologies, an exchange-traded product (ETP) provider and venture capital firm, announced its decision to adopt Bitcoin (BTC) as the company’s primary treasury reserve asset.
In its monthly corporate report, the company announced that its subsidiary Valour had repaid $5 million in loans and had $607 million in assets under management as of May 31, 2024.
After the announcement, DeFi Technologies’ stock price rose on the Canadian Stock Exchange and the U.S. Over-the-Counter Exchange (OTC). The stock is currently trading around $1.57 on U.S. OTC exchanges, up from a trading range of $1.16 to $1.40 in the previous session.
The change in financial strategy represents another example of a public company embracing Bitcoin. This also highlights the broader trend towards institutional adoption of decentralized currencies.
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On May 28, shares of Semler Scientific (SMLR) surged up to 30% after the Nasdaq-listed company announced it had adopted Bitcoin as its primary financial asset and purchased 581 BTC, worth $41 million at the time.
Government agencies are also now actively exploring Bitcoin as part of their investment portfolios and treasury assets. In early May, Wisconsin’s pension fund manager, the Wisconsin State Investment Board (SWIB), announced that it had $164 million exposure to a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund.
Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund, the world’s largest pension fund, has also launched a five-year research project to explore how digital assets such as Bitcoin and traditional precious metals such as gold can be included in investment portfolios.
Although it is difficult to quantify the increase in institutional interest in Bitcoin, Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) data can serve as a proxy for measuring institutional sentiment toward the asset.
According to recent data from HODL15 Capital, Bitcoin ETFs have already amassed two months of Bitcoin supply mined through mining activity in the first week of June alone.
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