Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Fortune
Fortune
Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez

Dozens of companies are stealing MicroStrategy’s playbook to hoard bitcoin in their corporate treasuries instead of cash to boost their share price

(Credit: Joe Raedle—Getty Images)
  • Small companies are imitating the Bitcoin hoarding game plan pioneered by Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, putting millions of dollars into the cryptocurrency in an attempt to boost their stock. 

Newly renamed MicroStrategy may be the biggest corporate holder of Bitcoin, but it’s far from the only one.

Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, is far and away the leader among crypto-holding companies. Led by executive chairman and cofounder Michael Saylor, the company has amassed 471,000 coins, or about 2% of all Bitcoin, in its reserves. So far in 2025, it has made four Bitcoin purchases, including two billion-dollar buys. 

Strategy’s shares have skyrocketed more than 400% over the past year, and the company’s $83 billion market cap trumps that of companies such as Capital One and Target

Its recently successful Bitcoin hoarding strategy has already attracted copycats. According to crypto security company Coinkite, 78 companies around the world also hold the cryptocurrency in their corporate treasuries, the Financial Times reported.

Among the corporate Bitcoin buyers are pharmaceutical companies, advertisers, and others, which have amassed the cryptocurrency in part to diversify and hedge against inflation, but also to fend off short-sellers by boosting their shares. 

OneMedNet, a $30 million market cap company specializing in healthcare data, used $4.6 million raised through a private stock sale to buy Bitcoin in order to fight back against short-sellers.

“Normally the way you defend against [short-sellers] is increasing revenue, which we’re very actively in the process of doing,” OneMedNet founder Jeffrey Yu told the FT, but added that  bitcoin “has potentially unlimited upside and is another tool [to increase revenue].”

Another company, KULR, which provides thermal-energy management products for NASA and the U.S. Navy, also bought 510 Bitcoin in a move that CEO Michael Mo called “a Michael Saylor inspiration.” 

Since the company announced its intention to put 90% of its surplus cash reserves into Bitcoin back in December, the company’s stock has shot up 117%.

While adding Bitcoin to a company’s reserves can provide a short-term boost, the strategy requires the cryptocurrency to become more valuable, or at least, maintain its price. 

Meanwhile, senior equity research analyst at The Benchmark Company Mark Palmer said small companies’ Bitcoin habit risks them becoming “zombie companies” that use their core business to fuel a Bitcoin-buying strategy.

“Companies that have seen their stock struggle . . . often because their business models are not particularly compelling in the eyes of many investors, they have opted to follow MicroStrategy’s lead,” Palmer said.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.