Five Reasons Public Companies Are Stockpiling Bitcoin

Retail investors aren’t the only ones riding the Bitcoin wave. Publicly traded companies are getting in on the action, too.

In recent weeks, GameStop and Trump Media, which operates the social media platform Truth Social, have made significant Bitcoin plays. GameStop disclosed a purchase in May of around $500 million worth of Bitcoin. Around the same time, Trump Media revealed that it plans to raise $2.5 billion to build a corporate Bitcoin treasury.

In fact, the number of public companies with Bitcoin on their balance sheets now sits at 116. Their holdings in Bitcoin have more than doubled in a year, reaching a combined total of $85 billion. What’s fueling corporate interest in Bitcoin? Here are five reasons for the Bitcoin fervor among companies.

1. The Price Is Going Up

Pretty simple: Bitcoin’s value has climbed from around $75,000 in April to a recent high of about $112,000. Listed companies hoping to benefit from rising asset prices clearly saw that growth and pounced in hopes of diversifying their own holdings and harnessing the yields.

2. The SEC’s Stance Has Turned More Favorable

The previous chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Gary Gensler, took a skeptical view of cryptocurrency that became evident in the agency’s policymaking. A measure released by the agency in 2022, Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 121, required that companies holding digital assets on behalf of others classify them as liabilities for accounting purposes. While the guidance raised the cost of keeping crypto and the like on companies’ books, Gensler justified the move as a needed protection for investors in the event of bankruptcies.

Following a shift in federal policy under the new administration, the SEC rescinded SAB 121 immediately after taking office. The decision was positively received by many in the banking and cryptocurrency sectors, and the move paved the way for companies to begin pouring capital into Bitcoin.

3. So Have FASB Accounting Rules

In another key decision catalyzing corporate investment in Bitcoin, the Financial Accounting Standards Board updated its guidance on how companies should report their crypto holdings. Rather than accounting for digital assets as intangible assets, Bitcoin holdings are now measured using their fair market value.

Under the old standard, Bitcoin and other crypto assets could lose value, but they couldn’t have their value increased on the books if their prices went back up. Now, the value of these assets can fluctuate both up and down on balance sheets. That means companies can benefit when Bitcoin values recover after a downturn. Although the rule is only effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2024, many businesses have chosen to adopt it early to take advantage of more accurate and responsive financial reporting.

4. They’re Following the Strategy Playbook

Remember MicroStrategy, the business intelligence company that essentially became a Bitcoin proxy when it began buying it in 2020 as a treasury reserve asset? It’s doing business as Strategy now, but its business remains Bitcoin.

Coming off a fresh capital raise, Strategy just added $110 million in Bitcoin to its portfolio. The company now owns 582,000 Bitcoins, which equates to 1% of Bitcoin’s total supply. The financial markets have rewarded Strategy, which saw the price of its stock balloon by 500% in 2024.

Even though the run-up in the value of Strategy’s stock is generating notes of caution in some corners of the investing world, imitators can see the potential for Bitcoin investments to give their own valuations a boost.

5. There’s Momentum from the Top

As we mentioned, the current administration has taken a notably supportive stance toward cryptocurrency. Speaking at the Bitcoin 2025 Conference in Las Vegas, Vice President JD Vance declared the White House a firm ally of the industry, noting that Bitcoin has become a “mainstream” part of the U.S. economy. With regulators appearing more crypto-curious than crypto-cautious, companies may feel more confident adding digital assets to their balance sheets. Some affiliated entities have announced plans to raise Bitcoin-linked funds, so it’s not hard to imagine that others will follow suit.

Of course, Bitcoin fever isn’t sweeping every boardroom. Tesla added Bitcoin to its balance sheet in 2021, but the automaker has since tempered its position. And Meta shareholders overwhelmingly voted down a proposal for the company to build a strategic Bitcoin reserve. Similar efforts have failed at Amazon and Microsoft.

So not all corporations are rushing to take part in the Bitcoin run. Still, for a growing number of companies, Bitcoin is more than just a speculative asset now – it’s a strategic one.