Welcome back! It seems we hear about a company buying bitcoin every day, and today’s no exception. An executive tells Ben why thousands could ultimately adopt the asset.

And Casey details what we should be listening for ahead of Nvidia’s earnings call after the bell. Here we go:

Bitcoin FOMO, company edition

You might recall Kraken CFO Stephanie Lemmerman’s prediction that 20% of the roughly 55,000 public companies in existence will hold BTC a couple years from now.

Company moves in recent weeks indeed signal more and more firms want in on this trend.  

I recently asked Swan Bitcoin CIO Ben Werkman — a board member at Strive Asset Management, which plans to combine with Asset Entities to form a Nasdaq-listed bitcoin treasury company — what he thought of Lemmerman’s projection.

“I think you’re definitely going to see thousands,” he said.

Given that the US government revealed it would at least hold its seized bitcoin, Werkman added: “The risk-reward to being involved in bitcoin has never been better.”

He clarified that not all companies will become what he called “leveraged bitcoin equities” — the ones who utilize capital markets to actively accumulate it (like Michael Saylor-led Strategy). But a broader cohort of firms deciding to hold the asset “to protect themselves” against dollars that lose value every year could make that 20% figure a reality. 

“You need to look for an alternative…that has a completely inelastic supply to the demand for it,” Werkman said. “It’s maintaining your purchasing power for your corporation, and you’ve got a duty to your shareholders to make sure you’re evaluating all the options.”

Yesterday I pointed out a company that’s getting set to start an ETH treasury. 

But another development yesterday was Trump Media announcing a $2.5 billion financing plan — a $1 billion convertible debt offering and $1.5 billion in equity — to acquire BTC.

Then today, GameStop said it bought 4,710 BTC — worth roughly $500 million at bitcoin’s current price. 

On a smaller scale, K33 secured financing amounting to 60 million Swedish krona (~$6 million) to establish a new bitcoin treasury. Beyond thinking BTC will go up in price, K33 CEO Torbjorn Bull Jenssen said in a statement he expects the asset to “become an instrumental part of the global financial system.” 

So beyond a “strong conviction investment,” Jenssen noted that building a bitcoin treasury is more importantly “a strategic enabler for K33 as a leading cryptocurrency broker.”

GameStop got straight to the point in its press release:

I interpret the electronics company’s lack of an explanation to this: More people now understand the reasoning behind such a purchase, particularly amid macro uncertainty. 

Bitcoin’s latest pivot to a risk-off asset helped it achieve a new all-time high around $112,000 last week. US bitcoin ETFs have notched net inflows in each of the last nine trading days — amounting to about $3.8 billion over that span.

Strive said it plans to use equity and debt offerings to accumulate BTC. It also seeks to acquire public companies trading below net cash to then buy bitcoin at a discount.

Other companies, Werkman acknowledged, could choose to simply make a policy change to allow what they’re holding in US dollars (perhaps 3-5% of corporate reserves) to go toward bitcoin instead.     

A former equity analyst for firms like MSTR, Metaplanet and Semler Scientific, Werkman has also done consulting for public and private companies exploring how to structure BTC treasury strategies. 

“I’ve not yet seen a company that’s been evaluating this where they haven’t been open to starting to have these conversations,” he said. “That tells me they’re realizing they’ve got a problem, and all the uncertainty that’s happened over the last six months has really amplified that for them.”

You can check Blockworks.co tomorrow to read my full interview with Werkman. We’ll check which corporate bitcoin treasury strategy update hits the wire next.

— Ben Strack

The number of FOMC members who voted against holding interest rates steady at the policy-setting meeting earlier this month, according to minutes released today.

The minutes also reveal that committee members agree it’s appropriate to “take a cautious approach until the net economic effects of the array of changes to government policies become clearer.”

Nvidia will report its first quarter earnings after the bell today, closing out the Q1 season for the Magnificent 7. 

With things relatively quiet (hopefully I didn’t just jinx it) on the trade war front, Nvidia’s report is poised to move markets. 

Analysts polled by FactSet are calling for Q1 revenue to come in at $43.3 billion, which would be a 66% year-over-year increase. Not too shabby — though the chipmaker’s year-over-year revenue growth was 262% in Q1 2024. 

This time around, investors will be just as interested in what Nvidia isn’t selling. 

In April, the chipmaker said it would be taking on a charge of up to $5.5 billion in the first quarter after regulatory changes rendered a portion of its inventory unsellable. Nvidia’s H20 chips — designed specifically for Chinese buyers — now require a license to sell, so the company will be eating costs associated with purchase commitments. 

NVDA futures slid 6% on April 15, when Nvidia revealed the news in a regulatory filing. Shares have since pared losses, and as of 2 pm ET Wednesday were trading 31% higher than their mid-April low. Still, NVDA is down 1% year to date. 

Just days ago, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang called the restrictions on H20 chip sales to China “deeply painful” and “enormously costly.” Two phrases shareholders never want to hear. 

We’ll see what execs have to say about the Q2 forecast this evening. As always, keep an eye on your inbox for the breakdown tomorrow.

— Casey Wagner