In a newly released memo dated January 13, 2025, Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer (CIO) at Bitwise, argues that the phenomenon of corporations purchasing Bitcoin for their treasuries is far more widespread and influential than most investors realize. According to Hougan, “We’ll see hundreds of companies buy Bitcoin for their treasuries over the next 12-18 months, and their purchases will lift the entire Bitcoin market substantially higher.” Hougan’s memo , titled “Companies Buying Bitcoin: An Overlooked Megatrend,” asserts that while MicroStrategy and its outspoken founder, Michael Saylor, often dominate headlines, they are merely the most visible part of a rapidly expanding corporate movement into BTC. Despite being ranked 220th globally by market capitalization—“a bit bigger than Chipotle and a bit smaller than Sherwin-Williams,” according to Hougan—MicroStrategy’s BTC acquisitions significantly exceed the entire new supply of Bitcoin mined last year. “Last year, MicroStrategy bought ~257,000 BTC… more than all the Bitcoin mined in 2024 (218,829 BTC),” Hougan wrote. He also noted that MicroStrategy has announced plans to raise over $42 billion to purchase more Bitcoin—roughly equivalent to “about 2.6 years’ worth of new supply” at current production rates. Hougan poses a direct question regarding what might happen if “really big companies start to take a page from MicroStrategy’s book,” pointing specifically to Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta , which he described as “20x the size of MicroStrategy.” While MicroStrategy’s moves have garnered the most attention, Hougan emphasizes that many other companies are already including BTC on their balance sheets. In total, “70 publicly traded companies own Bitcoin on their balance sheets,” a figure that encompasses both crypto-centric firms such as Coinbase and Marathon Digital , and mainstream players like Block, Tesla, Semler Scientific , and Mercado Libre. Together—excluding MicroStrategy—these companies hold 141,302 BTC. Private companies also hold significant amounts of bitcoin. Hougan cites data from BitcoinTreasuries.com showing that private firms like SpaceX and Block.one collectively own at least 368,043 BTC. “That’s significant. It means that, even today, MicroStrategy is less than 50% of the corporate BTC market,” he wrote, predicting that MicroStrategy’s share “will be a small fraction of it eventually.” Why Bitcoin Corporate Adoption Is Set To Explode Hougan points to two main factors that have historically constrained corporate adoption—reputational risk and unfavorable accounting rules—and explains why both have shifted rapidly. “Last year, the CEO of one large publicly traded company faced huge hurdles in adding Bitcoin as a treasury asset,” he wrote, describing the persistent fear of negative media coverage, shareholder lawsuits, and regulatory attention. “But reputational risks have peeled back significantly in the past few months. Post-election, with Washington embracing crypto at the highest levels, it’s becoming much more commonplace—and popular—to own Bitcoin.” Hougan then highlights a new accounting guideline introduced by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) called ASU 2023-08. Previously, BTC was classified as an “intangible asset” subject to impairment testing, forcing companies to write down the value of their Bitcoin if its price fell—but never allowing them to mark the value back up if it rose. Now, companies can mark BTC to market and book a profit when its price appreciates. “If 70 companies were willing to add Bitcoin to their balance sheets when, from an accounting perspective, it literally could only go down, imagine how many will add it… now,” Hougan wrote. “Two hundred? Five hundred? A thousand?” Addressing skepticism as to why companies choose to hold BTC, Hougan contends that corporate motivations largely mirror those of individual investors. “Some companies are greedy… Others are worried about the debasement of the dollar… Still others want to signal that they’re part of the Bitcoin tribe… Some probably just have a hunch,” he wrote. Ultimately, however, Hougan maintains that understanding each company’s motivations is less important than observing the magnitude of overall demand. “You just need to look at the numbers and ask yourself two questions: Where does all of this demand from companies look like it’s going? And what would that mean for the market?” Hougan’s memo concludes on a bullish note, forecasting that if major corporations follow the path paved by MicroStrategy—now aided by more favorable reputational and accounting climates—the influx of corporate capital could significantly push BTC’s price higher over the course of the coming year. “My prediction: We’ll see hundreds of companies buy Bitcoin for their treasuries over the next 12-18 months.” – Matt Hougan, Bitwise CIO At press time, BTC traded at $95,039.
