Publicly traded mining companies are adopting a strategy of acquiring bitcoin for their balance sheets, following the example of MicroStrategy. This is according to a report by JPMorgan, as reported by CoinDesk.
To finance operational costs, firms are issuing bonds and stocks, opting not to sell mined coins. This shift is due to pressure on profitability following the halving and increased hash rate.
“This has prompted them to conserve funds or seek further investments in digital gold or diversify into AI/HPC sectors,” the report states.
Experts have calculated that since January, miners have raised over $10 billion, surpassing the previous high of $9.5 billion in 2021.
JPMorgan noted that MARA has implemented a bitcoin strategy. The firm holds 40,435 BTC, ranking second in this regard after MicroStrategy, which holds 423,650 BTC.
The emergence of BTC-ETFs in the US has provided institutional investors with a more direct way to take on bitcoin risk. Previously, shares of mining companies served similar purposes. As a result, the growth rate of these companies has slowed, experts highlighted.
Only 0.55% of Microsoft shareholders approved the creation of a bitcoin reserve.
On December 8, a similar proposal was made to Amazon’s equity shareholders.
Currently, only 0.01% of public companies worldwide hold the first cryptocurrency, according to OKG Research.