Meta shareholders just gave Bitcoin a big, fat "No thanks", and they did it in style. A proposal to check if the tech giant should stash some Bitcoin on its balance sheet got a whopping 3.92 million votes for it, which sounds like a lot until you realize that’s just 0.08% of the total. Meanwhile, nearly 5 billion votes said, “Nope, keep the crypto out.”
Mark Zuckerberg, who calls the shots with 61% of voting power, probably wasn’t buying what the Bitcoin fans were selling.
This whole saga kicked off back in January when Bitcoin advocate Ethan Peck tried to convince Meta to dip into its $72 billion cash and equivalents, yeah, that’s $72 billion with a B, and put some of it into Bitcoin. Peck argued that Bitcoin is a great hedge against inflation, especially since cash keeps losing value and bond yields just don’t cut it.
Peck didn’t just pull numbers out of thin air. He pointed to Meta’s second-largest shareholder, BlackRock, which apparently thinks a 2% Bitcoin allocation is totally reasonable.
The Bitcoiner made this pitch on behalf of his family’s shares in Meta. But Peck’s ambitions don’t stop there, he also pushed similar Bitcoin treasury proposals at Microsoft and Amazon. Microsoft shareholders weren’t sold either, voting down the idea in December. Amazon’s vote is still pending, with a proposal on the table to allocate at least 5% of assets to Bitcoin.
Nick Cowan, CEO of fintech Valereum, thinks Amazon might be more open to techie risks and new investments than the others. But let’s be real, shareholders probably worry about putting volatile Bitcoin ahead of steady investments in R&D or acquisitions.
While Meta Says No, Others Say Yes to Bitcoin
While Meta and Microsoft said “Thanks, but no thanks” to Bitcoin, other companies are quietly jumping on the crypto train. BitcoinTreasures.NET shows 116 public companies have Bitcoin on their balance sheets now. Fresh faces like GameStop and Swedish health tech firm H100 both bought Bitcoin for the first time just last month.
Leading the pack is Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy, hoarding a massive 580,250 Bitcoin, worth a cool $60.9 billion. And they’re not alone. Marathon Digital Holdings, Tesla, and seven others each hold over $1 billion in Bitcoin.
So, while Meta’s shareholders are keeping Bitcoin at arm’s length, a growing number of companies are happily riding the crypto wave. Guess it’s a high-risk, high-reward game, and Meta’s playing it safe, for now.
Gunel Ismayilova
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