On December 10 Microsoft(NASDAQ: MSFT) shareholders voted against a proposal to ask the company to add Bitcoin(CRYPTO: BTC) to its balance sheet. Microsoft’s board had recommended that shareholders vote no, so the rejection may not have been a surprise.
But what if it had worked? Other high-profile companies would certainly have followed Microsoft’s lead, leading to a wave of Bitcoin adoption in corporate America. All that buying of Bitcoin would certainly have skyrocketed the price, creating Bitcoin millionaires. So what happens now?
It looks like Microsoft isn’t the only target of Bitcoin shareholder activism. The National Center For Public Policy Research, the Washington, DC, think tank behind Microsoft’s Bitcoin shareholder proposal, has already said that the next tech company on its list is Amazon(NASDAQ: AMZN). In April, Amazon shareholders will vote on a similar proposal, asking the company to consider Bitcoin as a treasury investment.
Now that Bitcoin has broken the $100,000 barrier and a wave of pro-crypto optimism is building around the new Trump administration, other companies may also be thinking about adding Bitcoin to their balance sheets. If they don’t, they could face backlash from shareholders.
This would be a case of shareholders forcing companies to invest in something they are good at, rather than divest from something they are not good at. In short, Bitcoin adoption would become the latest way for companies to increase shareholder value.
Currently, the largest publicly traded companies that have Bitcoin on their balance sheets are crypto-related companies. These include Bitcoin mining companies Coinbase worldwide(NASDAQ: MINT) And MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR).
There are a few exceptions – such as Tesla(NASDAQ: TSLA) — but generally speaking, every company currently buying Bitcoin has a direct link to the crypto industry. They buy Bitcoin because it makes sense for their overall business operations. For example, Coinbase Global needs to buy Bitcoin because people buy and sell Bitcoin on its cryptocurrency trading platform.
However, that could soon change. On November 20, three companies in the biotech industry announced plans to each purchase $1 million worth of Bitcoin as a way to participate in Bitcoin’s future upside potential and build shareholder value. If these companies are successful, others may follow suit.
What does this all mean for you as an investor? If you own Bitcoin and hope to one day become a crypto millionaire, that means you must fervently hope that Bitcoin shareholder activism will be a huge success. You would want every publicly traded company in America to buy Bitcoin. All that buying will of course cause the price of Bitcoin to skyrocket.
Investor with orange flag standing on pile of cash.
Image source: Getty Images.
Just think about some of the numbers involved. The National Center for Public Policy Research chose Michael Saylor, founder and executive chairman of MicroStrategy, to give a three-minute presentation on why Microsoft should adopt Bitcoin. Saylor suggested that Microsoft would need to buy as much as $100 billion worth of Bitcoin per year for its corporate coffers. Doing so, he said, had the potential to add trillions of dollars to Microsoft’s market capitalization.
Buying $100 billion would be a staggering amount of Bitcoin. By comparison, MicroStrategy currently has about $42 billion worth of Bitcoin on its balance sheet. So in just one year, Microsoft would zoom past MicroStrategy and become the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin in the world. And Microsoft would also have the largest Bitcoin ETF in the world (the iShares Bitcoin Trust), which holds approximately $54 billion worth of Bitcoin.
The case for holding Bitcoin is getting stronger. There is support on Main Street among individual investors. There is support on Wall Street from financial institutions. There is support in Washington, DC, and (soon) in the White House. If just one Silicon Valley tech titan adopts Bitcoin, it could trigger a massive Bitcoin buying wave.
So keep an eye on Bitcoin shareholder activism. Microsoft had the chance to make a momentous decision on Bitcoin and passed on the opportunity. But if you are a Bitcoin investor, you don’t have to worry. In just a few months, Amazon will be the next major company to get the chance to vote on Bitcoin adoption.
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John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Dominic Basulto has positions in Amazon and Bitcoin. The Motley Fool holds positions in and recommends Amazon, Bitcoin, Coinbase Global, Microsoft, and Tesla. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls to Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls to Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Microsoft Just Made a Momentous Decision About Bitcoin That Could Dramatically Impact Your Ability to Become a Crypto Millionaire, originally published by The Motley Fool
