Panel Forecasts Thousands More Companies Moving to Crypto Treasuries

Public adoption expected to rise dramatically as corporate giants like Microsoft face scrutiny, analysts tell Bitwise event.

Record Holdings: Will 10,000 Public Companies Hold Bitcoin?

Michael Saylor, founder of Strategy, told a crowded room at Bitwise’s Bitcoin Standard Corporations Investor Day that institutional adoption of Bitcoin is “inevitable” on an unprecedented scale.

“To everyone wearing an orange tie…It’s good to be on the team with you.”

Saylor, whose company holds 538,200 BTC, envisions a world where thousands of more public companies join the growing list holding the cryptocurrency. Recent Q1 data from Bitwise indicated a mere 79 companies were holding Bitcoin.

“I don’t say this to brag,” Saylor noted. “The way we did it was so brainless. Everything these companies do is extremely complicated. Every one of you could copy me.”

Kraken CFO Stephanie Lemmerman offered a concrete prediction: approximately 20% of the roughly 55,000 public companies globally could be holding Bitcoin within two years.

Kraken’s Lemmerman said: “We expect about 20% of the roughly 55,000 public companies to hold BTC a couple years from now.”

Referred to as “a lot” of companies, this would equate to roughly 11,000 entities.

The panelists agreed institutional adoption is crucial for broader acceptance and plays a significant role in price discovery. Eric Semler, Chair of Semler Scientific—now holding 3,303 BTC—shared his “zombie” company’s experience navigating Treasury processes.

“Once one of the Magnificent 7 companies starts buying BTC, many more will follow,” panelists emphasized.

New Player Enters the Game

“There’re a lot of smaller-scale ‘bitcoin treasury companies,’ which have a role to play,” said Robert Harrington of Cantor Fitzgerald. “But I think this market demands scale.”

New entity Twenty One Capital, combining entities backed by Tether and SoftBank with Cantor Equity Partners, anticipates holding around 42,000 BTC—a position trailing only Strategy and Marathon Digital.

Risk Mitigation and Long View

Addressing Bitcoin’s volatility, Fold General Counsel Hailey Lennon stressed: “Establishing ‘board alignment’ that this is a long-term play is crucial. Unless the fundamentals of bitcoin change, the goal is not to sell.”

Kraken’s Lemmerman added: “It’s not necessarily where you came in but where you expect [BTC] to be and what you’re forecasting.”

Bitcoin as a ‘Better Gold’

Fundstrat Capital’s Tom Lee characterized Bitcoin’s treasury role as more than just speculation; it’s a new standard.

“It’s a new accounting standard of sorts—the idea that you don’t have to have cash holdings only in the US dollar.”

Beyond Speculation: A Cash Treasury Off-Ramp

Kinetics Mutual Funds founder Peter Doyle likened Bitcoin adoption as an essential off-ramp from “financial Whack-a-Mole” government monetary policies.

“Saylor ‘woke up’ in 2020 when he realized what was happening to his cash and his business,” Doyle testified. “They [other companies] don’t feel that yet. But they’re going to feel that.”