Bitcoin treasuries going global

You may have heard of MicroStrategy’s (MSTR) innovative Bitcoin treasury approach. Its expansion several years ago from business analytics to Bitcoin accumulation delivered outsized gains, with its stock rising 380% in 2024 to Bitcoin’s 124%. But even that pales in comparison to the 2,075% return of Metaplanet, the Japanese real estate company dubbed the MicroStrategy of Asia.

Revenue from its hotel business had been declining for years, so after seeing MicroStrategy’s reinvention, Metaplanet threw a Hail Mary. It bought its first Bitcoin in April 2024. It soon doubled down, putting up its main property in Tokyo as collateral for a bond issuance to fund more Bitcoin purchases. Then it tripled down, making stock offerings to buy even more.

Metaplanet’s aggressive stacking has already paid off. In less than a year, it’s amassed a war chest of 1,762 Bitcoin worth over $165 million, with its market cap surging to nearly a billion. This week, the company unveiled plans to increase its Bitcoin holdings to 10,000 in 2025, potentially amplifying its buying power by issuing convertible bonds.

It’s not just small businesses betting on Bitcoin treasuries to turn their fortunes around. Some developing countries are adopting their own version of the MicroStrategy playbook, using the benefits of state power to acquire Bitcoin.

Most prominent is El Salvador. As he brought crime under control by locking up the gangs that had plagued the small nation, President Nayib Bukele pinned his hopes on Bitcoin to lead an economic revival. El Salvador purchased its first 200 Bitcoins in September 2021 and made the cryptocurrency legal tender.

It was in some ways a worst-case scenario. Bitcoin plummeted more than 50% over the next year, entering a multi-year bear market. But El Salvador used the volatility as an opportunity to average down, patiently adding a Bitcoin each day. It now holds over 6,000, valued around $570 million, acquired at an average price of only $45,000.

International financers have been skeptical of El Salvador’s Bitcoin plans, but the winds may be changing. El Salvador just convinced the International Monetary Fund to give it a $1.4 billion loan. While the IMF attached stringsto the cash—including forcing El Salvador to make Bitcoin acceptance optional for businesses—it acknowledged that the financial and legal risks that gave it pause “have not materialized.”

El Salvador is now redoubling its efforts. After the loan, its national Bitcoin office director took to X to emphasize that Bitcoin remains legal tender. And the country has stepped up its Bitcoin purchases. El Salvador has spent years planning Bitcoin bonds, where part of the proceeds would be used to buy Bitcoin and part would fund Bitcoin mining powered by the nation’s abundant volcanic geothermal energy. In today’s more favorable climate, Bukele’s volcano bonds may be back on the table.

Although El Salvador has gotten more attention, the tiny, landlocked Kingdom of Bhutan has quietly built up a strategic Bitcoin reserve almost twice the size. Instead of relying on tax revenue or loans to acquire its coins, Bhutan has been mining Bitcoin since 2019, partnering with miners like Bitdeer to use cheap hydroelectric power from the Himalayas. Gelephu Mindfulness City, Bhutan’s economic hub, just announced plans to create its own strategic cryptocurrency reserve including Bitcoin and Ether.

Bhutan and El Salvador illustrate how Bitcoin changes the tyranny of geography in a nation’s economic prospects. For most of human history, waterways have been the gateway to trade. There’s a reason many major U.S. cities were founded upon tributaries of the Mississippi, and through it, the Atlantic. To be landlocked like Bhutan meant to be cut off from the global economy. But now, volcanos and Himalayan rivers are becoming the new ports, the geographic points of access to the Bitcoin financial system.

Western investors may be waking up to the idea of Bitcoin treasuries thanks to MicroStrategy, but the tactic has already been tested by foreign companies and countries and found success. It’s only a matter of time before more players, and bigger ones, follow their lead.