Cryptocurrency in Business
A lot of businesses are moving to cryptocurrencies.
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Updated November 2026. This was first published on 27 October 2021. The idea is the same. Any number below is what the original piece said then. It is not a new count.
Key takeaways
- A lot of businesses are moving to cryptocurrencies, a trend that started in 2020 by large publicly traded companies and is actually growing as part of their corporate treasuries.
- Beginning** MicroStrategy, a business intelligence firm, became the first publicly-traded company on 11 August 2020.
- And to date, this company holds staggering 109,000 bitcoins, which represents 75% of the reserves on its balance sheet.
A lot of businesses are moving to cryptocurrencies, a trend that started in 2020 by large publicly traded companies and is actually growing as part of their corporate treasuries.
Beginning** MicroStrategy, a business intelligence firm, became the first publicly-traded company on 11 August 2020. And to date, this company holds staggering 109,000 bitcoins, which represents 75% of the reserves on its balance sheet.
Not only MicroStrategy but other publicly traded companies such as Square, Tesla and countries like El Salvador also adopted bitcoin. Such a huge amount of capital investment in cryptocurrency not only reached Fortune 500 companies and developing countries, but it also touched many other enterprise-level companies.
?Bitcoin is a swarm of cyber hornets serving the goddess of wisdom, feeding on the fire of truth, exponentially growing ever smarter, faster, and stronger behind a wall of encrypted energy" > -Saylor, an enthusiastic Bitcoin evangelist.
If you hear the name of Ikea Group, this company makes furniture and has turned to cryptocurrency. So this is another addition for corporate treasurers.
Geely Auto Group, which you could call the largest shareholder in the Volvo automotive brand, has also jumped into the pool, noting that ‘decentralized applications’ will be rolled out to vehicles across China.
The Present and Future #
A recent study by Fidelity Digital Assets found that seven out of every 10 institutional investors focused on digital assets over the next five years. The study also confirmed that 52% of companies in Asia, Europe and the United States have an interest in and investment in digital assets. Following suit, enterprises will keep the digital assets in their reserves if they plan to serve their customers with cryptocurrency on a daily basis.
According to another research, the European Commission estimates that enterprise-level businesses on the continent could close the ?25-?30 billion gap in financing due to digital assets.
Family offices are getting their hands on digital assets. Goldman Sachs estimates that 15% of family offices around the world hold cryptocurrency assets. Of which 25% of the family offices are located in the US itself.
Only 10% of the survey respondents in Africa, Europe and Asia have digital assets and it can be predicted that this percentage will increase rapidly in the coming years.
Nearly 42% of survey respondents declared that they had invested in digital assets.
Crypto Assets in a Corporate Treasury #
The whole gist of the study was that people who are using crypto assets, traditional currencies and precious metals were actually creating a way to diversify investments geographically. So that it can protect the capital from possible currency debasement going forward.
To prevent debasement and inflation, corporate treasuries are being converted into crypto assets. While it is true that it takes decades for currencies to devalue, first movers will benefit and enterprises of all sizes will benefit as well. It has been 13 years since bitcoin was introduced and the crypto asset class has been maturing since then.
With the appreciation in the price of crypto assets, another advantage of companies is that crypto-savvy customers (at least 40%) have to spend twice as much as crypto customers holding traditional credit cards.
Crypto assets and blockchains come with transparency and enable revenue-sharing activities. It also allows money transfer in real-time. Overall, capital is in control and companies can manage the risk associated with digital investments.
With crypto, new demographic groups can be easily accessible. Users who look for transparency in transactions represent a more new clientele.
When cryptocurrencies are linked to corporate treasuries, there are so many practical and financial benefits involved making it clear why 40% of small and medium-sized corporations began to accept cryptocurrencies as a form of payment.
Final Words** The companies that have decided to introduce crypto are actually spurring internal awareness about this technology and have positioned themselves in the future of central bank digital currencies. With traditional investments, crypto gives access to liquidity pools and new capital. Fiat currency cannot furnish some options such as programmable money providing real-time and accurate revenue-sharing that is transparent to back-office reconciliation.
Crypto payments will not require a company balance sheet and will be the fastest entry point when it comes to digital assets. The fewest adjustments will serve the immediate goals, one of which is the creation of new clientele and the rapid growth of sales transactions. If enterprises don’t fully adopt crypto, there will be third-party vendors to deal with.
Opportunities and unknown dangers can come together when crypto is introduced to any business, so it is important to understand why action is being taken with a list of all questions with accurate answers.
Questions and answers #
What is the main point? #
A lot of businesses are moving to cryptocurrencies, a trend that started in 2020 by large publicly traded companies and is actually growing as part of their corporate treasuries.
What else did the original piece say? #
Beginning** MicroStrategy, a business intelligence firm, became the first publicly-traded company on 11 August 2020.