Disclaimer: The analyst who wrote this piece owns shares of MicroStrategy (MSTR) and Semler Scientific (SMLR). As interest in digital assets continues to rise, a new phase of corporate adoption for Bitcoin appears to be taking shape, with publicly listed firms following MicroStrategy's lead by adding BTC to their balance sheets. It all started with MicroStrategy (MSTR) adopting BTC as Treasury asset in 2020. Since then, its share price has jumped almost 2,500%. Over the years, the company has boosted its coin stash through cash, at-the-market (ATM) equity offerings, convertible debt or, more recently, through preferred stock offerings. In 2024, we saw multiple companies follow suit and adopt a bitcoin treasury strategy, such as Metaplanet (3350), Semler Scientific (SMLR), MARA Holdings (MARA), as well as many other publicly traded miners that have also achieved great success. Now more firms are joining the party. The first company emerging from the second wave is KULR Technology Group (KULR), which trades on the NYSE, announced a $21 million bitcoin purchase on Monday. This takes its total bitcoin holding to 430 BTC at an average weighted price of $98,393 per token. KULR has leveraged a combination of an ATM equity program and surplus cash to fund its purchase. Like the other pioneers of this strategy, they have adopted a BTC yield strategy, coming in at 93.7% from December 2024 to January 2025. KULR's share price has been up 847% since Nov. 19. As of Jan. 7, there also seems to be an emergence of publicly traded companies that have announced a bitcoin treasury strategy, but have yet to acquire any bitcoin. First up, Acurx Pharmaceuticals (ACXP) , trading on the Nasdaq, whose board approved a purchase of up to $1 million in bitcoin on Nov. 20. The share price has been down 35% since Nov. 19, but it is up 30% year-to-date. The same is true for Hoth Therapeutics (HOTH) , also on the Nasdaq. Its board approved a $1 million bitcoin purchase, back in Nov. 20 but there has been no acquisition yet. However, the share price is up 2% since Nov. 19. The third company to have approved a $1 million bitcoin treasury strategy is Nasdaq-listed LQR House (YHC) . On Nov. 19, the firm made the announcement that they have also accepted cryptocurrency payments and adopted a policy to retain up to $10 million of these payments in bitcoin. The share price is up 56% since Nov. 19. The last company, NYSE-listed SOS Limited (SOS) approved a $50 million purchase of bitcoin on Nov. 27. The announcement was made when bitcoin was $93,000 a token. The share price has been down 30% since Nov. 19. In the second wave KULR has seen massive share price appreciation, compared to the other companies. However, LQR House could be an outlier with a share price gain of 57%.
