Meta shareholders have submitted a proposal urging the tech giant to consider adding Bitcoin as a corporate treasury asset. The proposal , authored by Ethan Peck, an early investor at Meta and member of The National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR), comes as part of a growing trend among major corporations and their investors to explore Bitcoin’s potential as a reserve asset. The proposal, titled “Bitcoin Treasury Assessment,” outlined why Meta should evaluate Bitcoin as part of its asset allocation strategy. It highlighted Meta’s $72 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities as of September 2024, arguing that such assets erode in value due to inflation and low bond yields. “ Since cash is consistently being debased and bond yields are lower than the true inflation rate, 2.28% of Meta’s total assets are consistently diminishing shareholder value simply by sitting on the balance sheet,” the proposal asserted Peck also expanded on this point in an interview with Pahueg, host of the Less Noise More Signal YouTube channel. “Corporations are holding a lot of cash and buying a lot of bonds, but those cash reserves and bonds are just sitting there on the balance sheet, losing value,” He explained . “They’re not doing anything to address it. The best solution to that is Bitcoin.” The proposal further noted Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s personal connection to Bitcoin, famously naming one of his goats “Bitcoin.” Meta board member Marc Andreessen, who has publicly praised Bitcoin, is also a director at Coinbase, signaling a potential alignment between the company’s leadership and the cryptocurrency. “Meta has always been a forward-thinking, innovative company – not a company that follows tradition but one that sets it,” the proposal read, urging Meta to explore Bitcoin as a modern alternative to traditional treasury strategies. It also pointed to BlackRock, Meta’s second-largest institutional shareholder, which has advised that a 2% Bitcoin allocation is reasonable. This development aligns with similar shareholder proposals at Amazon and Microsoft , both spearheaded by NCPPR. Meanwhile, the Bitcoin community has also urged Dell founder Michael Dell to consider a Bitcoin strategy. Last year, Dell fueled speculation with cryptic posts on X, including the phrase, “Scarcity creates value,” a sentiment often associated with Bitcoin’s fixed supply of 21 million coins, which even caught the attention of Bitcoin advocate Michael Saylor. Bitcoin’s rising adoption among corporations has gained traction following its recent surge to a record high of $108,268. Proponents argue that Bitcoin offers long-term value and inflation resistance despite its volatility. Companies like MicroStrategy and Tesla have already adopted Bitcoin as part of their treasury strategies, with MicroStrategy’s stock outperforming Meta’s by over 2,000% in the past five years.
