Bitcoin treasury adoption by public companies has become the new altcoin season for cryptocurrency speculators, Adam Back said on Monday.
Bitcoin (BTC) treasury season “is the new ALT SZN for speculators,” said Back, co-founder and CEO of Blockstream and the inventor of Hashcash. “Time to dump ALTs into BTC or BTC treasuries,” he added.
Bitcoin treasury firms are buying BTC “on repeat to increase Bitcoin per share,” tapping into different funding methods such as convertible note offerings to accumulate more of the world’s first cryptocurrency, making them attractive for investors, Back explained.
His comments come amid a wave of growing corporate Bitcoin adoption, which saw the number of public companies holding Bitcoin double since June 5.
At least 240 public companies now hold Bitcoin on their balance sheets, up from 124 firms just weeks ago, accounting for about 3.96% of the total BTC supply, according to BitcoinTreasuries.NET.
Back previously predicted that institutional and government adoption would make Bitcoin a $200 trillion market opportunity as Bitcoin treasury firms front-run hyperbitcoinization — a theoretical future where Bitcoin becomes the world’s largest global currency, replacing fiat money due to its inflationary economics.
However, Bitcoin treasury firms also present growing concerns for shareholders. For instance, Japanese investment firm Metaplanet’s Bitcoin premium soared to $596,154 on May 27, meaning stockholders are paying more than fivefold for Bitcoin exposure via Metaplanet shares.
Related: Genius Group Bitcoin treasury grows 52% as 1,000 BTC goal reaffirmed
Bitcoin investments may offset altcoin losses
Still, Back argued that Bitcoin-focused firms offer a possible path to recover losses from altcoins.
“I was encouraging them to find a way out of alts,” said Back in an X response on Monday. “Maybe they can make back their losses by switching to BTC by way of treasury companies,” he added.
Related: Swedish MP proposes Bitcoin reserve to finance minister
Corporate adoption continues to accelerate. On June 12, Nasdaq-listed Mercurity Fintech Holding announced plans to raise $800 million to establish a “long-term” Bitcoin treasury reserve.
Three days earlier, Paris-based cryptocurrency company The Blockchain Group announced plans to raise $340 million for a corporate Bitcoin treasury, signaling growing institutional interest in Europe.
Despite their lack of momentum, altcoins are also benefiting from institutional adoption. Interactive Strength, a Nasdaq-listed fitness equipment manufacturer, announced plans to raise $500 million to establish a Fetch.ai (FET) token treasury, Cointelegraph reported on June 11.
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