China-based pork processing company and Bitcoin miner Bit Origin has officially kicked off its crypto treasury initiative with its first acquisition of 40.5 million Dogecoin.
In a statement on Monday, the company said the Dogecoin (DOGE) buy was the “first strategic acquisition” under its digital asset treasury initiative, supported by a share sale and debt offering that aimed to raise $500 million.
At an average price of $0.24 per coin, Bit Origin would have spent around $9.9 million on its recent Dogecoin acquisition. The token is currently trading at $0.26, according to Nansen.
Notably, Bit Origin has ties to a China-linked crypto mining firm that was forced to vacate a property in Wyoming after an order from the White House.
Bit Origin joined forces with MineOne Partners Limited in 2022 to operate a crypto mining facility in Cheyenne, Wyoming, providing strategic and operational support. The China-linked crypto mining firm was forced to leave the property in 2024 due to its proximity to a nuclear missile base.
Before joining Bit Origin in 2021 as its chief operating officer and CEO, Jinghai Jiang was a director at MineOne Partners Limited.
Bit Origin CEO says Dogecoin at inflection point
Dogecoin was launched in 2013 by software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer as a joke payment system satirizing the wild crypto speculation at the time, but it has since risen to be the eighth largest cryptocurrency by market cap.
Jiang said Bit Origin adopted Dogecoin for its treasury over other cryptocurrencies because they see its “utility potential for micropayments nearing an inflection point, driven by renewed developer activity and broader institutional interest in tokenization.”
“While we embrace its cultural origins, which have helped drive liquidity and global familiarity, we believe current market conditions align with Dogecoin’s evolution toward decentralized finance.”
Food company pivoting further into crypto
On July 17, Bit Origin entered into agreements with investors to sell up to $400 million in shares and up to $100 million in convertible debt to fund the Dogecoin treasury strategy.
Jiang said in a statement at the time, “Bit Origin is evolving beyond mining infrastructure to engage directly in the value and utility of digital assets.”
Bit Origin was launched in 2019 as China Xiangtai Food and was primarily engaged in pork processing, including slaughtering, packing, distribution and wholesale.
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However, in December 2021, the company announced it had purchased 742 spot first-tier new Bitcoin miners as part of a crypto pivot and changed its name to Bit Origin in 2022.
As of 2025, it doesn’t mention pork processing in its company profile anymore.
The largest Dogecoin Holders
Dogecoin is currently largely skewed toward whale holders. Data from crypto tracker BitInfoCharts shows that over 81% of Dogecoins’ supply is held among 908 addresses.
One address holds over 28 billion, while the next 14 largest wallets have over 43 billion. Crypto exchange Exolix said in March that a wallet connected to brokerage firm Robinhood holds the 28 billion tokens.
While an unidentified owner is the second largest holder with 8.90 billion Dogecoin, and crypto exchange Binance is the third largest holder with 7.65 billion.
In comparison, roughly 82% of Bitcoin (BTC) is held among 152,002 wallet addresses, according to BitInfoCharts.
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