Semler would control 0.5% of Bitcoin’s total fixed supply if it held 105,000 BTC. This will be achieved through debt financing and cashflow, as well as equity offering. The goal is to hold 10,000 BTC at the end of 2020 and 42,000 BTC in 2026. Semler has appointed Bitcoin strategist Joe Burnett to lead this initiative. Analysts expressed concern about the potential risks of the company’s stock falling further.
Kraken has launched, via Babylon Labs, a Bitcoin stake product that allows users to earn reward without ever leaving their exchange. XBTO, Arab Bank Switzerland and a new Bitcoin yield product were also introduced to institutional clients seeking non-speculative BTC strategies.
Semler Scientific Targets 100 000 Bitcoin
Semler Scientific Inc. is a technology company in the healthcare industry that has unveiled a plan to increase its Bitcoin holdings by 28 times over the next 2 1/2 years. The company holds 3,808 BTC and has plans to increase that number by 105,000 BTC in 2027.
Semler wants to have 10,000 BTC at the end 2025 and 42,000 BTC in 2026. It will achieve this target by combining equity offering, debt financing and operating cash flow.
An announcement from Semler Scientific
Semler has appointed Bitcoin strategist Joe Burnett to spearhead its strategy. Burnett has experience in his roles as director of Bitcoin strategy at Semler and Unchained, along with a history at EY. He noted that public companies are increasingly adopting Bitcoin as an asset for their treasuries.
Semler began its commitment to Bitcoin in 2024, and according to BitBo data it has already earned the 13th place among the public companies that have the biggest Bitcoin holdings. This plan reflects the trend where businesses are prioritizing Bitcoin acquisition, even if it means putting their core business operations on hold. Metaplanet is a Japanese investment company that has also set a goal of acquiring 210,000 BTC before the year 2027.
Semler will be in control of 0.5% Bitcoins’ fixed supply. This aggressive strategy has its detractors. Matthew Sigel, a VanEck analyst, warned recently that companies heavily dependent on Bitcoin and equity at the market programs may face problems if stock values fall close to net asset value. Issuing additional shares in such situations could lead to shareholder dilution, rather than creating value. Sigel pointed out Semler, as the company is approaching this crucial point. It is due to the fact that its stock has declined by almost 41% in the past year and is now approaching levels seen before Bitcoin.
Semler scientific YTD share today’s viral level= LightSeaGreen Source:Google Finance
Semler has been profitable in its Bitcoin wager so far. The company announced a $177-million unrealized profit on June 3rd, a yield of 287%. Semler has the highest Bitcoin per share ratio of all public companies that hold Bitcoin at 0.00034.
Kraken Launches Bitcoin Staking With Babylon
Companies are not only leveraging Bitcoins momentum by buying. Kraken has launched a Bitcoin staking program through a partnership with Babylon Labs. This service allows users to earn Bitcoin rewards without having to rely on any bridging or wrapping mechanisms.
This service, which was launched on June 19, allows Kraken customers to stake BTC from their exchange. Users can instead of transferring their Bitcoin to an external wallet, lock it in a vault on the Bitcoin Blockchain. This is delegated by the Babylon Protocol to support Proof-of-Stake networks. Participants receive Babylon’s BABY native token in return. This BABY token saw an increase of nearly 5% today’s viral level= LightCyan after the announcement.
Mark Greenberg is Kraken’s global consumer head. He explained that there are large amounts of Bitcoin sitting idle on the exchange, which represents a lost opportunity for both clients and the wider ecosystem. Mark Greenberg, Kraken’s global head of consumer explained that a large portion of Bitcoin on the exchange sits idle. This is a missed opportunity for both clients and the broader ecosystem.
The initiative falls under the BTCFi trend, also known as Bitcoin-based, decentralized finance. This movement aims to give Bitcoin more functionality beyond its role as a traditional store of value. Early BTCFi initiatives included the Omni Layer, which is now a legacy, and was used to push Tether ahead of Ethereum. Newer projects, like Babylon, allow Bitcoin holders to stake through native time-locked mechanisms, without intermediaries. BABY is a token that benefits from an annual inflation of 8%, which is split evenly between BTC holders and BABY stakeholders. The token also allows for participation in governance, and it pays transaction fees.
BTCFi growth (Source Binance)
Some other BTCFi example include Bitcoin sidechains such as Rootstock, Liquid Network and Bitcoin Lightning Network in combination with Taproot Assets to tokenize. Recent developments have shown that these protocols are gaining traction. Early May saw Rootstock experience a significant increase in mining and network security. Binance announced in April the value of Bitcoin-based DeFi has increased by over 2,700%.
XBTO, Arab Bank launch Bitcoin Yield product
XBTO, a crypto investment company, recently partnered up with Arab Bank Switzerland in order to create a Bitcoin-yield product tailored specifically for wealth management customers of the bank. This product is a response to the increasing institutional demand for yield-structured strategies, which allow Bitcoin owners to earn returns without having to liquidate their assets.
XBTO’s proprietary strategy “diamond hands” will be used. This strategy combines selling Bitcoin options in order to accumulate premiums, with a longer-term accumulation method during dips. This strategy has been used by XBTO in Bermuda’s regulated Bitcoin fund to produce annualized returns around 5%, with relatively low volatility.
Javier Rodriguez Alarcon, XBTO’s Chief Investment Officer, revealed that clients from the institutional sector are not satisfied with Where to Buy and want more advanced digital asset solutions. Romain Braud is the head of digital asset at Arab Bank Switzerland. He said that clients are increasingly interested in strategies for yield generation that can be implemented within a risk-controlled environment.
Bitcoin has traditionally been viewed as an asset to be bought and held, but yields were not accessible outside of speculation or lending. The maturation of crypto markets and financial instruments like derivatives, staking and other staking-models allowed BTC holders to generate income.
Bitcoin yield products do not come without risk, despite their appeal. OneSafe has pointed out that these products are susceptible to impermanent losses, unreliable regulatory frameworks and high volatility. Despite this, a variety of companies are entering the market with similar products, such as Hilbert Capital’s Bitcoin Yield solution, Purpose Investments’ Purpose Bitcoin Yield Fund, NEOS’ Bitcoin High Income Fund, and Coinbase’s newly launched Bitcoin Yield Fund.
