The “Bitcoin fever,” which began after the election of Donald Trump as president, is intensifying.
The “Bitcoin fever,” which began after the election of Donald Trump as president, is intensifying.
American MicroStrategy, which will appear in the Nasdaq-100 index from December 23, 2024, will become the first "bitcoin company" on the list of one of the world's largest exchanges, known for its focus on the technology sector.
Palantir Technologies and Axon Enterprise were added to the list along with it. At the same time, Illumina, Super Micro Computer and Moderna are leaving the index.
MicroStrategy, founded in 1989, specializes in developing business intelligence software and cloud solutions. It is also known for its investments in Bitcoin, which has become an important part of its strategy in recent years. The significant increase in the value of the firm in recent years is due to its transformation into one of the largest Bitcoin hodlers.
MicroStrategy's addition to the Nasdaq-100 automatically includes its shares in the Invesco QQQ Trust ETF portfolio, which has assets worth more than $322 billion.
Analysts and cryptocurrency market participants welcomed the news. Expert Will Clemente noted that now the largest pension funds and individual accounts will have indirect access to Bitcoin.
Bitwise Asset Management’s Jeff Park called it the start of the “trade of the decade.” At the same time, Hartmann Capital founder Felix Hartmann stressed that the news will force active top managers to consider the impact of Bitcoin on their strategies.
It is reported that the definition of a “bitcoin company” may be a temporary phenomenon. In March next year, the company may be reclassified as a financial (rather than a technology) company, since its main value is created by its bitcoin assets ($42 billion), and not by its operating business. MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor has spoken of plans to turn the company into a “bitcoin bank.”
Bitcoin broke through the $102,000 mark on this news, and analysts are already wondering whether the S&P 500 will have to include MicroStrategy in its composition to keep up with its competitor.
Recall that the most popular cryptocurrency jumped in price by almost 32% after the US election on November 5. The record growth of Bitcoin raised the total value of the cryptocurrency market above the peak value of the pandemic era.
During the campaign, Trump promised to make the United States the “crypto capital of the world” and build a national bitcoin reserve. It’s unclear how or when that might happen, but the possibility has sparked a speculative surge in stocks that mine and trade cryptocurrencies.
One reason for the surge is the possible end of increased scrutiny by Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler, whom Trump has said he will replace. At the same time, MicroStrategy announced that it spent about $2 billion buying bitcoin between October 31 and November 10. The company's shares rose 26% and continued to rise in after-hours trading.
