Blockstream boss and early cypherpunk Adam Back has said that we are still in the “very early stages” of adoption of the leading cryptocurrency and that all companies will become Bitcoin treasuries.
Speaking to Yahoo Finance on Wednesday, the computer scientist said that Bitcoin is in the early stages of a bull run and that the cryptocurrency would continue to surge as bigger players become involved in the space.
Bitcoin and digital asset treasuries are companies that buy and hold virtual coins and tokens to allow investors to get exposure to cryptocurrency via shares that trade on stock exchanges.
Back is the CEO of Bitcoin Standard Treasury Company, a firm set to go public via a merger with Cantor Equity Partners I, a SPAC chaired by Cantor Fitzgerald Chairman Brandon Lutnick.
“Some people say [treasury companies] are accumulating a lot of Bitcoin — I think the answer there is buy more yourself,” Back said.
“Effectively it’s taken a while for other public market companies to follow Michael Saylor in the treasury play but there’s been a lot of activity this year.
“Some big established companies like Tesla and so on also have sizable Bitcoin positions so I think ultimately all companies become Bitcoin treasury companies to some degree because it’s an inflation hedge in the longer term.”
Michael Saylor’s software company Strategy started buying Bitcoin back in 2020, giving its stock price a huge boost over the years. The Nasdaq-listed company is now the largest corporate holder of the cryptocurrency with 660,624 coins worth over $61 billion at today’s Bitcoin price of $92,291.
Other companies this year have followed suit, buying Bitcoin and other digital coins and tokens instead of holding cash reserves. Nearly 200 public companies worldwide are holding Bitcoin.
But Bitcoin treasuries have struggled in recent months as the price of the leading digital asset has taken a hit. Bitcoin’s currently trading nearly 27% below its October all-time high of $126,080.
Back said that “structural issues have caused the sell-off,” citing “macro news and high leverage” as reasons for the coin’s lower price.
He noted that institutional buying is still happening but we are “still in the very early stages” of adoption. Back added that the leading cryptocurrency still has room to run.
“There are different buyers now,” he said, noting exchange-traded fund investors, banks, and sovereign wealth funds that have bought the cryptocurrency, noting that people need to “zoom out” when looking at the price.
Back had an email exchange with Bitcoin’s creator — or creators — Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008, before the blockchain went live.
Some have speculated that the British cryptographer could be the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin as Nakamoto used Hashcash, a proof-of-work system that Back created to design Bitcoin’s mining process. Back has always denied he is Nakamoto in interviews.
Back’s company Blockstream makes Bitcoin products such as hardware wallets and the digital infrastructure so companies can use the cryptocurrency.
