|
Want to benefit from the rise of Bitcoin, without actually creating a Digital Wallet or setting up an account with a Cryptocurrency Exchange? Or alternatively setting up your own mining rig and earning bitcoin from supporting the network with your own miner? For some people, just getting started with Bitcoin is a hassle in itself, some new thing you have to learn and likely are only getting in because of the hype. But there are alternatives to actually buying or mining your own bitcoin directly. If any of these fit you, and you're willing to invest in a publicly traded company as a proxy to Bitcoin, there are a few companies with large Bitcoin holdings that you can buy on almost any stock investing app. Here are the Top 6 Stocks with Bitcoin Holdings you can buy, ranked by the number of Bitcoins they hold.
#6 Coinbase - $COIN
Coinbase, ticker symbol COIN, is the largest and most well known way for you to directly buy and hold Bitcoin in the United States. The have an iOS and Android app that makes it easy to create a digital wallet to hold Cryptocurrencies or trade them, whether you're buying Bitcoin or using the wallet as a way to send and receive cryptocurrency from others. It is also now a publicly traded stock with its IPO in April of 2021. Surprisingly Coinbase is not the largest holder of Bitcoin, or even in the Top 5, despite being the most popular way to buy Bitcoin directly. You can think of Coinbase as the TD Ameritrade or Robinhood of Cryptocurrencies. Coinbase currently holds a little over 4 Thousand Bitcoin as of their last Quarterly report in May of 2021, which was their first as a publicly traded company. Coinbase at the time of this post, is a $52B company, but is down 26% year to date.
Coinbase's Bitcoin Holdings Value Based on Price per Coin:
#5 Marathon Digital Holdings - $MARA
Marathon Digital Holdings, ticker symbol MARA, owns the 5th most Bitcoins of publicly traded companies, with 5 Thousand Bitcoins. MARA was previously known as Marathon Patent Group, which is the parent company of Uniloc, a well known "patent troll company". Essentially what the company does is sue other companies for patent infringement, which is why they are called a patent troll. However the parent company is now known for being one of the largest Bitcoin Miners, and one of the largest public holders of Bitcoin. MARA is a $3B company, is up 190% YTD, and 3228% over the past 12 months.
MARA's Bitcoin Holdings Value Based on Price per Coin:
#4 Square Inc - $SQ
Square Inc, ticker symbol SQ, the 4th largest publicly traded company to hold Bitcoin, is a holder of over 8 Thousand Bitcoin. Square is mostly known for their mobile payment platform, which allows you to place their Square reader in the headphone jack of an iPhone, and use the reader to accept credit card payments directly from your phone! Since then Square has expanded to POS Systems for small and large businesses, and created the wildly popular money transfer app called Cash App! Cash App also now allows you to buy shares of stock, including fractional shares for as little as $1 or $10 for recurring purchases. You can also buy Bitcoin in Cash App as well! The CEO of Square, Jack Dorsey, is also the CEO of Twitter. Square is a $111B company, is up 10% YTD, and 112% over the past 12 months.
Square's Bitcoin Holdings Value Based on Price per Coin:
#3 Tesla - $TSLA
Now we're moving into the Top 3, and each of these companies owns more than all of the previous companies combined! The third largest holder of Bitcoin for a publicly traded company is Tesla, ticker symbol TSLA, with over 43 Thousand Bitcoin! Tesla is mostly known as being the most popular and well-known Electric vehicle. They are seen as the leaders in the movement to Electric vehicles, as well as technology behind driverless cars. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, recently jumped on the Bitcoin train in 2020 after having a conversation via Twitter with the CEO of the #2 Company on this list. And if you were to look at the stock chart of both of these companies, their chart looks almost identical. Tesla is a $654B company, is down 3.79% YTD, but up 180% over the past 12 months.
Tesla's Bitcoin Holdings Value Based on Price per Coin:
#2 Microstrategy - $MSTR
Which takes us to number 2. If you were to add up all the Bitcoin held by all of the companies mentioned so far in this video, it would still be less than what this company holds. Microstrategy, ticker symbol MSTR, currently holds 105 Thousand Bitcoin! Nearly 2.5X that of Tesla. Outside of being the largest holder of Bitcoin for any publicly traded Business, Microstrategy is a provider of enterprise analytics software and services. The CEO Michael Saylor decided in 2020 that he would use the companies cash on hand, as well as borrow additional cash by issuing Bonds, to build up this treasure chest of Bitcoin. He believes that holding Bitcoin is better than holding Cash, because we know that cash will be worth less a year from now, and every year in the future, due to inflation. Bitcoin however can stay the same or grow in value, although It can also lose value. Given his average holdings of Bitcoin are a little above $25K per Bitcoin at the moment, his strategy has returned over 20% given a $30K value of Bitcoin. MSTR is a $6B company, is up 63% YTD, and up 441% over the past 12 months.
Microstrategy's Bitcoin Holdings Value Based on Price per Coin:
#1 Grayscale Bitcoin Trust - $GBTC
Last but not least, is a non-operating business, an ETF called Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ticker symbol GBTC, which currently holds 607 Thousand Bitcoins! This ETF is available on many brokerages, but not all. It is currently the closest thing to directly owning Bitcoin, that you can get within the Stock Market. Due to this the volatility, the ups and downs, of this ETF are very similar to Bitcoin. It does not mirror bitcoin exactly, as at times you may either purchase GBTC at a discount or a premium compared to directly purchasing Bitcoin, but it's the closest you're going to get in a publicly traded stock at this time. GBTC's market cap is $20B, is down 18% YTD, but up 187% over the past 12 months. Just last week Morgan Stanley purchased over 28K shares of GBTC.
Grayscale Bitcoin Holdings Value Based on Price per Coin:
However there may be more options on the way later this year. Speaking of which, here are a few bonus details for current and potentially future ways you can benefit from the gains of Bitcoin. Bonus - ARK Invest: Cathie Wood
Recently Cathie Woods, the CEO of Ark Invest, submitted an application to create her own Bitcoin ETF which will likely be similar to $GBTC. If approved, the ticker symbol for her Bitcoin ETF will be $ARKB. Approval or Denial is expected before the end of this year. But right now you can invest in Cathie Woods Ark Innovation ETF, ticker symbol $ARKW. This ETF holds 48 different Internet and Technology related stocks, of which includes Coinbase, Square, Tesla, and Grayscale Bitcoin Trust. That's right, you can own 4 of the top 6 companies who hold Bitcoin, just by owning the ARKW ETF from Ark Invest. These 4 stocks are all in the Top 12 Holdings of the ETF, and account for 21.82% of the total ARKW Holdings as of June 25th 2020. ARKW is only up 2.96% through the first half of 2021, but is up 71% over the past 12 months.
Many Alternative Options
There you have it, 7 different ways to own Bitcoin and benefit from the rise of Bitcoin without creating a Digital Wallet or opening an account with a Cryptocurrency Exchange. If you're familiar with how to invest in the stock market, and don't want to take the time to learn how to buy Bitcoin directly, or don't want to take direct risk yourself, owning the stocks mentioned in this video is a great alternative which also allows you to minimize direct risk in ownership.
You also get the added benefit of growth from those stocks primary sources of revenue, which may smooth out the ride and lower volatility in comparison to the price moves of Bitcoin. However if you are interested in directly purchasing Bitcoin, and earning some interest on your holdings, checkout my referral links for Coinbase and BlockFi to open an interest bearing Cryptocurrency wallet! What do you think about this alternate strategy to benefit from Bitcoin through publicly traded stocks? Would you rather own Bitcoin directly, own a Bitcoin ETF, or own a company which holds Bitcoin as a proxy way of investing in Bitcoin? Which company, either on this list or not, do you think will become the next Billion Dollar Buyer of Bitcoin? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Comments
|