Hong-Kong tech firm Meitu has taken the entire value of its cryptocurrency holdings to approximately $100 million, following the company disclosed purchasing an extra $10 million worth of Bitcoin (BTC) on April 8.
Meitu HK, the wholly-owned Hong-Kong subsidiary of Meitu Inc (incorporated in the Cayman Islands), acquired 175.67798279 units of Bitcoin for a combined price of $10 million, implying that a purchase price of around $57,000 each coin. The buy was reportedly made with existing cash reserves, based on spot prices on the available market.
Throughout the past month, Meitu racked up $90 million worth of cryptocurrency buys , split between Bitcoin and Ether (ETH). Following Thursday’s most up-to-date acquisition, the company has now purchased $49.5 million worth of BTC, and $50.5 million worth of Ethereum.
The firm formerly stated that it could not have made its own earlier purchases without the help of United States-based cryptocurrency market Coinbase. No mention of Coinbase was created in the most recent disclosure, but the exchange was responsible for handling the investments of additional corporate entities, for example MicroStrategy, in the past.
The disclosure laid out the firm’s motives for adding into its Bitcoin holdings, comparing the technology’s potential impact to that of the mobile internet:
“The Board takes the view that blockchain technology has the potential to interrupt both present technology and financial industries, like the manner in which mobile internet has disrupted the PC net and many other offline businesses.”
The disclosure notes Bitcoin’s utility as a store of value, a feature helped by its own limited supply. Also mentioned are its portability and its own position as a hedge against inflation brought on by the competitive money printing practices of central banks.
“A number of these features potentially even provide Bitcoin as a superior form to other alternative stores of value like gold, precious stone and property. Being a different store of value, its price is primarily a part of future demand that is driven by consensus of investors and the general public,” says the disclosure statement.
Publicly listed firms in China run on choppy waters when creating cryptocurrency investments. China recognizes cryptocurrencies as commodities but not as usable currencies. Their trade with fiat money is illegal, but because of their commodity status, some have indicated cryptocurrencies could nevertheless be traded with each other in the exact same fashion as other commodities, in what remains a hazy situation from the far east.
