Author: Ada
On December 5, 2024, Bit reached $100,000, and the Crypto market was filled with cheers and celebrations. Nano Labs (Nasdaq:NA) founder Kongjianping's long-standing prediction about Bit reaching $100,000 was validated on this day.
On the same day, Nano Labs announced that it would open a trading account on the licensed Hong Kong exchange HashKey Exchange and plans to invest $50 million in Bit virtual assets. Nano Labs' stock price also rose from $6 per share in early November to nearly $13 per share at the close on December 5.
In an interview with MetaEra, Kongjianping stated that Bit has now entered a new stage, transitioning from a retail investment target to a reserve asset for some institutions or governments. He believes that the risk for listed companies to hold Bit has now reached an acceptable level and can bring relatively good returns. This is one of the motivations for Nano Labs to announce its Bit investment. "We will hold Bit for the long term," Kongjianping said.
Bit has surged over 140% so far this year. Trump's victory in the US election and his friendly attitude towards the Crypto industry have become the catalysts for this round of the big rally. Behind the massive influence and discussion, the boundaries of Bit are constantly expanding.
More and more listed companies are configuring Bit as a reserve asset, a trend that is spreading from US companies to Chinese-funded listed companies. According to incomplete statistics, there are currently more than 60 listed companies globally holding different amounts of Bit.
Listed Companies Scramble to Buy Bit
In this global "hoarding wave," the US-listed company MicroStrategy is undoubtedly the pioneer of this wave.
As early as 2020, its founder Michael Saylor announced that Bit would be part of the company's assets. That was also the beginning of MicroStrategy's "Bit strategy."
The "Bit strategy" has brought MicroStrategy double returns in stocks and Bit. So far, its stock price has accumulated a gain of up to 3000%, and its market value has once exceeded $100 billion. With Bit breaking through $100,000, MicroStrategy's total Bit return has reached 63.3% since the beginning of the year.
Driven by the huge economic benefits, many US-listed companies have also begun to emulate MicroStrategy's Bit strategy and use Bit as a reserve asset.
According to Bitcoin Treasuries data, since November, fitness equipment manufacturer Interactive Strength has announced a $5 million investment in Bit; AI company Genius Group has spent $14 million to purchase 153 Bit; medical company Semler Scientific has approved a $15.7 million Bit investment plan, and there are also many other companies such as Rumble, Anixa Biosciences, and LQR House that have joined the Bit investment ranks.
In addition to investing in Bit, e-commerce platform LQR House Inc. (LQR) also accepts Crypto payments on CWSpirits.com, allowing customers to flexibly use digital currencies to purchase alcoholic beverages. As part of this plan, LQR House has adopted a policy to hold up to $10 million in Crypto payments in Bit.
The Bit investment wave has quickly spread to Chinese-funded listed companies.
In addition to Nano Labs mentioned earlier, the US-listed company SOS Ltd has also deployed Bit, announcing a $50 million investment in Bit. Other Chinese-funded listed companies such as Boyaa Interactive, Coolpad Group, Guofuchuangxin, and NetDragon Websoft have also joined the Bit investment ranks.
It is worth mentioning that the Hong Kong-listed company Boyaa Interactive converted the value of 4,948 million US dollars of Ethereum held in reserve into Bit from November 19 to November 28, ultimately obtaining 515 Bit. This decision has made its Bit holdings reach 3,183 Bit, surpassing the previous largest Bit holder in Asia, the Japanese listed company Metaplanet, and being hailed as the "MicroStrategy" of Asia.
According to the latest news from MetaEra, as of December 12, 2024, Nano Labs has accumulated about 360 Bit, with a total value of about $36 million at the current price. According to Coingecko data on December 12, this holding has already ranked 21st among the listed companies holding BTC.
According to Kongjianping's observation, the listed companies currently holding Bit can be divided into three categories: 1) the native Crypto companies or those doing Web3 projects, whose main business includes Crypto-related business; 2) the Crypto Miner ecosystem enterprises, who tend to hold Bit for the Longing term, such as Canaan and The9; 3) some technology, gaming or internet companies that have crossed over to hold Bit as part of their asset portfolio, such as Boyaa Interactive and Meitu.
Kongjianping believes that listed companies holding Bit will be a Longing-term trend. In terms of holding strategies, he stated that Bit should be configured and held without affecting the company's cash flow. "In this way, the short-term fluctuations of Bit will not have a substantial impact on the company's operations," Kongjianping said.
Meanwhile, Nano Labs' strategic reserve of Bit has also been recognized. Recently, Nano Labs also announced a private placement plan, raising a total of $36.25 million, with participants including Fenbushi Inc -US, Longling Capital, and Golden Forest Management Limited.
Hold for the Longing Term or Not?
On the evening of December 4, Meitu issued an announcement on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, stating that it had sold all its Crypto assets, including about 31,000 Ether and 940 Bit, with a profit of about $79.63 million (equivalent to about RMB 571 million).
Meitu's first purchase of Crypto assets was in March 2021. Over the past 3 years, Meitu's investment return in Crypto assets has been about 44%. Although Meitu has made substantial profits from its investments, it has also attracted a lot of controversy.
According to reports from The Paper, many netizens have a negative attitude towards Meitu's purchase of digital currencies. Some analysts also believe that Meitu's short-term behavior is "not its main business" and has a suspicion of speculation.
In Kongjianping's view, whether listed companies configure Bit for short-term speculation or Longing-term allocation, it shows that the market has a hot spot, and essentially it has helped promote the development of the Bit and Web3 track.
Nano Labs tends to hold Bit for the Longing term. "We don't do short-term investments because I'm optimistic about the Longing-term value of Bit," Kongjianping said. "Compared to Gold, Bit aggregates the network effects and liquidity of the whole world, and also has technological attributes. In the past, Gold was the value anchor for the whole world, because in the Industrial Revolution era, everyone needed an equivalent in the global scope. But with the advent of the Information Age, Gold is becoming less and less applicable. In the future, with the arrival of the Digital Age and the AI era, we need a new value anchor, and currently, Bit is the most suitable one. But Bit and Gold are not in a substitution relationship, but a manifestation of value in another dimensional plane."
Currently, the Crypto market is entering a new round of growth. "In the past, there were many challenges, including non-recognition from the government, regulators, and banks, but with Trump's inauguration, the whole world has become more and more friendly to this track," Kongjianping said. "At present, we are facing more cognitive challenges than external challenges."
In the future, as the regulatory framework for virtual assets of various governments is gradually improved, the compliance path for listed companies to hold Bit will also become clearer.
