The top 10 companies that hold the most Bitcoin in the world — Microstrategy, Tesla, and others

• Microstrategy, the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, just sold off a part of the company to buy up another 5,500 of the cryptocurrency.
  
• Companies are attracted to the stability of bitcoin, as an asset to hold.
  
• Here’s a quick look at the top 10 known bitcoin hoarders in the world — they alone have 191,000 Bitcoin in their pockets, valued at $8.87 billion, and have seen returns of over 50%.
  

MicroStrategy, the IT services firm with crypto enthusiast Michael Saylor at the helm, just sold off a part of the company to buy another 5,050 Bitcoin this month to bring its total stash of the cryptocurrency to $5.1 billion. It was already the largest corporate Bitcoin holder in the world, even ahead of Elon Musk’s Tesla. The new purchase only solidifies its lead in the world of crypto.


Relatively stable among cryptocurrency, the value of Bitcoin has been rising for almost a decade. Until recently, avid Bitcoin miners and individuals were the largest holders of this cryptocurrency. But companies with large balance sheets have been tipping the scales. Treating Bitcoin at par with cash-in-hand and as an asset, these firms are now the largest ‘known’ hoarders of the world’s oldest cryptocurrency.

MicroStrategy’s 2020 revenue of half a billion dollars was dwarfed by its Bitcoin asset growth of two billion dollars. The company’s strategy of buying Bitcoin proved to be so successful for its balance sheet, that it moved beyond just putting its cash into bitcoin when it sold a portion of company shares to fund its Bitcoin purchases, according to statements it filed with regulators at the US SEC.

Becoming a handy alternative to holding bitcoin directly, MicroStrategy got the attention of trillion-dollar asset manager Capital International Group, who bought a 12.2% stake in them.

MicroStrategy is not alone in being bullish on Bitcoin and using the hype around the cryptocurrency to cushion its bottom line - there are many more companies who have invested millions of dollars to hold Bitcoin and Ether in company coffers.


While the above treasure troves are impressive, these values could have been even higher if not for a price correction in the crypto market over the past week. Almost all of the top ten currencies fell in value - Bitcoin lost 12.2% and Ethereum lost 15% in value — the other leading coins in the market weren’t spared either. However, the supply characteristics of Bitcoin and its history suggest it could retain value in the long run.