Medical device company Semler Scientific announced it purchased an additional 83 Bitcoin for $5 million in cash. This latest buy expands Semler’s total Bitcoin holdings to 1,012 BTC acquired for $68 million.

JUST IN: 🇺🇸 Public Company Semler Scientific buys another 83 #Bitcoin worth $5 million. pic.twitter.com/bQszFQcOF4

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) August 26, 2024

The move comes as Semler embraces a strategy of adding Bitcoin to its balance sheet. In May, the company invested $40 million to purchase 654 BTC in its first major embrace of Bitcoin. Semler said it views Bitcoin as its primary treasury asset.

In June, Semler announced another $17 million Bitcoin acquisition of 247 BTC and said it planned to raise up to $150 million through an equity program to further boost its Bitcoin holdings. Earlier this month, they bought an additional 101 Bitcoin worth $6 million. 

“Semler remains focused on our two strategies of expanding our healthcare business and acquiring and holding Bitcoin,” said CEO Doug Murphy-Chutorian in June. “We will continue to pursue our strategy of purchasing Bitcoins with cash.”

Semler appears to be following MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin treasury playbook. Since 2020, MicroStrategy has purchased over 225,000 bitcoins worth billions of dollars. Its Bitcoin bets have increased the company’s enterprise value dramatically.

Other public companies, such as MARA, Metaplanet, and others, have also added Bitcoin to their balance sheets. More firms are realizing the potential benefits of holding Bitcoin as a reserve asset and hedge against inflation.

Marathon Digital Holdings, one of the largest publicly traded Bitcoin miners, purchased $249 million more worth of Bitcoin. This latest acquisition expands Marathon’s corporate bitcoin treasury to over 25,000 BTC.

JUST IN: 🇺🇸 Marathon Digital Holdings buys 4144 #Bitcoin worth $249 million.
pic.twitter.com/PnMm9RLuev

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) August 14, 2024

On August 12th, Marathon announced a $250 million convertible note offering to raise funds for Bitcoin purchases. The notes were met with strong demand, allowing Marathon to upsize the deal to $300 million.

The company then used $249 million of the proceeds to accumulate 4,144 additional Bitcoin at an average price of $59,500 per Bitcoin. This boosts Marathon’s Bitcoin reserves to over 25,000 BTC worth nearly $1.5 billion.

In July, Marathon bought $100 million of Bitcoin on the open market as part of its long-term “hodl” strategy. The Nasdaq-listed miner aims to hold newly mined coins rather than sell them.

Marathon is aggressively expanding its Bitcoin stash by mimicking MicroStrategy’s corporate playbook. Other firms, such as Semler Scientific and Metaplanet, are also raising money in debt markets to buy more Bitcoin and ride its adoption curve. 

These savvy public companies are using the fiat system’s cheap lending rates to accumulate scarce Bitcoin. This demonstrates Bitcoin’s growing conviction that it is the best strategic reserve asset for public companies. 

Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) has announced plans to introduce legislation directing the U.S. government to accumulate 1 million Bitcoin, which would be worth over $68 billion at current prices.

Speaking at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville, Lummis said the bill would have the U.S. Treasury purchase Bitcoin over a 5-year period as a strategic reserve asset to fortify the dollar. She likened it to the government’s strategic petroleum reserve.

“We know from modelling the numbers and past experience with Bitcoin that it is capable of being an absolute game changer for the mess the United States has gotten itself into with its debt and its deficits,” says Lummis.

The senator said the government would self-custody the Bitcoin across various geographic locations. The assets could only be used to pay down the national debt and would need to be held for at least 20 years.

Lummis has been one of the leading Bitcoin advocates in Congress. She believes acquiring Bitcoin will help stabilize the dollar’s value and counter inflation. The national debt recently surpassed $35 trillion.

Her proposal follows former President Donald Trump’s endorsing the idea of a U.S. Bitcoin reserve at the Nashville conference. Trump said he would never sell any of the government’s 210,000 bitcoin holdings.

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also called for purchasing 500 bitcoins daily until accumulating a 4 million Bitcoin reserve.

While Lummis admits her legislation is unlikely to pass before the 2024 elections, she believes the growing political interest in Bitcoin reserves reflects a paradigm shift. Bitcoin has become a major campaign issue, with both parties courting the burgeoning industry.

Lummis bill represents the most aggressive government adoption of Bitcoin proposed yet. Though its prospects remain uncertain, the move would legitimize Bitcoin as an economic asset. 

Lummis said she is “optimistic” that other Bitcoin-focused bills could still pass this year as Bitcoin moves closer to the political mainstream.