Projections for Bitcoin’s price to hit the momentous $100,000 milestone are looking increasingly promising as corporate leaders continue to embrace the digital currency. Perhaps the most prominent development comes from multinational companies both adding Bitcoin to their own balance sheets and accepting it as a form of payment from customers. These include digital payments company Square (whose Cash App has been accepting Bitcoin since 2018) and business intelligence company Microstrategy, which purchased more than $1B worth of Bitcoin in 2020. Among the most common reasons for corporations embracing Bitcoin are financial empowerment for their customers, hedging against inflation, and a belief that crypto is the future of finance, prompting early adoption with a long-term commitment.

Financial Empowerment

The city of Jackson, Tennessee has announced plans to integrate cryptocurrency, with Mayor Scott Conger exploring options to pay employees in digital currency and even mine Bitcoin to hold it on the city's balance sheet. He proclaimed in a recent tweet, “Utilizing dollar cost averaging in appreciating assets, like #cryptocurrency is one way we bridge the wealth gap and financially empower people.”

Hedging Against Inflation

Nexon, the South Korean-Japanese video game publishing giant, invested $100 million into Bitcoin to hold as a hedge against inflation, as the investment provides security against decreases in purchasing power. The company predicts that this move will protect their purchasing power in the event of a potential currency debasement.

Owen Mahoney, president and CEO of Nexon, stated: “Our purchase of Bitcoin reflects a disciplined strategy for protecting shareholder value and for maintaining the purchasing power of our cash assets.” Further discussing the benefits of Bitcoin, he added, “In the current economic environment, we believe Bitcoin offers long-term stability and liquidity while maintaining the value of our cash for future investments.”

Meeting Consumer Demand for Crypto Payments

Commercial real estate giant WeWork has also announced plans to hold Bitcoin on its balance sheet. This will occur in tandem with the company accepting cryptocurrency as payment for their services, fulfilled through a new partnership with crypto payment service platform BitPay. “When we think about the workplace of the future and business, we have to consider cryptocurrency a central part of that conversation,” said WeWork chairman Marcelo Claure, “Cryptocurrency helps build a stronger global economy.”

Financial Services giant Mastercard announced plans in early 2021 to support cryptocurrencies directly on their platforms and offer a crypto rewards credit card to the public. Their wide reach will create ripples for public acceptance and the adoption of Bitcoin in daily life.

Palantir Technologies, an American big data analytics company that counts the United States Department of Defense and the United States Intelligence Community (USIC) as its top two clients, has also recently announced that they will soon accept Bitcoin as payment for their services. Chief Financial Officer David Glazer stated that they are considering taking this one step further by including Bitcoin on their balance sheet. Due to large amounts of cash on hand, this would be a strategic move up from use of a treasury, employing a long-term planning perspective.

With speculation that Amazon may soon support payments with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, investors are gearing up for the impact this would have on global crypto adoption and the prices of supported coins. This hypothesis stems from the creation of a new department labelled ‘Digital and Emerging Payments’, suggesting that the behemoth technology company is already well underway in developing these services.

How to Capitalize on these Advancements

“We’re big bulls,” said Geoff Morphy, President of Bitfarms, “and when you can mine a Bitcoin for under $10,000 and it’s currently in the market at between $50,000 and $60,000, what we enjoy doing is putting it on the balance sheet and then because that’s effectively our adjusted EBITDA, we get the compounding feature of not just having the Bitcoin on our balance sheet from a low cost, but we basically embed our profit in there as well to compound it.”

However, this opportunity is not exclusive to huge corporations and their CEOs. Individual miners can purchase mining rigs and earn a substantial profit from Bitcoin mining. As Bitcoin prices are predicted to increase due to adoption from large, publicly traded companies and booming cities, the time to mine is now. These mainstream developments have increased the safety and reliability of mining return on investment as Bitcoin continues to establish deep roots in both the business and government worlds. Participating in a mining pool ensures steady profits and minimizes financial risk: apply today with Wattum to receive 25% off the initial fee for ViaBTC’s globally ranked mining pool and join global business leaders in capitalizing on future increases in the market for Bitcoin.