[NEWS] US think tank proposes financial strategy for Amazon to hold Bitcoin

On the 6th, the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR), a conservative think tank, proposed a financial strategy to Amazon to hold part of its assets in Bitcoin (BTC). NCPPR is calling for the shareholder proposal to be taken up as an agenda item at the shareholders' meeting in April next year.

The proposal argues that Amazon should hold part of its assets, at least 5%, in Bitcoin.

According to the proposal, as of September 30th of this year, Amazon's total assets were $585 billion (approximately 87 trillion yen), of which $88 billion (approximately 13 trillion yen) consisted of securities such as cash, cash equivalents, U.S. Treasury bonds, foreign government bonds, and corporate bonds. However, the dollar's value has been continuously declining and bond yields are lower than the actual inflation rate, so Amazon explains that simply holding these assets is not enough to protect billions of dollars of shareholder value. Against this background, it argues that Amazon should consider adding assets that will rise in value more than bonds to its financial strategy, even if they are more volatile than bonds in the short term.

The factor that led to this proposal is the Bitcoin holding strategy developed by MicroStrategy, a US company. MicroStrategy has been buying Bitcoin frequently and currently holds 402,100 BTC. The average acquisition price is $58,129 (approximately 8.73 million yen), and the company has an unrealized gain of about $40,000 (approximately 6 million yen) per BTC.

NCPPR points out that the price of Bitcoin has risen 131% year-on-year, exceeding the profits from corporate bonds by 126%. It also states that the price of Bitcoin has risen 1,246% over the past five years, outperforming corporate bonds by 1,242%.

In addition, it said that the stock price of MicroStrategy, which develops the Bitcoin holding strategy, has outperformed Amazon's stock price by 537%, and urged the company to take action to maximize shareholder value.

NCPPR made a similar recommendation to Microsoft in October this year. Microsoft shareholders are scheduled to vote on the proposed Bitcoin financial strategy on the 10th of this month.

In its recommendation to Amazon, NCPPR stated, "Bitcoin adoption by institutional investors and companies is becoming increasingly common. More publicly traded companies, such as Tesla and Block, are adding Bitcoin to their balance sheets," expressing a sense of crisis about missing out on this trend.

President-elect Trump, who will take office on the 20th of next year, has proposed that the U.S. government hold Bitcoin, which, if realized, is likely to have a major impact on the cryptocurrency market.

Reference: Proposal
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