Canadian crypto firm Matador Technologies announced on Monday, Dec. 23, the integration of Bitcoin as a reserve asset.
The publicly traded firm joins Michael Saylors’s MicroStrategy and Japanese Metaplanet in Bitcoin accumulation in its strategy. Interestingly, Matador Technologies and Metaplanet share a board member.
The Canadian digital assets firm revealed plans to purchase Bitcoin worth $4.5 million to leverage the digital cold into its treasury reserve asset.
Matador Technologies Embraces Bitcoin
Although little known relative to other BTC-buying entities, Matador Technologies is publicly listed in the TSX Venture Exchange under the MATA ticker. The firm seeks to expand Bitcoin’s positioning in the application layer for real-world assets (RWAs).
Before the announcement on Monday, the firm had actively developed a platform on the Bitcoin network to facilitate users’ purchasing and trading of digital representations of gold. Per the press release, the crypto firm targeted to launch the platform early next year, which is now preceded by the decision to add BTC to its treasury reserve asset.
Reflecting on its journey shows the crypto company formerly operated under Scaling Capital 1 name later changed and debuted trading under its new name. Since the platform’s Dec. 17 debut on the TSX Venture Exchange, the stock price has dipped, though it is currently at 3.45% intraday gain, to change hands at $0.60 per MarketWatch data.
Bitcoin Accumulation as Treasury Reserve Asset
The US’s approval of Bitcoin-focused exchange-traded funds (ETFs) has seen the adoption of BTC accelerate. The practice is attributed to software and business intelligence platform MicroStrategy since it unveiled its Bitcoin purchase in 2020. Today, it has amassed over $41 billion worth of BTC, edging over other major tech entities, including Tesla, that have adopted the asset onto balance sheets.
With Microsoft declining the initiative presented by Michael Saylor, other companies that adopt BTC into their balance sheet are relatively small. Given its $49.5M market capitalization, the Canadian firm (MATA) undoubtedly is within this group.
Matador’s Path to BTC Reserve
Matador aims to release a mobile-based application that allows users to acquire, sell, and store gold 24/7. Additionally, the firm harbors plans to establish a portfolio of precious metal products.
Matador disclosed on Monday that its board of directors unanimously approved the pursuit of Bitcoin buying endeavors. The statement illustrated plans by Matador to ditch Canada’s official currency for the US dollar for its cash balances.
Meanwhile, Matador confessed to assessing its platform’s viability on Solana and Ethereum, though it settled on Bitcoin as the secure and stable network. It clarified that the physical gold serves to back the digital representations that will remain at the Royal Canadian Mint, a wholly owned corporation by the Canadian government.
A statement by Matador President Sunny Ray affirmed the management and board’s conviction that Bitcoin usage acceptance will future-proof its treasury. He added that the move supports the mission to explore BTC as the platform for its gold-based products.
Rumble and Metaplanet Bitcoin Strategy
Matador is among firms that recently adopted BTC, including Rumble (RUM), which rivals YouTube as a conservative-leaning streaming platform. Rumble’s chief executive, Chris Pavlovski, revealed the board greenlit in late November to the corporate treasury diversification strategy. It plans to allocate some excess cash reserves to buy Bitcoin.
Japanese investment firm Metaplanet has recently scaled its BTC acquisitions with Bitcoin Treasuries data to amass 1,762 Bitcoin valued at $172.47 million since the initial purchase in April this year.
Matador Technologies and Metaplanet have a critical overlap, where the Bitcoin Magazine parent BTC Inc., which is involved in hosting Bitcoin conferences, runs an investment arm called UTXO Management. Interestingly, its co-founder, Tyler Evans, sits on Matador and Metaplanet boards and supports the BTC treasury reserve.