Semler Scientific Invests Heavily in Bitcoin

Plus Blackrock’s IBIT Becomes Largest Bitcoin Fund

Author

Nathaniel Whittemore
May 29, 2024

The Breakdown First Five - Wednesday, May 29, 2024

Welcome back to The Breakdown First Five — the 5 most interesting and/or important stories in bitcoin, crypto, and markets to start your day.

Semler Scientific Invests Heavily in Bitcoin

5. Crypto Vote Rising

New polling from Grayscale and The Harris Poll found that crypto policy is increasingly relevant for voters. The poll repeats a similar survey from late last year, showing that more and more voters are thinking crypto when they cast their ballot. The poll found that a third of voters consider crypto when choosing between candidates. Respondents were split evenly on which party they think will be better on crypto policy. 

4. Riot Takeover

Riot Platforms is staging a hostile takeover of Bitfarms after a private deal was rejected. Riot has purchased a 10% stake and is offering to buy all outstanding shares at $2.30. Bitfarms is currently in the midst of a nasty executive shakeup, with former CEO Geoffry Morphy suing the firm for breach of contract and wrongful termination. This acquisition, should it go ahead, would make Riot the largest publicly traded Bitcoin miner. 

3. SEC Slapped with Sanctions

The Debt Box scandal has resolved with the court ordering that the SEC pay $1.75M in legal and receivership fees. Almost every fee was accepted as appropriate. The case was also dismissed without prejudice, meaning the SEC is able to refile at a later date. This case involved the SEC presenting misleading evidence in what the judge called a “gross abuse of power.” 

2. IBIT Largest Bitcoin ETF

Blackrock’s IBIT has become the largest Bitcoin fund in the world, overtaking GBTC at around $20B in AUM. Last week saw strong inflows across all products, with $1B being added to the Bitcoin ETFs. Even GBTC outflows had slowed to a trickle, but Monday’s $100M outflow sealed the deal and positioned Blackrock as the largest fund. Blackrock also disclosed that IBIT has been added as a small allocation to a pair of fixed income ETFs.

1. Unassuming Company Buys Bitcoin

A boring medical device company called Semler Scientific has taken a page out of the Saylor playbook and bought $40M worth of Bitcoin. The firm says they are adopting a Bitcoin treasury strategy, stating that Bitcoin represents “the best use of our excess cash.” This buy is almost two-thirds of cash on hand for the profitable small cap company. Markets rewarded the move with a 25% pump, adding $53M to the market cap in a single day.