Shareholders of Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta voted down a proposal to assess adding Bitcoin to the company’s treasury during its annual meeting this week. The results, shared by Phoenix News on Friday, also showed that about 8.9 million shares were abstentions, and nearly 205 million shares were broker non-votes. The proposal, submitted by investor Ethan Peck, representing the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR), asked Meta to evaluate whether converting a portion of its cash and bond holdings into Bitcoin would better preserve shareholder value.
As of September 30, 2024, Meta had $72 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities, which the proposal claims are being eroded by inflation and low returns. The measure presents Bitcoin, with its fixed supply and strong past performance compared to bonds, as a more reliable long-term store of value. The filing also pointed to increased momentum in institutional Bitcoin adoption, including Strategy’s aggressive Bitcoin acquisitions, BlackRock’s endorsement of a 2% Bitcoin allocation, and speculation about potential US federal and state-level Bitcoin reserves in 2025.
Furthermore, it noted that Meta’s leadership has shown informal signals of interest. Zuckerberg famously named his goats “Bitcoin” and “Max,” and board member Marc Andreessen serves on the board of Coinbase. However, Meta’s board of directors opposed the resolution, calling it unnecessary. Responding to the proposal, the company’s board stated that Meta already has a robust treasury management process, which prioritizes capital preservation and liquidity to support operations.
The board added that Meta regularly evaluates a broad range of investable assets and did not see a need for a separate assessment focused on Bitcoin. “While we are not opining on the merits of cryptocy investments compared to other assets, we believe the requested assessment is unnecessary given our existing processes to manage our corporate treasury,” Meta’s board of directors noted in a statement.
The NCPPR has urged several major corporations, including Microsoft and Amazon, to adopt Bitcoin as a treasury asset. However, none of these efforts have been successful to date. In December 2024, Microsoft shareholders rejected an NCPPR-backed proposal that called for adding Bitcoin to the company’s balance sheet as a way to diversify profits and mitigate financial risks.
Still, a growing number of publicly traded firms are embracing Bitcoin in their treasury strategies. There’s also a rising trend of industry players and major corporations collaborating to launch Bitcoin-focused ventures — companies dedicated to accumulating Bitcoin and building infrastructure around it. While Bitcoin may not be on Meta’s immediate agenda, the company appears to be showing renewed interest in stablecoins, alongside its ongoing push into AI.
According to Forbes, Meta has explored integrating stablecoins into its platforms for global payouts, holding early-stage discussions with crypto infrastructure firms. This would mark Meta’s re-entry into the crypto space after its exit from the sector following regulatory setbacks with its Diem project. This initial effort focused on leveraging stablecoins for cross-border payments, aiming to provide a cheaper, faster alternative to traditional financial systems.
Coinbase has confirmed that customer contact information and limited transaction data were exposed following a…
Utah Attorney General Derek Brown has filed 14 criminal charges against prediction market platform Kalshi…
Polygon Labs and the Solana Foundation have announced a major partnership to connect Solana's rapidly…
South Korean cryptocy exchange Bithumb has confirmed a cybersecurity breach that exposed sensitive personal information…
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has confirmed that an artificial intelligence agent developed by…
Google Cloud has introduced Google Multi-Party Compute (MPC), a new cryptocy custody security platform designed…