Is Spirit Blockchain Capital trying to become the MicroStrategy of Dogecoin?
According to CEO Lewis Bateman, the digital asset manager’s acquisition of Dogecoin Holdings—first revealed in October, with more details announced last week—was partly inspired by MicroStrategy's Bitcoin-buying playbook. But the Canadian firm says it has bigger plans than just leveraging the $48 billion meme coin as a treasury reserve asset.
“We are going to hold a significant balance sheet of Dogecoin over the coming months and coming years,” Bateman told Decrypt in an interview on Friday. “But we also want to build out the ecosystem. We want to institutionalize that.”
According to a Spirit press release, Dogecoin Holdings was founded by a group of Dogecoin supporters, and the company’s portfolio includes “a range of digital assets, intellectual property, and strategic partnerships” that dovetail with its team’s technical know-how.
In a separate statement, Spirit said that the acquisition covers “ETF platform technology for Dogecoin,” a “Dogecoin payment gateway” that’s in development, and $383,000 in cash.
Operating as a private company, Bateman said that Dogecoin Holdings doesn’t have a website, nor has it issued any press releases. According to British Columbia’s Registrar of Companies, Dogecoin Holdings was incorporated in April. The deal “was presented only [in] the last few months,” Bateman said, adding that the acquisition has yet to be formalized.
Alongside Donald Trump’s White House victory, the price of Dogecoin has skyrocketed 104% over the past week to $0.32 on Monday. Serving as one of the president-elect’s primary campaign surrogates, Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s proposed Department of Governmental Efficiency (D.O.G.E.) has contributed to a wave of renewed interest surrounding his “fav cryptocurrency.”
While Musk’s proposed department has been billed as a way to streamline government spending, it’s still unclear what role he might play in Trump’s administration after pumping $130 million into the election cycle to support the Republican candidate.
Meanwhile, little-known companies like Spirit are tying themselves to Dogecoin’s comeback, promising to launch products that advance the asset that was originally created as a goof over a decade ago. Speaking broadly, Bateman said Spirit will support Dogecoin’s ecosystem.
“Everyone just thought it was a joke, but it actually has some meaningful underlying abilities that are unique,” Bateman said of Dogecoin. “It's not some very small, little, esoteric altcoin.”
Among the products that Spirit has its eye on, Bateman said they include those enabling Dogecoin to be better used as a form of payment. And even though the company is positioning itself as a publicly-traded proxy giving investors Dogecoin exposure, Bateman said that Spirit will also try to launch an exchange-traded product that offers Dogecoin spot exposure.
When asked about the dollar value of Dogecoin Holdings’ stash, Bateman declined to comment, pointing to an agreement that hasn’t yet been finalized with the Canadian Securities Exchange. Still, Bateman said Monday that Spirit has already “begun acquiring a position” in Dogecoin.
Before spot Bitcoin ETFs became a multi-billion-dollar hit on Wall Street, MicroStrategy embarked on a quest to become one of the asset’s largest corporate holders. Announcing its latest acquisition on Monday, the company now holds 279,420 Bitcoin worth about $23.7 billion as of this writing.
Rising 578% to $340 over the past year, MicroStrategy’s stock price has surged as the company leverages equity and debt to purchase as much Bitcoin as it can. And last month, MicroStrategy unveiled a $42 billion plan to acquire even more Bitcoin in the coming years.
Spirit isn’t the first company to take a page out of the playbook pioneered by MicroStrategy co-founder and Executive Chairman Michael Saylor. The Tokyo-listed investment firm Metaplanet, for example, has been following in MicroStrategy’s footsteps this year while amassing a multi-million dollar stash of Bitcoin of its own.
Listed on the Canadian Securities and Exchange, Spirit shares have climbed 120% over the past week to $0.165 from $0.075. But as far as comparisons to Saylor goes, Bateman said that Spirit is trying to forge a path with Dogecoin of its own.
“I don’t want [it] to feel like we’re mimicking him,” Bateman said of Saylor. “We’re complementing what he’s started from a momentum perspective.”
While Bateman said that Spirit can’t disclose too many details about the deal until the acquisition becomes official, he said that bringing Dogecoin onto the company’s balance sheet will provide clear transparency and trust to markets under Canadian regulators.
“I don't look good in an orange jumpsuit, nor do I ever want to be in an orange jumpsuit,” Bateman said. “I want to build a real legacy with real auditability, with real infrastructure behind it, and I think we have that ability right now.”
Edited by Andrew Hayward