German Cannabis Company Bets on Bitcoin Instead of the Euro

Munich-based SynBiotic SE has announced it is going to hedge against the devaluation of the Euro by investing in Bitcoin. This makes it the first publicly traded company in Germany within the cannabis sector.

In a statement, the company said the decision wasn’t based on price speculation but rather on a plan to hedge against declining fiat currency.

“Bitcoin is the exact antithesis of traditional currencies: its volume is limited to 21 million units. This limit is fixed and inviolable, which the cryptocurrency‘s decentralized organization and the blockchain‘s tamper-proof nature in turn guarantees,” said SynBiotic SE CEO Lars Müller.

Citing concerns about a massive devaluation of fiat money, the company says it has more long-term confidence in Bitcoin than in fiat. Hard currencies like the Euro or the US Dollar, it says, are not only centralized, but also influenced by politicians who “can expand the money supply immeasurably.”

According to Müller, the cannabis industry in particular has had very positive experiences with using Bitcoin for payments, with several SynBiotic subsidiaries already accepting cryptocurrency.

SynBiotic’s stock is traded on Düsseldorf Stock Exchange as well as on Deutsche Börse’s Xetra electronic trading platform and saw an uptick following the announcement, reaching a three-week high at €27.00 ($32.58) on Tuesday before the market’s close.

With its Bitcoin investment, SynBiotic SE is following the example of MicroStrategy and other big public companies that made a bet on the flagship cryptocurrency in recent months.

However, it’s not the first publicly traded company in Germany that’s put its money in Bitcoin. Bitcoin Group SE, which is also traded on Xetra, invested in Bitcoin in the past and increased its crypto holdings to €100 million ($120.6 million) in January 2021.

Earlier this month, London-based asset manager Ruffer Investment announced the company made more than $750 million from its last year’s Bitcoin investment. Having sold some of its gains, it kept onto the remaining $700 million—which is likely above $1 billion now, due to Bitcoin’s recent price surge.