The question of when a Fortune 500 technology giant will move Bitcoin onto its balance sheet took center stage at Bitcoin 2025 after Strive Asset Management chief executive Matt Cole, standing before thousands in Las Vegas, dialed Meta Platforms chief executive Mark Zuckerberg and—when the call went unanswered—left a voice message urging him to convert a slice of Meta’s $61 billion cash hoard into Bitcoin.
Speaking to thousands of attendees in Las Vegas, Cole argued that the social-media and AI powerhouse is exposing shareholders to avoidable monetary debasement by keeping tens of billions of dollars parked in cash and short-term US Treasuries. “The case for putting Bitcoin on your corporate balance sheet has never been stronger,” he said, noting that Bitcoin’s market capitalization has surpassed two trillion dollars.
Cole linked the monetary argument to accelerating advances in artificial intelligence, warning that the technology threatens to reshuffle the S&P 500 as thoroughly as the internet did two decades ago. “Over a period of 30 years there was a 50 percent turnover in the S&P 500,” he reminded the audience.
“Our belief is that there will be a similar turnover because of AI disruption in the next 10 years. While I do not believe Meta will fall out of the S&P 500, my belief is that Meta has the opportunity to actually be the largest, or maybe the second-largest, corporation in America, if you get this right. Lean into AI innovation, but also look at the balance-sheet side of the equation.”
He closed the call by referencing Zuckerberg’s much-publicized pet goat: “You’ve already taken step one. You’ve named your goat Bitcoin. My ask is that you take step two and adopt a bold corporate Bitcoin treasury approach and vote yes on proposal number 13.”
In a follow-up post he argued that a Meta or Microsoft allocation would carry far greater symbolic weight than earlier moves by smaller firms: “If a Meta or Microsoft adds btc to balance sheet it will arguably have bigger impact than all the smaller cos doing it, kinda like when Tom Hanks got COVID, everyone was like ‘oh sht Tom Hanks got it.’”
When a user replied that Tesla “already broke the ice, 4 years ago,” Balchunas conceded the point but added, “yes but kinda doesn’t count as of now, hard to explain but you know what I’m saying.”
Skeptics pushed back just as quickly. Larry Tabb, head of market-structure research at Bloomberg Intelligence, wrote: “What? Why? They don’t pay folks in BTC, they don’t buy stuff w/BTC, it doesn’t earn a return, they can’t use it to do anything. Only reason for a corporate to buy BTC would be for investment.” Tabb compared the idea to purchasing an S&P 500 ETF with no dividend capture, concluding that management should either pursue a formal investment mandate or return idle capital to shareholders.
Balchunas countered that the motive would indeed be “shareholder value,” leaving the market to judge whether the trade-off is worthwhile: “Time will tell.”
Strive’s shareholder proposal will come to a vote at Meta’s upcoming annual meeting. Cole’s gambit was designed to raise the political cost of inaction for Meta’s board. Notably, Meta’s board has recommended against it and has not commented publicly on Cole’s Las Vegas broadside.
At press time, BTC traded at $107,948.
