Healthcare Company Semler Soars After Adopting Bitcoin As Primary Treasury Asset

Healthcare company Semler Scientific (SMLR), known for pursuing remedies to chronic diseases, announced a major shift in its treasury strategy. The company's board of directors adopted Bitcoin as its primary treasury reserve asset, alongside a substantial purchase of 581 Bitcoins for an aggregate amount of $40 million.

"Our bitcoin treasury strategy and purchase of bitcoin underscore our belief that bitcoin is a reliable store of value and a compelling investment," stated Semler Scientific Chairman Eric Semler. "Bitcoin is now a major asset class with more than $1 trillion of market value. We believe it has unique characteristics as a scarce and finite asset that can serve as a reasonable inflation hedge and safe haven amid global instability. We also believe its digital, architectural resilience makes it preferable to gold, which has a market value of approximately 10 times that of bitcoin. Given the gap in value between gold and bitcoin, we believe that bitcoin has the potential to generate outsize returns as it gains increasing acceptance as digital gold."

As Bitcoin Magazine notes, despite this strategic financial move, the tiny Semler Scientific, whose market cap is just $200 million, said it remains committed to its core mission in healthcare of delivering innovative technologies as solutions to transform the healthcare management of chronic diseases and offer providers the opportunity to reduce costs and improve long-term patient outcomes. The company will also continue to focus on its flagship product, QuantaFlo, a point-of-care test for peripheral arterial disease, while seeking expanded FDA clearance for other cardiovascular conditions.

"Furthermore, we are energized by the growing global acceptance and 'institutionalization' of bitcoin -- reflected most recently by the Securities and Exchange Commission's January 2024 approval of 11 bitcoin exchange-traded funds," Mr. Semler continued. "These funds have reported more than $13 billion of net inflows, with investments from nearly 1,000 institutions, including global banks, pensions, endowments and registered investment advisors. It is estimated that more than 10% of all bitcoins are now held by institutions."

Semler Scientific's board and senior management shared that they have carefully considered various uses of excess cash and concluded that holding Bitcoin is the best strategy.

The market greeted the news of the company's shift from dollars to bitcoin with excitement, and sent SMLR surging 24% higher, which the cynics would argue was the whole point of the exercise. Well, the gamble worked...

... and while not many have followed in the footsteps of bitcoin OG Microstrategy, which was one of the original companies to transition from a dollar to bitcoin reserve, the euphoric reception of Semler's news virtually guarantees that in the coming months we will see dozens more small and micro caps ditch the dollar and embrace crypto, if only in hopes of a quick boost to the stock price. Still demand is demand, and this all bodes quite favorably for bitcoin demand for the foreseeable future.