Think Tank Says Amazon Should Invest 5% Of Its Assets Into Bitcoin

A conservative think tank wants Amazon to invest 5% of its corporate assets into Bitcoin.

On Dec. 6, the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR) submitted a shareholder proposal to Amazon, the fourth largest public company with a $3.74 trillion market cap, urging the firm to consider investing a small share of its assets into BTC at its 2025 annual shareholder meeting.

The think tank argued that Bitcoin provides a hedge against inflation, also serving as a vehicle for preserving corporate profits.

“In periods of consistent, and often rampant, inflation, a company’s value is measured not only by how profitable its primary business is, but also by how well it stores the profits from that business,” the proposal said. “At minimum, Amazon should evaluate the benefits of holding some, even just 5%, of its assets in Bitcoin.”

The letter said that as of Sept. 30, 2024, $88 billion of Amazon’s $585 billion in assets comprised cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities including U.S. and foreign government bonds. It added that Bitcoin has outperformed corporate bonds by 1,242% on average over the past five years, including a rally of 131% in 2024.

“Since cash is consistently being debased and bond yields are lower than the true inflation rate, Amazon isn’t adequately protecting billions of dollars of shareholder value simply by holding these assets,” the proposal said. “At minimum, Amazon should evaluate the benefits of holding some, even just 5%, of its assets in Bitcoin."

The document acknowledges that the price of Bitcoin is subject to significant volatility, but argues the same can be said of Amazon stock at various times throughout its history.

The proposal also noted that BlackRock and Fidelity, Amazon’s second and fourth largest institutional shareholders, both operate spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Microsoft proposal

In October, NCPPR also called on Microsoft, the third-largest public company with a $5.16 trillion capitalization, to assess investing 1% of its assets into BTC to hedge against inflation.

The proposal will be put to a vote at the company’s annual shareholder meeting on Dec. 10.

However, Microsoft has urged shareholders to vote against the proposal, stating that its management has already evaluated making investments in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. “Microsoft has strong and appropriate processes in place to manage and diversify its corporate treasury for the long-term benefit of shareholders and this requested public assessment is unwarranted.”

NCPPR noted the meteoric growth in the share price of MicroStrategy, which has aggressively accumulated Bitcoin since August 2020. The price of $MSTR has rallied more than 1,000% since it began buying Bitcoin, outperforming all S&P 500 companies while stockpiling 402,100 BTC — the equivalent of 1.9% of Bitcoin’s maximum circulating supply.

“MicroStrategy – which holds Bitcoin on its balance sheet – has had its stock outperform Amazon stock by 537% in the previous year,” NCPPR said.

Last week, Michael Saylor, the executive chairman of MicroStrategy, told Yahoo Finance that MicroStrategy will continue to purchase Bitcoin for perpetuity.

“Every day for the past four years, I've said buy Bitcoin, don't sell the Bitcoin,” Saylor said. “I'm going to be buying Bitcoin at the top forever… It’s going to appreciate against the dollar forever.”

Saylor also urged the U.S. government to dump its gold and invest in Bitcoin, with a target of buying up 25% of the asset’s supply.

Government Bitcoin reserves

The proposal comes as expectations for a pro-crypto regulatory environment under Trump have ignited growing interest in Bitcoin investment from government institutions.

Last month, Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis tweeted that the U.S. will “build a strategic Bitcoin reserve” following Trump’s electoral victory.

Lummis recently advocated for the U.S. government to purchase 200,000 BTC annually for the next five years.

However, Trump previously pledged not to sell any of the Bitcoin roughly 212,847 BTC amassed by the U.S. government from law enforcement seizures, and to create a “national Bitcoin stockpile” in July. As such, it is unclear whether a U.S. strategic Bitcoin reserve would take the form of the BTC it already holds.

Several U.S. states have also moved to accumulate BTC. Last month, Florida’s chief financial officer said that he would look to increase the state’s digital asset portfolio from $800 million if Trump became president, while Pennsylvania lawmakers introduced a bill proposing creating a strategic Bitcoin reserve using 10% of the state’s reserve assets.

The state pension funds of Wisconsin and Michigan also hold shares in spot Bitcoin ETFs.

However, not everyone is convinced that governments should accumulate Bitcoin, with Bill Dudley, the former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, opining that Bitcoin reserves offer “nothing good” for governments or the public.

Dudley noted that Bitcoin has failed to attract widespread adoption as a medium exchange due to its volatility and slow transactions, and warned that financing the reserve could create inflation.

“There’s no exit strategy, so the purpose must be to push prices higher, not create value for the government — which would be stuck holding volatile tokens that produce no income,” Dudley said.