The lure of digital currency-infused corporate finance is attracting the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR) again. This time, Meta Platforms Inc. at the group in their crusades.
Ethan Peck, an employee of the National Center, submitted the Bitcoin Finance Shareholder Proposal to Meta on behalf of his family, marking another attempt to bring the cryptocurrency to the boardrooms of tech giants.
Tim Jotzman, a Bitcoin (BTC) podcast host, shared the proposal on January 10 via a social media post. See below.
Will corporate finances turn into crypto strongholds?
Based in Washington, DC, the NCPPR has always positioned Bitcoin as a hedge against inflation and economic turmoil. They have already contacted Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com Inc. with similar areas.
Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft tightened the idea, but Seattle-based Amazon will reported discussed at the April meeting of shareholders.
NCPPR seems to be taking a page out of Michael Saylor's playbook. Saylor, the former CEO and current chairman of MicroStrategy, created a Bitcoin-heavy corporate strategy and has emerged as the poster child for crypto-infused corporate finance.
If NCPPR gets its way, Meta and Amazon, like MicroStrategy, will commit a portion of their assets to Bitcoin. Why? They see it as an alternative to scarce corporate bonds because of their fixed supply.
Also, Bitcoin ETF, or exchange traded funds, spicy 100% by the end of 2024. That's four times the return of the S&P 500 index and 35% higher than the Roundhill Magnificent Seven ETF, which tracks the seven magnificent tech giants (which include Meta, Microsoft and Amazon members).
And then there's MicroStrategy, which saw its stock balloon 2,191% over five years.
Remember Libra? No? Good.
Meta attempted to launch its own digital currency, Libra, in 2019 when the company was renamed Facebook. The project aimed to create a global stablecoin backed by a basket of fiat currencies and government securities.
Libra was intended to enable low-cost, seamless transactions worldwide, especially for the unbanked population. However, the initiative faced significant regulatory pushback from lawmakers and financial authorities around the world, who raised concerns about monetary sovereignty, data privacy, and potential abuse for illegal activities.
The project was rebranded as Diem in 2020, focusing solely on US dollar-backed stablecoins. Meta courted Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal to be partners, but they withdraw support
By early 2022, Meta Diem sold to Silvergate Bank for about $200 million.
Although the Libra/Diem initiative was a disappointment, it showed Meta's ambition in the cryptocurrency space.
It remains to be seen if Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his board of directors take the NCPPR's bait and make Bitcoin their next big move.
