Bitcoin Buying Sprees Accelerate as Metaplanet, Semler Stack More BTC

Publicly traded firms Semler Scientific and Metaplanet both bought more Bitcoin on Monday, adding to their already large holdings even as Bitcoin treasury trend-setter Strategy paused its purchases. 

Semler, a firm that develops products for treatment and detection of chronic disease, bought 187 Bitcoin for $20 million. Japanese investment firm Metaplanet snagged 2,205 BTC for nearly $239 million.

Semler now holds 4,636 BTC worth more than $500 million while Metaplanet’s treasury has grown to 15,555 Bitcoin valued at nearly $1.7 billion. 

Both have followed the approach of Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) , opting for creative financing solutions to raise funds for purchasing more Bitcoin. Plus, they both report on BTC Yield, a key performance indicator popularized by Strategy co-founder Michael Saylor and his firm which measures the ratio of a company’s Bitcoin holdings to its assumed shares outstanding. 

Metaplanet reported a 416% BTC Yield year-to-date, while Semler has achieved a yield of 29% year-to-date. 

A growing number of publicly traded companies have created treasuries in recent months. Publicly traded firms now possess more than 852,000 BTC, according to data provider bitcointreasures.net. 

Metaplanet and Semler’s latest purchases came even as Strategy snapped its 3-month streak of weekly accumulations. 

Shares of Metaplanet are down 1.8% today, but remain up 381% year-to-date according to data from Google Finance. Shares of Semler, which trade on the Nasdaq as SMLR, are down 4.4% on the day and more than 29% year-to-date despite its Bitcoin accumulation. 

The leading crypto asset is down around 0.7% in the last 24 hours and trading at $108,061, just 3.4% off its all-time high of $111,814.