Another Publicly Traded Company Is Starting a Bitcoin Treasury – Decrypt

Atai Life Sciences, a biopharmaceutical company that exchanges as ATAIs on Nasdaq, is the latest public company to announce plans to launch a Bitcoin Treasury strategy.

Focusing on treating mental disorders, the company announced its plans to acquire $5 million worth of Bitcoin as its starting point on Thursday.

“Bitcoin's wealth and its potential all become a necessary part of any financial strategy, especially for biotech companies with cash reserve risks that affect inflation.” I wrote about the founder of the companyChristian Engermeyer.

Angermayer outlines the erosion of valuation pressures and cash bookings as two specific reasons that Bitcoin's Treasury could be particularly beneficial for biotech companies like him, suggesting that the nature of funding in the industry “exposes biotech companies to increase economic risks in a particular macroeconomic environment.”

The company submitted 8-K with the US Securities and Exchange Commission Earlier on Thursday, it said it would be rolling out $5 million to Bitcoin and sowing the Treasury Department over the coming weeks. At today's prices, $5 million covers companies around 59.23 BTC.

“Bitcoin as a long-term storage of value is not questionable to me, but I have to admit that Bitcoin can and is likely to fluctuate in the short term,” the company founder wrote.

“Atai therefore made a careful decision to hold sufficient cash (mostly US dollars), short-term securities and public shareholdings,” he continued. “ATAI will invest a $5 million initial position in Bitcoin, but we do not expect this to affect the timeline of drug development or the current operating runway.”

ATAI stock is currently down more than 1%, trading at $1.37, about 93% below its all-time high of $19.45 for five years.

Angermayer further said he plans to write a post in the coming days, outlining the philosophical alignment between psychedelics and bitcoin.

Edited by Andrew Hayward