Warranty Jumps on the Bitcoin Bandwagon

US warranty plan company ARW has joined the ranks of firms investing in Bitcoin—and will accept cryptocurrency as payment for its services.

By Andrew Asmakov

In brief

• American Residential Warranty has made the strategic decision to invest in Bitcoin.
• The home warranty plan company will also accept crypto payment for its services.

American Residential Warranty (ARW), a US national home warranty plan company, has joined the growing number of firms making Bitcoin part of their investment portfolio. The Florida-based firm has also revealed that it will accept payment for its services in cryptocurrency.

According to a recent statement, ARW has made the “strategic decision to invest in Bitcoin,” with the intention to expand its investment portfolio options and boost returns on cash. It has used crypto exchange Gemini to provide custodial services for the firm's cryptocurrency holdings.The company says its capital allocation strategy is a mix of low-risk, short-term liquidity vehicles and medium to higher-risk securities for longer-term investments. It has not disclosed the exact amount of money it is going to convert into Bitcoin.

ARW has also followed in the footsteps of Elon Musk's Tesla by announcing that as well as holding Bitcoin as part of its investment portfolio, it will be accepting cryptocurrency as a payment option.

“By accepting crypto as a payment option for homeowners, ARW is not only giving their customers the most comprehensive home warranty plans but also signaling that American Residential Warranty is a tech-forward company adapting quickly to emergent technologies,” reads the announcement.

Growing institutional adoption

ARW is the latest in a growing list of companies venturing into Bitcoin as an investment vehicle in recent months.

Cloud service provider MicroStrategy added a further $10 million in Bitcoin to its portfolio last week, increasing the company’s total crypto stash to 91,064 BTC. With Bitcoin’s latest rally to levels over $57,000, the company’s crypto portfolio has now increased to over $5.1 billion at current prices.

Tesla, an electric vehicle and clean energy company, purchased $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin in January; according to data provided by Bitcointreasuries, its holdings are now worth some $2.5 billion.

The latest addition to the ranks of institutional investors with Bitcoin holdings is Aker ASA, a Norwegian holding company controlled by billionaire investor Kjell Inge Røkke. This week, Aker ASA announced the launch of a new business unit that will focus on investing in projects and companies within the Bitcoin ecosystem; the subsidiary, Seetee AS, will keep all its liquid investable assets in the benchmark cryptocurrency.