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Buoyed by reports that Twitter has been studying the possibility of adding bitcoin to its balance sheet, the company’s stock surged to a new 52-week high of $73.18 on Feb. 12. Before the surge, the stock had been trading at just under $60 on Feb. 9. At the time of writing, Twitter’s market capitalization stood at $57.20 billion.
Reports of Twitter’s possible bitcoin acquisition follow Tesla’s announcement that it had acquired BTC worth $1.5 billion. Tesla’s acquisition is fueling speculation that more large corporations may follow the electric carmaker in adding BTC to their reserves. Already, Mastercard has announced it will be supporting cryptocurrencies in its payments network.
Also, as the Twitter stock responded positively to comments by one company executive, CEO Jack Dorsey was announcing the creation of a bitcoin development trust. In a tweet, Dorsey, a supporter of bitcoin, says he and hip hop artist Jay Z are “giving 500 BTC to a new endowment named Trust to fund bitcoin development.” According to Dorsey, the work of this entity will “initially be focused on teams in Africa & India.”
In the meantime, one analyst suggests that the spike in the value of the Twitter stock is hardly surprising. Vladislav Utushkin, the CEO at TTM Bank, tells news.Bitcoin.com that it is only a matter of time before “other companies follow.” He explains that “investors are attracted by the company’s approach to new, highly profitable instruments and investments.”
According to Utushkin, bitcoin is one such investment hence the stock’s recent movements. The CEO explains:
All investors who bought bitcoin earlier now make a profit. The investment in bitcoin brought Microstrategy a return of almost 300%. Tesla’s return on investment in the first 24 hours (after buying BTC) exceeded 20%. Of course, after Tesla, decisions of other companies will be perceived positively, stocks react with growth to potential growth in capitalization.
Meanwhile, at the close of trading on Feb. 12, the stock had retreated to $71.90.
