Meta recently assessed if a portion of its cash holdings could be invested into Bitcoin — the oldest and most expensive cryptocurrency in the world. Despite US President Donald Trump’s pro-cryptocurrency stance, Meta shareholders dismissed the idea at the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting on May 28. Among a host of proposals and plans, the shareholders voted against a proposal for Bitcoin treasury assessment. In its proxy statement mailed to the shareholders before the meeting, Meta revealed that Bitcoin was not being included in the company’s balance sheets.
At the meeting, Meta shareholders voted on a total of 14 proposals, including the one for Bitcoin treasury assessment. The shareholders voted through stocks held as of the close of business on April 1, 2025.
For the proposal regarding Bitcoin treasury assessment, an overwhelming 4,980,828,562 votes were registered against the plan as opposed to just 3,916,871 votes for it, which means a mere 0.078 percent of votes were registered in favour of the proposal, an SEC filing showed.
Over eight million votes were registered as abstained. “The shareholders did not approve the shareholder proposal regarding Bitcoin treasury assessment,” the voting conclusion to the proposal read.
Details About the Proposal
In January, a Meta shareholder named Ethan Peck submitted a proposal to the company suggesting the possibility of exploring Bitcoin as part of the company’s balance sheets. Titled “Bitcoin Treasury Assessment”, Peck’s proposal said Meta should consider replacing some percentage of its total assets into those that “appreciate more than bonds”.
“As of September 30, 2024, Meta has $256 billion (roughly Rs. 21,85,780 crore) in total assets, $72 billion (roughly Rs. 6,14,680 crore) of which is cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities. Since cash is consistently being debased and bond yields are lower than the true inflation rate, 28 percent of Meta’s total assets are consistently diminishing shareholder value simply by sitting on the balance sheet,” the proposal said.
Peck said Meta should consider replacing some percentage of its assets with assets that “appreciate more than bonds, even if those assets are more volatile short-term”.
“Meta’s second largest institutional shareholder, BlackRock, advised that a two percent Bitcoin allocation is reasonable,” Peck said in the proposal, adding that corporate and institutional Bitcoin adoption was increasingly becoming “commonplace”.
Citing Bitcoin’s price appreciation over the years and the trend of BTC investments catching pace in companies like MicroStrategy, Peck suggested that Meta should evaluate the benefits of exchanging some percentage of its cash holdings into BTC.
A #Bitcoin Treasury Shareholder Proposal has been submitted to Meta.
The shareholder, Ethan Peck, who is an employee at The National Center for Public Policy Research – the organization that submitted to $MSFT & $AMZN – informed me he submitted on behalf of his family’s shares. pic.twitter.com/KrAKw7nHwp
— Tim Kotzman (@TimKotzman) January 10, 2025
At the time, Bitcoin was trading at around $108,000 (roughly Rs. 92.2 lakh). Its price on June 2 stands at $104,948 (roughly Rs. 89.6 lakh).
The volatility of Bitcoin emerged as a matter of concern for Meta, its proxy statement filed with the SEC revealed.
The Meta board said the requested Bitcoin treasury assessment was “unnecessary”.
“Meta utilizes a thorough decision-making process that considers many types of investable assets,” the board said in response. “Our audit & risk oversight committee provides oversight over Meta’s treasury policies, and our primary goals are to preserve capital and provide liquidity to the company.
“To support our ongoing operations, working capital, and capital expenditure needs, management comprehensively reviews a wide and diverse range of investable assets, including those that offer diversification and risk mitigation, on an ongoing basis.
“As part of this process, we assess the volatility of potential assets and seek to invest in those which provide a balanced mix of stability and long-term return to support our financial sustainability.
“While we are not opining on the merits of cryptocurrency investments compared to other assets, we believe the requested assessment is unnecessary given our existing processes to manage our corporate treasury.”
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who holds 61 percent voting power at Meta and is a vocal supporter of Web3 technologies like the metaverse, has not commented on the development yet.
In October 2024, Microsoft, too, invited feedback from its shareholders on exploring Bitcoin investments. Later in December, however, shareholders of the software firm voted against the proposal, pointing out the asset’s volatility.
