Palantir Becomes Latest Corporation To Accept Bitcoin As Payment
Data analytics firm Palantir has revealed it now accepts Bitcoin as payment and is looking at holding BTC as part of its treasury.
The news was disclosed by Palantir CFO Dave Glazer on the software firm’s earnings call along with an impressive $341 million revenue and 49% growth.
The most interesting part for Bitcoiners, however, was the revelation it had started to accept it as payment and was considering putting Bitcoin on its balance sheet.
Glazer didn’t elaborate on the timeline for putting Bitcoin on its balance sheet other than to say the company is ‘thinking about it internally.’
However, the CFO stressed Palantir has $151 million in adjusted free cash flow that could go towards buying bitcoin and other investments.
It’s No Surprise As Bitcoin Advocate Peter Thiel Is Palantir’s Chairman
It was the Denver firm’s first announcement about a move into Bitcoin, and as bullish news as it is, it comes as no surprise as Palantir’s co-founder and chairman Peter Thiel is well-known for being a staunch believer in Bitcoin.
Thiel has been at the forefront of monetary disruption after co-founding PayPal, and the billionaire investor recently stated that Bitcoin could become ‘Chinese financial weapon,’ which many believe he was trying to encourage the US government into accepting it wholeheartedly.
Palantir provides software and analytics tools for several large entities, including the US government and police departments.
The company went public on the New York Stock Exchange last September, at a valuation of $16.5 billion. Its share price has shot up since then, with the firm now valued at $36.27 billion. Unsurprisingly the share price is up over 5% today as it joins other corporations gaining exposure to Bitcoin.
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Why Buy Bitcoin: Investing Today in the Money of Tomorrow
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Bitcoin For Dummies (For Dummies (Business & Personal Finance))
Not The First, But Definitely Not the Last
Palantir isn’t the first corporation to look into the option of holding Bitcoin on its balance sheet, but it certainly won’t be the last either.
In February, Tesla revealed it had purchased $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin, and it also started accepting Bitcoin as a payment for its electric cars.
That was the biggest news of any single purchase by any firm, but MicroStrategy has been buying Bitcoin seemingly every time it has some available cash.
Headed by rocket scientist Michael Saylor, MicroStrategy became the first publicly traded company to announce a major purchase of Bitcoin last year when it spent $250 million on Bitcoin.
Since then the company has spent over $2.26 billion on Bitcoin and now holds 91,579 bitcoins on its balance sheet. Which is worth over $5 billion today.
There have been many other corporations gaining exposure to Bitcoin. PayPal, Square Inc. and Time Magazine have all opened up to Bitcoin, while insurance giant MassMutual has also bought $100 million worth of Bitcoin.
There is also strong rumours that Walmart is ready to announce it is holding Bitcoin on its balance sheet, and who knows the world’s biggest retailer might announce its time to start accepting Bitcoin too…
So Palantir is joining a band of brothers in accepting and holding Bitcoin, and the news further cements Bitcoin’s acceptance as a store of value and a means of payment.
A Bitcoiner since 2017 and a Bitcoin Maximalist since 2018, Tommy is our main writer and editor at Bitcoin Maximalist. Other than researching and writing about Bitcoin, Tommy loves spending time with his family and supporting his beloved Leeds United.
