Hong Kong-listed Meitu Bought $40M Worth of Bitcoin and Ethereum

Chinese tech company Meitu has announced a massive purchase of 380 BTC and 15,000 ETH, representing an entry of about 40M USD, as of writing these lines, into the cryptocurrency market.

This came just one month after tech mogul Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla, announced that the company would be purchasing 1.5B USD worth of Bitcoin.

Although a large Hong Kong-listed firm publicly buying Bitcoin is undoubtedly noteworthy in and of itself, it’s interesting to note Meitu founder Cai Wensheng’s previous interest in the cryptocurrency. Wensheng has revealed that he “saw the future of Bitcoin” long ago, and that he owned 10,000 BTC ($504M) in 2018.

The New Norm: Companies Buying Bitcoin Around The World

Companies across the US have started dipping their toes into the cryptocurrency market, including MicroStrategy with their $10M Bitcoin purchase just 2 days ago, adding to their already large position.

This announcement from Meitu signals a potential shift of interest expanding outwards from just the United States, instead, encapsulating the global market.

China has some of the largest global companies such as Baidu and Alibaba — a large Chinese firm publicizing and legitimizing the purchase of cryptocurrencies could pave the way for even bigger players like Jack Ma to become officially involved through company funds.

Tesla’s purchase may have served to act as the first domino in a chain of rippling events across the traditional finance system, and several leaders in the industry have started to take note. Some theorize that this point, not owning a small portion of cryptocurrency in one’s portfolio may serve as a much larger risk than owning some, simply because of its properties as a hedge against inflation and global instability.