Capital B Pursues $122B Authorization for Expanded Bitcoin Acquisitions
Shareholders of Capital B face a vote on granting the company up to $122 billion in capital-raising capabilities designed to speed up its Bitcoin accumulation efforts.
The French-based Bitcoin treasury firm Capital B has put forward a request for shareholder approval on an extensive new delegation that would grant capital-raising capabilities, pursuing authorization to launch fresh equity offerings and debt instruments designed to speed up the pace of Bitcoin purchases.
A new proposal has been submitted by Capital B to its board of directors that would permit the establishment of capital increases reaching 5 billion euros ($5.8 billion) via the issuance of 125 billion shares based on present nominal value, alongside $116 billion worth of credit instruments, according to Alexandre Laizet, who serves as board director of Bitcoin Strategy at Capital B, announced in an X post published on Monday.
The voting process for shareholders is currently open online and will continue through the company's combined general meeting scheduled for June 17.
This proposal arrives at a time when Capital B maintains its Bitcoin accumulation trajectory even as various smaller treasury-focused companies have begun liquidating their positions, abandoning their strategies, or implementing hedging programs amid mounting market pressures.
The shareholder proposal was submitted fourteen days following Capital B's acquisition of 192 BTC for a total of $15.2 million at an average cost of approximately $78,948 per Bitcoin, which elevated its overall holdings to 3,135 BTC at that point in time. Subsequently, Capital B made public an additional 4 BTC acquisition on Monday, increasing its cumulative total to 3,139 BTC.
As of now, Capital B has reported raising approximately $325 million in capital, which includes its $17.8 million capital raise from strategic investors such as Blockstream CEO Adam Back along with Paris-headquartered asset management firm TOBAM.
Following the public announcement, Capital B's share price experienced a decline of approximately 7% and was trading at $0.56 at 10:17 am UTC, as indicated by Yahoo Finance data.
Over the previous six-month period, the company's stock has declined by 44%, while Bitcoin's market price has decreased by more than 19.4%, based on TradingView data.
Within the global landscape of Bitcoin treasury companies, Capital B holds the 25th-largest position by total holdings and stands as Europe's second-largest player behind Germany's Bitcoin Group SE, which currently maintains holdings of 3,605 BTC, valued at approximately $250 million based on current prices, according to data from BitcoinTreasuries.
Bitcoin treasury firms remain pressured by bear market downturn
The push by Capital B to expand its Bitcoin accumulation operations arrives during a period when several smaller Bitcoin treasury companies have begun shuttering their operations.
This past Thursday, Sequans Communications, a semiconductor company based in France, announced it had completed its previously disclosed digital asset treasury strategy and revealed intentions to redirect its focus exclusively toward Internet of Things (IoT) semiconductor expansion.
At that time, the company maintained a position of 658 Bitcoin valued at roughly $48 million, and indicated it would "monetize remaining holdings over time," which led to a share price surge of approximately 14.5% during morning trading hours.
Earlier this week on Monday, Strategy, the company led by Michael Saylor, disclosed the sale of 32 BTC to provide funding for the distribution of its preferred stock.
This particular transaction represented the company's first publicly reported Bitcoin sale since executing a tax-loss transaction in 2022 and contributed to growing concerns surrounding Strategy's preferred stock financing approach, with investors expressing worry that dividend payment obligations might ultimately compel the company to liquidate portions of its holdings.
On April 24, Nakamoto, a Nasdaq-listed Bitcoin treasury company, unveiled an actively managed Bitcoin derivatives program with the stated objective of generating recurring income streams from volatility while simultaneously hedging portions of its corporate BTC holdings against potential downside exposure. According to a filing dated March 30, the company disclosed the sale of 284 Bitcoin, which carried a value of about $20 million at the time of the transaction.