Brazil’s Méliuz Turns to Bitcoin as Traditional Treasury Strategy Falls Short

Brazilian fintech firm Méliuz (CASH3) uncovered a surprising reality while reviewing its balance sheet in late 2024: despite being profitable, debt-free, and expanding, the market valued the company at effectively zero. According to Diego Kolling, Head of Bitcoin Strategy at Méliuz, the company’s cash position—around R$250 million mostly held in government bonds—was eroding after taxes and inflation. Instead of serving as a buffer, it was losing value. This “confiscation,” as Kolling described it at Blockchain Conference Brasil 2025, pushed Méliuz to rethink its treasury strategy.

In a bold move for a publicly traded Brazilian company, Méliuz adopted a bitcoin-focused strategy. Shareholder approval came swiftly, with the largest turnout in company history and overwhelming support for reallocating part of the treasury into BTC. Unlike U.S. firms that issue low-interest debt to buy bitcoin, Méliuz had to take a different route. Brazil’s high interest rates—benchmark levels near 15% and private borrowing surpassing 20%—make debt-driven BTC accumulation financially unviable. “Strategy competes with 4% Fed rates,” Kolling noted. “We’re dealing with 22%.”

Instead, Méliuz began leveraging equity issuance and exploring derivatives to generate bitcoin-denominated returns. Taking cues from Japanese firm Metaplanet, Méliuz now sells cash-secured puts to create yield on capital reserved for BTC purchases. The company uses the generated yield to acquire bitcoin while preserving its main capital base. Although Kolling did not disclose the size of these operations, he emphasized that no more than 20% of the firm’s bitcoin exposure will involve yield-generating strategies.

Méliuz, which provides cashback and financial services to over 30 million Brazilians, stores roughly 80% of its bitcoin in cold storage, keeping only a small portion for derivatives activity. Future possibilities include leveraging the Lightning Network or issuing bitcoin-backed debt.

For Méliuz, the motivation is not speculation but long-term protection. With inflation eroding fiat reserves, bitcoin became, as Kolling put it, “the escape hatch” that could preserve the company’s treasury rather than let it melt away.