U.S. publicly-listed companies such as MicroStrategy and Square led corporate crypto adoption as they amassed Bitcoin as early as last year. But the trend is spreading abroad as well with a Thai publicly-listed company recently announcing its investment in BTC.
The Brooker Group, a publicly-listed company in Thailand, disclosed its crypto investment in a recent filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company revealed that it purchased 122.3158 Bitcoins and paid 200 million baht (around $6.6 million) for the acquisition, according to The Bangkok Post.
With its disclosure, the Brooker Group became Thailand’s first publicly listed firm to hold Bitcoin on its balance sheet. Brooker is a financial consulting, real estate consultancy, and capital management firm with private and public sector clients in Thailand and overseas, according to BItcoin.com.
A number of Thai publicly-listed firms, such as Major Cineplex Group Pcl and Ananda Development Pcl, are already accepting crypto but only as a means of payment. Before Brooker’s disclosure, no company declared that they are holding Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptos in their balance sheets.
“Listed companies’ decisions to invest in any asset class, including digital assets, is entirely up to the company’s board of directors who must make investment decisions with caution and responsibility,” SEC Secretary-General Ruenvadee Suwanmongkol said. The SEC requires companies to disclose their crypto holdings if the investment significant changes in the company's profits or asset sizes.
The company also said that it may make additional crypto purchases in the future. Its board approved its investment into BTC setting a maximum limit of up to 1.5 billion baht ($48 million). The Brooker Group added that it may invest up to 50 percent in digital assets in the future but did not specify it future investments will be focused only on Bitcoin.
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