Chinese Software Company Meitu Buys $40 Million in Crypto

The Hong-Kong registered company Meitu announced on 7th March that they purchased $22 million in Ethereum (ETH) and $17.9 million of Bitcoin (BTC) in the open market.

This adds to the every growing list of institutional crypto purchases over the past year.

They stated the reason for buying was to help diversify their holdings away from cash, preparing the company for entry into the blockchain industry with Ethereum and believing it will enhance shareholder value in the long-term.

Here are some quotes from the announcement:

Against this backdrop, the Board believes cryptocurrencies have ample room for appreciation in value and by allocating part of its treasury in cryptocurrencies can also serve as a diversification to holding cash (which is subject to depreciation pressure due to aggressive increases in money supply by central banks globally) in treasury management.

The Board takes the view that blockchain technology has the potential to disrupt both existing financial and technology industries.

The Group is currently evaluating the feasibility of integrating blockchain technologies to its various overseas businesses, including but not limited to launching Ethereum-based dApps.

Who’s Meitu?

Meitu released a popular app which allowed photos to be touched up in the early 2010s, but their stock shrank from HK$18 in 2017 to less than HK$3 today. Now it looks like they are turning to cryptocurrency in a bid to revive the stock price and provide value to their almost 300 million monthly active users.

Meitu chairman Cai Wensheng has been an advocate of crypto and said in 2018 that he personally bought about 10,000 Bitcoins.