Since MicroStrategy made triple-digit gains after buying Bitcoin (BTC), the big tech is suddenly interested in cryptocurrency, as seen in Amazon and Microsoft racing to purchase BTC.

While Amazon shareholders made a proposal to the conglomerate to at least invest 5% in Bitcoin on December 6, Friday, the Microsoft board is voting to decide on BTC investment on December 10, Tuesday. This has triggered a big tech race to Bitcoin investment, and the crypto market is looking at who will invest first which can greatly influence price movements for the world’s largest digital asset.

“Though Bitcoin is currently a volatile asset – as Amazon stock has been at times throughout its history – corporations have a responsibility to maximize shareholder value over the long-term as well as the short-term,” read the proposal from the e-commerce giant.

Amazon reportedly called an emergency meeting to decide on adding Bitcoin to the firm’s treasury, debating whether it will help the company or not.

“Amazon should – and perhaps has a fiduciary duty to consider adding assets to its treasury. That appreciate more than bonds, even if those assets are more volatile short-term… Over the past five years, the price of Bitcoin increased by 1,246%. Outperforming corporate bonds by 1,242% on average. MicroStrategy – which holds Bitcoin on its balance sheet – has had its stock outperform Amazon stock by 537% in the previous year. And they’re not alone…Shareholders request that the Board conduct an assessment to determine if adding Bitcoin to the Company’s treasury is in the best long-term interests of shareholders”, revealed a note from the company.

Amazon shareholders are of the opinion that diversifying the balance sheet with digital assets like BTC might maximize their value without much volatility. Amazon highlighted MicroStrategy’s success with the coin as it invested 402,000 BTC worth $40 billion. As per Bloomberg data, companies like IBM and Nike made huge gains by purchasing which is larger than their other asset holdings.

Meanwhile, Microsoft noted in a company note before their big voting that it “continues to monitor trends and developments related to cryptocurrencies to inform future decision-making”. The Microsoft board has already called this BTC investment proposal “unwarranted”, highlighting that the tech giant already has appropriate ways of diversifying investments.

However, major big techs like Apple have titled in favour of Bitcoin with $250 million worth of investments by 2024 end and integrating crypto modes of payments into their products. Apple Pay has partnered with crypto exchange Coinbase, making crypto payment options available for Apple users.

Even Apple CEO Tim Cook made a pitch in its favor when he revealed his personal BTC holdings of three years, which triggered hope for a crypto crossover.

But some tech companies have faltered in their Bitcoin adoption as seen in Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta which had to shut down its DIen project in 2019, 3 years after the launch. Known as Libra, this Facebook-based crypto project wanted to generate a blockchain-based digital asset for money transfers and payments worldwide but governments across the world blocked it fearing illicit transactions and loss of value of national currencies.

Bitcoin holding beneficial for tech firms?

This interest in Bitcoin is further vindicated by the National Center for Public Policy Research, describing it as an "excellent" inflation hedge, suggesting that companies should have at least 1% of their holdings in BTC.

"In inflationary times like these, corporations should – and perhaps have a fiduciary duty to – consider diversifying their balance sheets with assets that appreciate more than bonds, even if those assets are more volatile short-term," said NCPPR. The think tank floated the same idea for e-commerce giant Amazon by suggesting that the company has at least 5% digital asset holding.

"Over the past five years, the price of Bitcoin increased by 1,246%, outperforming corporate bonds by 1,242% on average," the think tank said, further adding that Amazon has a "fiduciary duty" to add Bitcoin.

This comes at a time when Bitcoin has surged above the $100,000 mark courtesy of Donald Trump’s win in the US presidential election and subsequent developments like pro-crypto Paul Atkins getting selected as the new SEC chair.

As BTC surged nearly 491% this year, MicroStrategy has come out as the biggest benefactor by raking in huge gains. However, the Microsoft board is hoping that investors will vote "no" for the Bitcoin investment idea as the e-commerce giant is looking for stability in its treasury holdings, which is likely to be hampered by price BTC volatility.

"Microsoft has strong and appropriate processes in place to manage and diversify its corporate treasury for the long-term benefit of shareholders, and this requested public assessment is unwarranted," revealed the filing from the company.

However, Polymarket has predicted that there is a 13% chance that Microsoft will see votes in favour of Bitcoin investing, as Michael Saylor, the CEO of MicroStrategy, recently made a presentation at Microsoft suggesting that the company can gain $4.9 trillion in market value or $584 per share if it purchases BTC over the next 10 years. As of Monday, Microsoft has a market cap of $3.3 trillion, which makes it the third-largest company in the world.

Both companies aiming for high stock gains

Microsoft is poised to become the first one to announce Bitcoin investment on December 10 if everything goes alright at the meeting. Both Amazon and Microsoft are eyeing top stocks through this investment, with the former targeting $239 and later going for $285, based on the last 12-month target analysis. This shows a 5.27% increase from the $227 price of Amazon.

Meanwhile, analysts have put the target as $497.36 for Microsoft, with the lowest and highest stock forecasts being $425 and $550, respectively, which suggests a 12.13% spike from its current share price of $443.57.