Apple is once again facing calls to start investing some of its vast cash reserves into Bitcoin — but the tech giant remains highly unlikely to jump on the bandwagon.
The latest push concerns disappointment surrounding a stock buyback program, which reduces shares on the open market in an attempt to boost their value.
But critics argue that this approach simply isn’t working. AAPL has tumbled by 17% in the year to date — bruised by the fallout surrounding Donald Trump’s tariffs. By contrast, BTC has rallied 17% over the exact same period.
According to the latest figures, Apple is sitting on a huge amount of money: $48.5 billion in the most recent quarter. Yet some shareholders argue this warchest is in real danger of being eroded by inflation over time.
With CNBC’s Mad Money host Jim Cramer criticizing the buybacks, Strategy’s Michael Saylor jumped in on X — and argued that the iPhone manufacturer should take a leaf out of his book.
Saylor’s intervention attracted no shortage of supporters, with one writing: “The most valuable company needs the most valuable asset.”
Other titans in the so-called “magnificent seven” have also come under pressure to embrace BTC.
Last year, the National Center for Public Policy Research urged Amazon to “evaluate the benefits” of allocating 5% of its cash on hand to this digital asset. In an open letter, executives wrote:
“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.”
That missive fell on deaf ears, but Microsoft’s board of directors did at least allow Saylor to make a three-minute pitch on the merits of BTC, and allow its shareholders to vote on whether an investment should be made.
As you may remember, the result was a resounding no. While the proposal received 28.2 million votes in favor, a staggering 5.1 billion voted against — effectively meaning a mere 0.55% wanted to treat Bitcoin as a hedge against inflation.
So… what about Apple, then? Well, back in 2021 (around the time BTC hit a then all-time high of $69,000) CEO Tim Cook was asked this exact question at the New York Times DealBook Summit. He confirmed he owned some — adding:
“I think it’s reasonable to own it as part of a diversified portfolio. I’m not giving anyone investment advice by the way.”
Cook revealed that he had been researching the crypto space for a while, and was interested in digital assets on a personal level. As you can imagine though, a great big “but” was just around the corner. He rejected the notion that Apple was planning to accept them as a payment method — let alone hold them in reserve.
“I wouldn’t go invest in crypto, not because I wouldn’t invest my own money, but because I don’t think people buy Apple stock to get exposure to crypto.”
That was, and is, a good point. Companies that have acquired huge amounts of BTC often end up with share prices that are hugely sensitive to crypto market movements. And, if we’re being honest here, this strategy is often adopted by firms that have seen their original business models start to falter. There’s very little danger of that happening with Apple.
A quick side note, though. Back in 2021, there had been unfounded rumors that Apple was planning to snap up $2.5 billion worth of Bitcoin. Had this been true — and such a transaction had taken place — this BTC stockpile would have been worth close to $4 billion at current market rates.
Fast forwarding now to the present day, and you could argue that crypto still isn’t a good fit for Apple. Digital assets — as well as wallets and exchanges — remain clunky and complicated to use, whereas this tech giant’s products are all about elegance, simplicity and ease of use. The company also has bigger fish to fry right now, amid criticism that it’s fallen well behind the curve in the race to put artificial intelligence in everyone’s pockets. Some have even predicted that AI could do to Apple what the iPhone did to BlackBerry.
There is one theme worth keeping a very close eye on though: stablecoins. Fortune recently reported that Apple is currently holding early conversations with crypto firms about integrating these digital assets.
Given the company’s status as a dominant player in mobile payments, this could be a landmark moment for stablecoin adoption — and bring the benefits of lower fees and cheaper cross-border payments to the masses.
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