Free Enterprise Project Makes History With Microsoft Bitcoin Proposal

On Tuesday, MicroStrategy Chairman Michael Saylor will present a proposal at Microsoft’s annual shareholder meeting on behalf of the Free Enterprise Project (FEP) that asks Microsoft to consider adding bitcoin to its balance sheet.

This proposal — the first FEP has ever submitted on the subject of cryptocurrency — has become one of our most viral proposals to date, with a flurry of media (especially in the cryptocurrency media universe) occurring in three waves: once in October when an SEC filing first announced the proposal, once in November when it was announced that Saylor would present the proposal, and again this week when Saylor preemptively released his presentation on X (Twitter) and then discussed it on media outlets including CNBC and Fox News.

Proposal 5 requests that Microsoft’s board of directors “conduct an assessment to determine if diversifying the Company’s balance sheet by including Bitcoin is in the best long-term interests of shareholders.”

In its supporting statement, FEP writes:

Microstrategy – which, like Microsoft, is a technology company, but unlike Microsoft holds Bitcoin on its balance sheet – has had its stock outperform Microsoft stock this year by 313%8 despite doing only a fraction of the business that Microsoft has. And they’re not alone. The institutional and corporate adoption of Bitcoin is becoming more commonplace. Microsoft’s second largest shareholder, BlackRock, offers its clients a Bitcoin ETF.

Bitcoin is a more volatile asset, at the moment, than corporate bonds, so companies should not risk shareholder value by holding too much of it. However, as Bitcoin is an excellent, if not the best, hedge against inflation and corporate bond yields are less than the true inflation rate, companies should also not risk shareholder value by ignoring Bitcoin altogether. At minimum, companies should evaluate the benefits of holding some, even just 1%, of its assets in Bitcoin.

FEP representatives also appeared on the Bitcoin Treasuries with Tim Kotzman podcast to discuss the Microsoft proposal, and why executives would be wise to consider adopting bitcoin.

We urge Microsoft shareholders to vote for Proposal 5.