Key takeaways
- Meitu sold 940 Bitcoin and 31,000 Ethereum for $180 million before Bitcoin reached $100,000.
- 80% of the proceeds from Meitu’s crypto sale will be distributed as a special dividend.
Chinese tech firm Meitu had sold its entire crypto holdings of 940 Bitcoin and 31,000 Ethereum for $180 million, exiting the market just before Bitcoin’s rise to $100,000, according to a recent statement.
The company, known for its photo editing apps, initially invested $100 million in crypto assets in March and April 2021, spending $49.5 million on Bitcoin and $50.5 million on Ethereum.
The deposition took place in two stages. Meitu first sold about half of its holdings for $80 million last month. In December, the company sold the remaining 470 BTC at an average price of over $95,000 and 15,703 ETH at around $3,500, generating over $100 million.
After completing two sales rounds, Meitu secured a total of $180 million, yielding approximately $80 million in net profit.
Meitu plans to distribute 80% of net proceeds as a special dividend to shareholders, with the remaining funds allocated to expanding its core range of photo, video and design products.
The company is ditching crypto for AI. It is shifting its focus to its core photo and video editing business, which has seen remarkable growth thanks to AI advances.
“Given the recent strong growth rate in the group’s photo, video and design products, which primarily adopt a premium subscription model, the group intends to invest further in this business. The board believes that the disposals of cryptocurrencies gave the group a good opportunity to realize a significant profit on its investments in the acquired cryptocurrencies,” the company writes in its announcement.
Bitcoin surpasses $100,000 for the first time in history
Bitcoin reached a historic milestone on Wednesday night, dropped over $100,000 and a short touch of $103,000, CoinGecko data shows.
Ethereum also saw a strong rally on the same day, rising above $3,900 for the first time since mid-March. It is now trading at around $3,800, up 3.5% in the last 24 hours.
The ongoing rally is mainly influenced by optimism surrounding a crypto-friendly environment in the US once Trump officially returns to the White House.
US President-elect Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he had featured pro-crypt Paul Atkins to head the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Trump also celebrated Bitcoin’s historic rise after it hit the six-figure milestone. There is widespread expectation that he will create a strategic national reserve of Bitcoin to hold all the Bitcoin the US currently has and acquire more as time goes on.
The US government currently has about 210,000 BTC, worth about $14 billion, that has been seized through law enforcement.
