Wall Street regulators are reportedly flagging suspicious trading in the stocks of companies that have announced big crypto bets.
Federal regulators are scrutinizing a growing number of companies that have embraced so-called crypto-treasury strategies this year, after unusual trading patterns in their shares caught their attention.
The corporate trend has exploded in recent months, with hundreds of companies investing in crypto this year. Crypto-treasury strategies, popularized by Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), involve raising funds through stock or debt sales specifically to buy Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. For some of these companies, this scheme is no longer a side experiment; some are making investing in crypto the centerpiece of their corporate strategy.
For example, Strategy, which was founded in 1989, was best known as a business intelligence and software company before it pivoted to its current crypto-heavy corporate strategy in 2020 when it invested $250 million in Bitcoin.
