Rumble Follows Through on Treasury Diversification with $17.1M Bitcoin Buy: Stock Rallies But Retail’s Unmoved

Rumble, Inc.’s (RUM) shares rallied Wednesday after the conservative video-sharing platform owner said it purchased about 188 bitcoins at an average purchase price of $91,000 apiece.

Based on the purchase price, Rumble’s Bitcoin holdings are valued at $17.11 million.  

The company said the move aligns with its November announcement when its board agreed to the corporate treasury diversification strategy of allocating some excess cash reserves to Bitcoin. 

At that time, the company said the upper ceiling for the size of Bitcoin investments will be $20 million. 

Rumble Chairman and CEO Chris Pavlovski said, “These holdings have the potential to serve as a valuable hedge against inflation and will not be subject to dilution like so many overprinted government-issued currencies.”

Further, Rumble said the management would determine the timing of additional Bitcoin purchases, if any.

After the initial thrust provided by the approval for spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in early 2024 fueled a substantial upside, the crypto market went through a consolidation phase for a better part of the year. 

Bitcoin witnessed its next rally in the run-up to the Nov. 5 presidential election, stoked by hopes that the incoming administration under President Donald Trump would be crypto-friendly. It crossed the psychological resistance of $100,000 for the first time on Dec. 5 and touched an all-time high of $109,114.88 on Jan. 20.

However, the risk-off mood since the middle of February, amid fears that Trump's tariffs would fuel inflation and push the economy into a recession, did not spare cryptocurrencies. Since the late January high, Bitcoin has lost over 24%. 

The evolving macroeconomic landscape poses further downside risks. 

Rumble has a deeper connection with the crypto industry than its Bitcoin investment. In late December, the company announced an agreement for a $775 million strategic investment from Tether. 

The Bitcoin investment optimism hasn’t rubbed off on the retailers on the Stocktwits platform. Sentiment toward Rumble stock remained ‘bearish’ (32/100), and the message volume stayed ‘low.’

A watcher said the Bitcoin strategy is a less relevant catalyst.

Rumble stock rallied 3.34% to $8.05 on Wednesday. The stock has lost over 40% this year.

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