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. 

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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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