Shares of Basel Medical Group are down around 15% after the healthcare company announced plans to buy $1 billion in Bitcoin for its corporate treasury. 

On May 16, Singapore-based Basel said it was “in advanced discussions with a consortium of institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals […] to acquire a US$1 billion BTC through an innovative share-swap arrangement.

The company said the benefits of its planned purchase include creating “one of the strongest balance sheets among Asia-focused healthcare providers” and providing “unmatched financial flexibility for mergers and acquisitions.”

It also said the Bitcoin (BTC) treasury would help Basel “[e]stablish “a diversified asset base to weather market volatility.”

But the company’s shareholders weren’t sold. Basel’s stock, BMGL, has dropped around 15% on the announcement, according to data from Google Finance.

Basel Medical’s shares are down 15% intraday on May 16. Source: Google Finance

Related: Strive to become Bitcoin treasury company

Fueling acquisitions

In April, Basel announced that it had acquired a peer healthcare provider, Bethesda Medical, for an undisclosed sum.

The deal marked “the beginning of Basel Medical Group’s expansion strategy in Singapore and the broader Southeast Asian healthcare market.”

Basel’s management team expects that accumulating Bitcoin will aid in these plans. “Our expanded balance sheet will allow us to move quickly on strategic opportunities as we build a premier healthcare platform across high-growth Asian markets,” Darren Chhoa, Basel’s CEO, said in a statement. 

Bitcoin treasury metrics. Source: Bitcointreasuries.net

Corporate Bitcoin treasuries

This isn’t the first time a company’s shareholders have punished it for announcing plans to build a Bitcoin treasury. 

GameStop shed nearly $3 billion in market capitalization during a single trading day in March as investors questioned the videogame retailer’s plans to stockpile Bitcoin.

“There are question marks with GameStop’s model. If bitcoin is going to be the pivot, where does that leave everything else?” Bret Kenwell, US investment analyst at eToro, told Reuters in March. 

Corporate treasuries collectively hold roughly $80 billion worth of Bitcoin as of May 16, according to data from BitcoinTreasuries.NET. 

Bitcoin can “potentially be a valuable hedge against growing fiscal deficits, currency debasement, and geopolitical risks” for corporations, asset manager Fidelity Digital Assets said in a 2024 report.

Magazine: Bitcoin’s $100K push wakes taxman, Vitalik visits real Moo Deng: Asia Express

Christy Goldsmith Romero of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) will step down on May 31, leaving three seats open at the financial regulator.

In a May 16 announcement, Romero said her last day at the agency would be on May 31, ahead of her initial plans to leave if the Senate confirmed former commissioner Brian Quintenz as the new chair. Her departure will come just one day after Commissioner Summer Mersinger is expected to step down to join the crypto advocacy organization the Blockchain Association as CEO.

“It has been a tremendous honor to conclude my 23 years of federal service at an agency with such an important mission to ensure that financial markets perform their critical role in the US and global economies,” said Romero.

Romero and Mersinger’s upcoming departures would leave the CFTC with only two Senate-confirmed members: acting chair Caroline Pham and Commissioner Kristin Johnson, each taking one Republican and Democratic seat, respectively. The shakeup in leadership gives President Donald Trump the opportunity to pick two more commissioners after the Senate addresses Quintenz’s nomination.

This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.

A federal judge has sentenced Eric Council Jr., one of the individuals responsible for posting a fake message announcing regulatory approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, to 14 months in prison.

Following a May 16 hearing in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, the Justice Department announced that Council would serve 14 months in prison after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit aggravated identity theft and access device fraud. He was part of a group that compromised the X account of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) through a SIM swap attack in January 2024, claiming the regulatory body would be approving spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs.

“Schemes of this nature threaten the health and integrity of our market system,” said Jeanine Pirro, interim US Attorney for the District of Columbia. “SIM swap schemes threaten the financial security of average citizens, financial institutions, and government agencies.”

Prosecutors had requested that the judge impose a two-year sentence, while Council’s lawyers asked for one year and one day. Court filings showed he earned roughly $50,000 through SIM swap attacks like the one that compromised the SEC’s X account — funds likely subject to forfeiture.

Related: Coinbase faces $400M bill after insider phishing attack

The judge ordered Council to serve 36 months of supervised release after his sentence. It was unclear at the time of publication when he would report to prison, but he has been free on a personal recognizance bond since his arrest in October 2024.

Other crypto figures have their days in court

Council was the latest individual to be sentenced who drew the attention of the crypto industry. Though high-profile criminal cases like those involving executives from cryptocurrency exchange FTX have largely been concluded, others remain ongoing.

On May 8, former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky was sentenced to 12 years following his guilty plea on two felony counts. The criminal trial of former SafeMoon CEO John Karony is also expected to continue for several more days in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Magazine: Danger signs for Bitcoin as retail abandons it to institutions: Sky Wee

This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.