In my previous articles, we’ve explored Bitcoin as a volatile yet valuable asset class, and why bitcoin deserves a place in your portfolio. One of the most common questions I get is: Should I mine Bitcoin or simply buy it from an exchange?
Today, I answer an even more important question: Should Indian corporates, and the Indian Government own bitcoins in its reserves?
But before I come to that, I want to talk about another facet of taking exposure to Bitcoin. I am talking about mining bitcoins.
As of May 23, 2025, Bitcoin trades at approximately $110,000. Buying Bitcoin is straightforward—if the price rises 10%, your investment grows 10%. If it drops 10%, your holdings lose value accordingly. It’s simple and clean.
Mining, however, is an entirely different game.
To mine Bitcoin today, one needs specialized hardware known as ASICs (Application-Specific Integrated Circuits). Unlike regular computers we use that juggle multiple tasks—browsing, calculations, gaming, video conferencing—miners are ASICs that are purpose-built machines focused solely on producing cryptographic hashes. Through brute-force trial and error, they compete to solve complex mathematical puzzles.
The first to solve a block earns the right to write that block to the blockchain and is rewarded with freshly minted Bitcoin. Currently, the block reward is 3.125 BTC, and a new block is mined roughly every 10 minutes. However, competition is fierce: millions of machines are racing to solve each block, and only one wins the reward. All the rest still bear the sunk costs of equipment, electricity, cooling, internet connectivity, and technical expertise—without any payoff.
In 2010, it was a different story. Bitcoin mining was in its infancy. Rewards were 50 BTC per block, and a standard laptop could mine successfully. But Bitcoin’s protocol cuts the reward in half every 210,000 blocks, or roughly every four years. The most recent halving was in April 2024, reducing the reward to 3.125 BTC. The next halving is expected in April 2028.
The ability to mine bitcoins or the winner of the rewards are based on the power or ability to produce more hashes. Antminer is a brand of mining machines built by Bitmain, the largest mining machine manufacturer. The miner receives data from the Bitcoin network. It runs trillions of hash calculations per second trying to find a valid block. If successful, it earns Bitcoin block rewards (currently 3.125 BTC as of 2024 halving). The reward is sent to the miner’s configured Bitcoin wallet.
Success in mining depends on how many hashes your equipment can compute per second. Let’s look at a few machines:
- Antminer S9(Entry-Level, Older Model): produces 13.5 TH/s, priced between $55–$150 (used)
- Antminer S19(Mid-Range to High-End): produces 104 TH/s, priced around $1,159 (new)
- Antminer S19 XP(High-End, Latest Models): produces 140 TH/s and above, priced up to $6,000
Old machines also generate some bitcoin but it won’t be anything meaningful.
Consider the Antminer T19 Hydro, which averages around 0.0283 BTC per year—equivalent to $3,113 at current prices. Your profitability depends heavily on electricity costs:
- At $0.045/kWh: Annual net profit: $973.82
- At $0.10/kWh: Annual net loss: $1,709.79
And this assumes Bitcoin’s price remains stable. If it falls—as it did from $69,000 in 2021 to $16,000 in 2022—many miners faced bankruptcy. In fact, numerous mining companies did collapse during that downturn. If you bought the shares of miners, it would be worth zero today if we didn’t sell them. Conversely, if you had simply bought and held Bitcoin at the 2021 peak, you’d still be in profit today.
If I were investing my own money? I’d buy Bitcoin and hope and pray the price appreciates. It’s simpler, lower risk, and doesn’t require technical infrastructure.
If, however, I had access to large capital and could build a data center, I might consider mining—but it would require Raising millions in investment, Importing ASIC miners (mostly from China), Securing industrial-rate electricity, Hiring a technically proficient team and Ensuring cybersecurity and reliable infrastructure
That’s business, not a hobby. And just like gold mining, it involves significant capital expenditure with the hope that your output (Bitcoin or gold) is worth more than your input (costs).
You can’t raise money from investors just to buy and hold Bitcoin—they can do that themselves. But you can raise capital if you bring added value, like running an efficient mining operation. That’s the difference between being a passive investor and an entrepreneur.
In conclusion, asking whether you should mine or buy Bitcoin is like asking whether you should buy gold or start a gold mining company. If you’re looking for simplicity and exposure to the asset, buy Bitcoin. If you want to build a business, accept the risk, and add value through operations, mining might be your play.
Should Corporate Treasuries own and Bitcoin?
The corporate treasury is a specialized department within large corporations responsible for managing the company’s liquidity, funding, and financial risk. Its primary function is to ensure the company has the cash it needs to operate efficiently while managing financial risk and optimizing the use of capital.
Some of Key Functions of Corporate Treasury are given below:
- Cash and Liquidity Management by Monitoring daily cash positions and Ensure sufficient liquidity for operations.
- Working Capital Management: Optimize the cash conversion cycle by managing receivables, payables, and inventory.
- Raise debt or equity as needed to finance the business.
- Invest excess cash in low-risk, liquid instruments to earn a return while preserving capital.
- Foreign Exchange and Interest Rate Risk Management by hedging using financial derivative instruments if required
- Manage interactions with financial institutions specially banks
- Ensure compliance with internal policies and regulatory requirements and identify and measure risk
One of the main functions of the corporate treasury is to manage cash reserves of the company. Reserves are funds set aside for specific purposes, such as emergency liquidity, Debt repayments, Planned investments and Currency volatility protection. Their investment strategy of the reserves include placing reserves in safe, liquid instruments such as Treasury bills, Money market funds, Short-term corporate bonds, Time deposits and even investments like gold.
In the world of corporate finance, strategy is often the difference between mediocrity and a meteoric rise. Few companies illustrate this better than MicroStrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR), a U.S.-based business intelligence software firm founded in 1989. Led by Michael Saylor—now one of Silicon Valley’s longest-serving tech CEOs—MicroStrategy has become less known for its enterprise analytics tools and more for one of the boldest treasury plays in modern corporate history: betting the balance sheet on Bitcoin.
Here’s what’s astonishing: MicroStrategy’s annual software revenue for 2024 was $460 million. Yet, as of May 2025, its market capitalization exceeds $100 billion. What’s fueling this valuation? Not a groundbreaking new product, but the 568,840 Bitcoins the company holds—worth over $62 billion at current prices.
It all began in 2020, when the company diverted $250 million in treasury reserves to purchase Bitcoin. Since then, Saylor has effectively transformed MicroStrategy from a traditional software company into a quasi-Bitcoin holding entity, raising over $7.27 billion through convertible bonds to continue stacking Bitcoin on its books. The stock, which traded around $10 in 2020, now sits near $380—a 38x return in just five years. Not too shabby eh?
Who is buying this stock which should be worth only 1$ for 2$? Retail investors, institutional players, and even volatility arbitrage hedge funds have piled into the stock or its bonds. For many, MicroStrategy has become a publicly traded proxy for Bitcoin exposure—especially for those who missed the early crypto boom or want a regulated, familiar vehicle for holding the asset. For others like the sophisticated hedge funds it is a vol play by buying a lower vol convertible bond and selling higher vol option hoping to book an easy guaranteed profit.
But the strategy is not without risk. If Bitcoin were to crash from today’s $110,000 back to its 2022 low of $16,000, MicroStrategy could face a crisis. Investors might demand repayment of bonds at par, and selling tens of billions in Bitcoin into a falling market could be catastrophic. Still, the core lesson remains: a company leveraged its treasury and vision to reshape its narrative—and shareholders rewarded it.
There are various other companies across the globe now replicating this same strategy in Europe and US.
This raises an uncomfortable question for Indian corporates: why has no major Indian company taken a similar step?
Among India’s top 100 listed companies, how many have allocated even a fraction of their treasury reserves to Bitcoin? How many CFOs and board members even understand Bitcoin as an emerging store of value, or appreciate the long-term implications of decentralized digital assets on capital preservation? In a world increasingly driven by digital finance, the question is no longer whether Bitcoin has staying power—it’s whether your company is prepared for the monetary shift already underway.
So we ask: Which Indian company will be the first to embrace Bitcoin in its treasury strategy? Who will take the calculated risk, make the bold move, and step onto the global stage as India’s MicroStrategy?
As the Latin phrase goes
“Potiusque Sero Quam Nunquam” (“better late than never”)
Government of India and Bitcoin Reserves
India’s total foreign exchange (forex) reserves stand at around US$704.89 billion on 27 September 2024, with the foreign currency assets (FCA) component at around US$616 billion and gold reserves at around US$65.7 billion. India has been increasing her gold reserves percentage of all forex reserves.
India or Reserve bank of India needs forex reserves
- to maintain stability of rupee by selling foreign currencies or gold to prop up rupee in case of market turmoil
- to pay for imports- India need oil and no major oil producer is willing to take rupee, so we need gold or dollar or something else the oil exporter needs to exchange for that oil
- to service external debt- we have to pay interest to investors for debt taken over the years and they generally take their payment in dollars unless we borrowed from Chinese and they will be willing to take debt payments in Yuan and Remimbi.
Imagine if India had put a small portion of its reserves in Bitcoin. Even a 5% of forex in bitcoin in 2017 or even by 2022 would have been equivalent to 350 billion dollars’ worth today? How did our great economic minds miss such an opportunity? Is it because of arrogance and stubbornness or just ignorance? India has increased its gold holdings compared to dollar because we do not want to be vulnerable to the dollar in case it gets devalued as we hold 90% of forex in dollar denominated assets. If the present history of bitcoin is any indicator, it is high time they move at least 10% of dollar forex into bitcoin reserves over time if not in one shot.
El Salvador started buying bitcoin into its treasury from 2021. Bhutan government has been mining bitcoin using its hydroelectric power. Their holdings are not disclosed. US government holds 200,000 Bitcoins which were seized from various hackers to failed companies. US under Trump plans to hold more bitcoins and crypto over time. Russia is also planning in stages as the war made them realize they cannot depend on the dollar and the US financial system which is a centralized mechanism and can seize their assets at any moment.
The Reserve Bank of India is against private cryptocurrencies and is pushing for digital rupee. I do not understand how the digital rupee will be better than non-digital rupee. Ex-RBI Governor Shantikanta Das said during his appearance at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a think-tank said “I am actually of the opinion that this is something which should not be allowed to dominate the financial system. Because it has huge financial stability risks, it has huge monetary stability risks, it also poses risks to the banking system. It also may create a situation where the central bank may lose control of money supply in the economy,”
Why was he fearmongering a virtual currency with no owner? Is it the fear of being irrelevant or is it because his understanding is flawed or something else? How can people using bitcoin to transfer value across the globe in a cheaper fashion pose monetary risks and risks to the banking system? I wish he explained it. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Sanjay Malhotra hinted that the government’s hardline stance on cryptocurrency could soften in February. The time to act was yesterday. As the Latin phrase goes
“Potiusque Sero Quam Nunquam” (“better late than never”)
Nithin Eapen is a technologist and entrepreneur with a deep passion for finance, cryptocurrencies, prediction markets and technology. You can write to him at neapen@gmail.com
Disclaimer – The website managers, its employee(s), and contributors/writers/authors of articles have or may have an outstanding buy or sell position or holding in the securities, options on securities or other related investments of issuers and/or companies discussed therein. The content of the articles and the interpretation of data are solely the personal views of the contributors/ writers/authors. Investors must make their own investment decisions based on their specific objectives, resources and only after consulting such independent advisors as may be necessary.