"We have thought a lot from the beginning to consider how we could pay employees if they ask to be paid in Bitcoin," said Twitter CFO.
February 11, 2021 | AtoZ Markets – Twitter may be the next big company to buy Bitcoin , according to the tech company's CFO. In an interview on CNBC's Squawk Box today, Ned Segal, who has served as Twitter's CFO since 2017, responded to questions about how Twitter would react to Tesla's recent $1.5 billion investment in Bitcoin (BTC) this week.
Twitter considers paying its staff in Bitcoin
Segal said the tech firm was watching other companies closely and discussed the possibility of adding the cryptoasset to its own books or using it for Twitter employee salaries.
“We have thought a lot from the beginning to consider how we could pay employees if they ask to be paid in Bitcoin, how we could pay a provider if they request to be paid in Bitcoin, and if we need to have Bitcoin on our balance sheet,” he said Segal.
"We've done a lot of the upfront thinking to consider how we might pay employees should they ask to be paid in #bitcoin, how we might pay a vendor if they asked to be paid in #btc and whether we need to have #btc on our balance sheet," says @NedSegal $TWTR. pic.twitter.com/KjIgnqDmYC
— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) February 10, 2021
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Although the CFO said that Twitter has not "made any changes yet," he added that the tipping point could come if enough people are interested in transacting BTC with the technology company.
“When we hedge currencies, when we do business in another country, when we think about all the different exposures that we have, we are really trying to equalize our assets and liabilities, and we take the same approach to Bitcoin that we do to all the other types of risks that we have. ".
With a market capitalization of more than $51 billion, Twitter is a fraction of the value of a company like Tesla, whose market capitalization has risen to $780 billion this week. Following the news that Tesla had bought $1.5 billion of Bitcoin and was considering accepting it for payments, the price of Bitcoin reached a new all-time high of $48,200. If other multi-billion dollar companies announced similar purchases or adoption plans, it could help drive the price even higher.
"All CFOs will be asked now that Tesla made the move," said Bitcoin bull Anthony "Pomp" Pompliano in response to Segal's interview.
"These are just the first innings of corporate adoption as digital currencies are beginning to play a bigger role in strong balance sheet management , " said Nathan Cox, CIO of Two Prime, an investment firm specializing in digital assets.
He added:
"We have been having many conversations with corporations to create clear Bitcoin strategies for their cash reserves as a hedge against inflation. Announcements like these from the corporate giants serve as a sign of things to come."
Shares of Twitter are up more than 11% since the tech firm's most recent earnings report yesterday. However, the price of Bitcoin fell 5% overnight to hit $44,998 as of press time.
Wether they adopt bitcoin as a form of payment for employees remains to be seen, but it's a sign that the currency is having more use-cases beyond speculation with crypto gambling and NFT marketplaces also being popular among bitcoin owners.
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