The Pomp Podcast
#773 Bividend - The World's First Bitcoin Dividend w/ Charles Allen
- BTCS announced the world's first Bitcoin dividend (called a "Bividen") paid from their corporate balance sheet to shareholders, who can elect to receive it in cash or Bitcoin.
- The company holds $3.56 in cash and crypto per share on its balance sheet but was trading at $3 per share, creating a valuation disconnect that prompted the dividend action.
- BTCS's core business focuses on running validator nodes on proof-of-stake blockchains (primarily Ethereum) and operating a staking-as-a-service platform, generating $1.2 million in audited revenue during 2021 with 84% gross margins.
- The company built an analytics dashboard and non-custodial staking platform to help users consolidate exchange data and delegate tokens to BTCS validator nodes at lower fees than custodial alternatives like Coinbase or Kraken.
- Accounting rules under US GAAP require crypto holdings to be marked at their lowest historical cost until realization, creating an artificial undervaluation that cannot be easily corrected without raising regulatory concerns.
- BTCS avoids DeFi exposure due to auditability challenges for public companies; instead they custody Bitcoin and staked assets through multi-signature wallets and approved custodians.