A group of conservative McDonald’s shareholders called on the fast-food giant to adopt Bitcoin as part of its corporate treasury strategy, but the Securities and Exchange Commission said that the company could reject the offer without facing any sanctions.
The initiative was led by the National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative think tank with shares in McDonald’s. The group, which sent an official letter to the company, argued that Bitcoin offers superior liquidity and growth potential compared to traditional assets such as cash, bonds, and even real estate.
The group wrote, “McDonald’s, including former CFO and President Harry Sonneborn, is widely seen as a real estate company that sells hamburgers” and added: “Real estate has been a more reliable store of value than cash and bonds, but it will not appreciate in value as much as Bitcoin over time and is not as liquid.”
The proposal likened McDonald’s potential Bitcoin investment to the corporate moves of companies like MicroStrategy, which is led by Bitcoin advocate Michael Saylor and heavily invests in BTC. More recently, GameStop announced plans to allocate $1.5 billion for Bitcoin purchases. However, not all companies agree: Microsoft shareholders rejected a similar proposal last December.
Following this application, McDonald’s legal team reached out to the SEC to request confirmation that the company’s Bitcoin offering could be exempted from discussion at the annual shareholders’ meeting in May. The SEC accepted this in a letter.
The SEC stated, “It seems that there are some grounds for your view that the company’s offer may be excluded from the scope.” and added: “In our opinion, the offer is related to the company’s ordinary business activities. Accordingly, we will not recommend any sanctions against the commission if the company removes the offer from the voting documents.”
The SEC’s response paves the way for McDonald’s to set aside the Bitcoin discussion for at least the time being, signaling that companies are being cautious about diving into the volatile world of cryptocurrencies despite pressure from some investor circles.
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