Chinese beauty app becomes first major company to buy ether
Meitu, who creates an app that lets you edit user profile photos, said on Sunday that it bought 15,000 units of Ether for $22.1 million and 379.1 Bitcoins for $17.9 million on the open market on March 5. These acquisitions are part of an overall usage plan. as much as $100 million from his cash reserve to fund cryptocurrency purchases, as he believed prices could appreciate and the crypto could diversify its portfolio.
No other large company has announced plans to invest significantly in Ether, the world’s largest digital currency after Bitcoin. In recent years, Cai Wensheng, president of Meitu and crypto enthusiast, has started exploring blockchain technology.
Meitu jumped 14% on Monday, its biggest intraday gain in about two weeks. Ether rose 5.3% on Monday and hit its highest level in nearly two weeks.
The loss-making Meitu launched Hong Kong’s largest initial public offering in years in 2016, when investors praised its then-revolutionary line of software for artificially enhancing photos – from slimming faces to elongated legs.
But smartphone brands and internet giants from Huawei Technologies Co. to Xiaomi Corp. and ByteDance Ltd. Meitu is now trading at around a third of its starting price.
Cai can now take inspiration from Tesla, which in February invested $1.5 billion in Bitcoin and signaled its intention to start accepting cryptocurrency as a payment method – a big endorsement from one of the biggest world companies that sent the award to a record.
Bitcoin in particular is gradually making inroads with institutions, banks, family offices and even a few companies, despite some skepticism about the volatility and value of cryptocurrencies.
By Zheping Huang
