The American developer of analytical software Palantir Technologies held a conference on the topic of its financial performance in the first quarter. Among other things, the company announced the possibility of placing part of the reserves in bitcoin.
"Palantir has announced that it is considering adding bitcoin to its balance sheet, noting that cryptocurrencies are" clearly up for discussion." It also accepts bitcoin as a means of payment," CNBC reports.
Palantir was founded in 2003 by a group of PayPal natives led by co-founder Peter Thiel. Palantir's main clients are intelligence agencies, investment banks, and hedge funds. Palantir's main investor is the CIA In-Q-Tel fund. In this regard, discussions have already begun that in the case of Palantir's investment in cryptocurrency, the American leadership can get an indirect exit to investing in bitcoin.
Although Palantir beat expectations in the first quarter, its shares were down 10% today before the markets opened. The same situation arose after the disclosure of figures for the fourth quarter of 2020 on February 16, when the company also exceeded expectations, but its securities fell by 6%. The stock market did not respond to Palantir's announcement of its intention to acquire bitcoin.
Thiel recently expressed concerns that bitcoin could be a financial weapon in the hands of China. "China does not want us to have this reserve currency, as it gives us a lot of control, for example, over the oil supply channels. China wants to take measures to weaken the dollar. If China is seeking bitcoin, perhaps from a geopolitical point of view, the US should be asking more difficult questions about how it actually works," he said.