Key takeaways:

Berkshire holds $347B in cash, enough to buy ~18% of Bitcoin’s supply.

Greg Abel has not signaled a shift from Warren Buffett’s anti-Bitcoin stance.

Berkshire already has indirect crypto exposure via Nu Holdings, Jefferies.

Warren Buffett announced at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting on May 3 that he will step down as CEO by the end of 2025, with Greg Abel taking over. This transition raises speculation about Berkshire’s financial capacity to purchase Bitcoin (BTC) under the new leadership.

Source: Discover Crypto

Berkshire can easily surpass Strategy’s BTC stash

Berkshire ended Q4 2024 with a record $347 billion in cash and US Treasury bills, representing about 32% of its $1.1 trillion market capitalization.

The company could acquire approximately 3.52 million BTC if it purchases the cryptocurrency at May’s approximate price of $95,000. This equates to about 17.88% of Bitcoin’s circulating supply of 19.69 million coins.

If the company tapped only its estimated $295.98 billion in US Treasury, it could buy around 3.12 million BTC, or 15.85% of the circulating supply, positioning it as a dominant player in the crypto market.

Berkshire Hathaway is 20th Century Bitcoin.

— Michael Saylor (@saylor) May 3, 2025

Such a move would easily eclipse Nasdaq-listed Strategy Inc. (formerly MicroStrategy), the world’s largest corporate Bitcoin holder, which owns 553,555 BTC worth approximately $52.2 billion as of May 6.

In other words, Berkshire can theoretically match Strategy’s stash with roughly one-sixth of its cash pile if it converts it to Bitcoin.

Related: Strategy, Semler bag 2K Bitcoin as price edged toward $100K last week

Strategy Inc. Bitcoin holdings over time. Source: BitcoinTeasuries.net

Bernstein analysts forecast roughly $330 billion in corporate treasury-driven inflows into Bitcoin by 2029, with $205 billion expected from listed companies between 2025 and 2029.

Much of this, analysts say, will come from smaller, slow-growing companies trying to copy Strategy Inc.’s Bitcoin strategy. They see it as one of the few ways to boost their value when other growth options are scarce.

Source: X/Matthew Sigel, Head of Digital Asset Research at VanEck US

Bernstein’s bull case anticipates an additional $124 billion of Bitcoin purchases from Strategy alone, backed by the company’s recently upsized capital-raising plans, which aim to secure $84 billion by 2027, nearly double its previous target.

Is Greg Abel pro-crypto?

Whether Berkshire would buy Bitcoin under Abel’s leadership is speculative.

The new Berkshire Hathaway leader has not publicly indicated a shift from Buffett’s value-investing philosophy, prioritizing assets with tangible cash flows over speculative ones like Bitcoin, which Buffett once termed “rat poison squared.”

BTC’s price has climbed by nearly 900% since Buffett’s criticism in May 2018.

BTC/USD two-week price chart. Source: TradingView

However, Berkshire, despite its anti-crypto stance, has indirect exposure in the sector through investments in crypto-friendly companies like Nu Holdings and Jefferies Financial Group, which holds shares in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT).

The strategy is similar to how Berkshire approached gold, which Buffett repeatedly ridiculed for lacking productivity. However, Berkshire surprised markets by buying Barrick Gold shares (a gold mining company) in 2020, though it later sold that position.

Under Abel, Berkshire may not dive straight into Bitcoin, but its cautious, indirect approach could expand as markets evolve. Whether that leads to full adoption or careful toe-dipping remains to be seen.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) HydraDAO claims that its researchers were able to use a novel technique to repair severed spines in rats.

In a May 5 X post, decentralized science (DeSci) project HydraDAO said that one of its research projects resulted in “rats who had their spines fully transected” being able to walk again. More notably, recovery from surgery reportedly only took five days.

Source: HydraDAO

The post featured a video of partially shaved (presumably due to surgery) rats walking in what appeared to be a laboratory setting. The effort in question is the Dowell spinal fusogens project led by Michael Lebenstein-Gumovski, which raised 380,700 USDC (USDC) from donors. The dedicated HydraDAO page reads:

“The Dowell team submitted a project proposal to HydraDAO. After careful consideration and two peer reviews, HydraCore deems it in the interest of HydraDAO’s community.“

Related: Experts to gather in Miami to drive longevity research forward

More than smoke and mirrors?

Fusogens are chemicals capable of fusing cell membranes and have long been researched as a means to reconnect severed nerve fibers. One such chemical is polyethylene glycol (PEG), which was shown to promote membrane fusion and seal axonal membranes in other research.

The Dowell team adds a biopolymer from crustacean shells called chitosan, resulting in a PEG-chitosan compound dubbed neuro-PEG. This compound is also photopolymerizable, meaning it can be rapidly solidified using light.

This presumably allows for creating a solid scaffolding that can weld the spinal cord more permanently than liquid PEG-based solutions. Dowell also implements neuroprotection techniques such as localized hypothermia and cellular death inhibitors to prevent further damage to nerve tissue.

A 2023 research paper by Gumovski published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Surgical Neurology International claimed that pigs treated with the compound recovered mobility in two months. The study’s conclusion read:

“Neuro-PEG affords sensorimotor recovery after complete spinal cord transection. This opens the door to human experimentation, including trials of spinal cord transplantation.“

The Dowell team also filed a patent for developed technologies, with a 2022 Russian patent describing a “method of restoring spinal cord functions after transection using a PEG-chitosan conjugate,” listing Lebenstein-Gumovski among its inventors.

The HydraDAO proposal suggests that “revenue streams include specialized surgical kits priced between $3,500 and $20,000, depending on the market and region.” Furthermore, the team would also provide “comprehensive training and certification for neurosurgeons and emergency medical services” personnel.

Related: Major scientific journal Nature features DeSci project ResearchHub

Some interesting connections

Gumovski is a neurosurgery researcher based in Russia (Stavropol State Medical University and affiliated institutes). He was a member of Sergio Canavero’s research head-transplant project, cited in at least one relevant paper.

Those articles were also published in Surgical Neurology International, while most top scientific publications shied away from the subject. The neurosurgeon from Turin, Italy, claimed to have performed a successful head transplant on a monkey back in 2016.

The team also experimented on human cadavers in preparation for a 2017 live human head transplant, which never took place. Neuroscientist Dean Burnett said at the time that head transplantation presented insurmountable challenges and that Canavero had “offered no feasible explanation or science for his claims to be able to overcome these hurdles.”

While the Dowell team’s project builds on established research and should not be dismissed outright, it is hard not to notice the similarity in making public claims not unlike those that characterized Canavero’s career. Furthermore, fusogens are well studied and less dramatic but similar results have been reported by other teams in the past (2019 example from the University of Texas).

Will the paralyzed walk again?

The evidence provided is promising, but it is advisable to exercise caution, especially until multiple third-party teams independently reproduce the results.

HydraDAO promised additional electrophysiology experiments and tracing dyes to assess connectivity between the brain and lower spine. This extra data may enhance the credibility of the research results.

Still, further research is needed to assess whether it will result in a clinically viable technique for real-world spinal injuries.

Magazine: DeSci: Can crypto improve scientific research?

Veteran US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) official Trish Turner was appointed to lead the agency’s digital assets division following the departure of two key crypto-focused executives.

Turner, who has spent over 20 years at the IRS and most recently served as a senior adviser within the Digital Assets Office, will now head the unit, according to a report from Bloomberg Tax citing a person familiar with the situation.

Her promotion marks a significant leadership transition at a time when US crypto tax enforcement is facing both internal and external pressures.

On May 5, Sulolit “Raj” Mukherjee and Seth Wilks, two private-sector experts brought in to lead the IRS’s crypto unit, exited after roughly a year in their roles.

Mukherjee served as compliance and implementation executive director, while Wilks oversaw strategy and development. Wilks announced his departure on LinkedIn, while Mukherjee confirmed his decision in a statement to Bloomberg Tax.

“The reality is that federal employees have faced a very difficult environment over the past few months,” Wilks wrote. “If stepping aside helps preserve someone else’s job, then I am at peace with the decision.”

Seth Wilks announced his departure on LinkedIn. Source: Seth Wilks

Related: Coinbase files brief with US Supreme Court in support of taxpayers’ privacy

IRS ramps up crypto scrutiny

The IRS has ramped up its focus on cryptocurrency in recent years, increasing audits and criminal probes targeting digital asset transactions.

It also attempted to introduce broad crypto broker reporting requirements, which drew sharp criticism from industry stakeholders and was eventually overturned by President Donald Trump.

Set to take effect in 2027, the so-called IRS DeFi broker rule would have expanded the tax authority’s existing reporting requirements to include DeFi platforms, requiring them to disclose gross proceeds from crypto sales, including information regarding taxpayers involved in the transactions.

Related: NFT trader faces prison for $13M tax fraud on CryptoPunk profits

Turner’s leadership also comes during a shift in Washington’s approach to crypto regulation.

With the return of the Trump administration in January, federal agencies have scaled back regulations perceived as burdensome to digital asset innovation.

For instance, the Securities and Exchange Commission has dropped or paused over a dozen enforcement cases against crypto companies. Additionally, the Department of Justice has announced the dissolution of its cryptocurrency enforcement unit, signaling a softer approach to the sector.

Internally, the IRS is also navigating instability. Over 23,000 employees have reportedly expressed interest in resigning after Trump reintroduced a deferred resignation policy, raising concerns about long-term staffing and morale within the agency.

Magazine: Bitcoin to $1M ‘by 2029,’ CIA tips its hat to Bitcoin: Hodler’s Digest, April 27 – May 3