Fresh from successfully convincing game retailer GameStop to add Bitcoin to its balance sheet, Strive Asset Management CEO Matt Cole has now set his sights on fintech firm Intuit to do the same.

Cole said in an April 14 open letter to Intuit CEO Sasan Goodarzi that Intuit’s growth is admirable, but Bitcoin (BTC) is the best way to ensure the company’s long-term success and hedge against any potential disruption caused by artificial intelligence.

Intuit’s flagship products are its tax preparation app TurboTax and the small business accounting software Quickbooks. The company laid off 10% of its staff in July to pursue its AI endeavors, but Cole said the firm needs an additional hedge because TurboTax is at risk of being automated away by AI. 

“While we appreciate Intuit’s own investments and internal implementation of AI, we believe an additional hedge is warranted, and that a Bitcoin war chest is the best option available,” Cole said. 

An excerpt from Matt Cole’s letter urging Intuit to consider adding Bitcoin to its balance sheets, among other suggestions. Source: Strive Asset Management 

That Bitcoin war chest, he added, will ensure Intuit has “enough strategic capital to weather the AI storm and act from a position of strength through the turbulence of the AI revolution.” 

Cole sent a similar letter to GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen in February to advise the gaming retailer to use its $4.6 billion in cash to buy Bitcoin. 

GameStop’s Cohen acknowledged the letter in an April 1 regulatory filing and revealed his company had finished a convertible debt offering that raised $1.5 billion, with some proceeds earmarked for buying Bitcoin.

Strive urges Intuit change crypto policy

In his letter to Intuit, Cole said the firm should reconsider the acceptable use policy for its marketing platform Mailchimp, which he claims has continued to suspend crypto-related accounts over policy violations.

Source: Strive Asset Management

Cole said he “remains concerned that Intuit’s censorship and de-platforming policies discriminate against Bitcoin enthusiasts, which may harm long-term shareholder value.”

Mailchimp has said that crypto-related content isn’t necessarily banned under its policy, and crypto content can be sent provided the sender isn’t involved in the sale, exchange, or marketing of crypto. 

Related: Saylor signals Strategy is buying the dip amid macroeconomic turmoil

Its current acceptable use policy states that the platform might not allow accounts that offer “cryptocurrencies, virtual currencies, and any digital assets related to an initial coin offering.” 

According to Cole, Mailchimp likely adopted its policies when the legal status of crypto and related businesses was uncertain, but said with the crypto-friendly Trump administration, it’s time to “amend the acceptable use policy to end the blanket ban on crypto-related businesses.”

Intuit did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Mantra CEO John Mullin said he is planning to burn all of his team’s tokens in order to win back the trust of the network’s community following the sudden collapse of the Mantra (OM) token on April 13.

“I’m planning to burn all of my team tokens and when we turn it around the community and investors can decide if I have earned it back,” Mullin posted to X on April 16.

Mantra set aside 300 million OM, 16.88% of the token’s nearly 1.78 billion total supply, for its team and core contributors. They are currently locked and were scheduled to be released in stages between April 2027 and October 2029, according to an April 8 blog post.

The team’s tokens are worth around $236 million, with OM currently trading around 78 cents but were worth around $1.89 billion before the token sank on April 13, going from around $6.30 to a low of 52 cents and wiping over $5.5 billion in value, according to CoinGecko.

Source: JP Mullin

Many community members welcomed Mullin’s pledge, but others saw the token burn as a potential blow to the team’s long-term commitment to building the real-world asset tokenization platform.

“This would be a mistake. We want teams that are highly incentivized. Burning the incentive may seem like a good gesture but it will hurt the team motivation long term,” said Crypto Banter founder Ran Neuner.

Mullin suggested a decentralized vote could determine whether to burn the 300 million team tokens.

Mantra recovery process already underway

Mullin promised a post-mortem statement explaining what went wrong to be transparent with the community. 

Speaking to Cointelegraph on April 14, Mullin outlined plans to leverage the $109 million Mantra Ecosystem Fund for potential token buybacks and burns to stabilize OM’s price, which had fallen from $6.30 to as low as $0.52.

Related: Red flag? Mantra’s TVL jumped 500% as OM price collapsed

Mullin’s firm has strongly refuted rumors that it controls 90% of OM’s token supply and engaged in insider trading and market manipulation.

Mantra claims the OM price implosion was triggered by “reckless liquidations,” adding that it wasn’t related to any actions undertaken by the team.

OKX and Binance were among the crypto exchanges that saw significant OM activity right before the token collapse.

Both exchanges denied any wrongdoing, attributing the collapse to changes made to OM’s tokenomics in October and unusual volatility that ultimately triggered high-volume cross-exchange liquidations on April 13.

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Blockchain infrastructure provider Figment has been selected as the staking provider for 3iQ’s newly approved Solana exchange-traded fund (ETF), underscoring Canada’s continued efforts toward adoption of digital asset financial products.

Figment will enable institutional staking for the 3iQ Solana (SOL) Staking ETF, which launches on the Toronto Stock Exchange on April 16 under the ticker SOLQ, the companies said in a statement. In addition to 3iQ, Figment provides staking infrastructure solutions to more than 700 clients. 

The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), a provincial regulator, green-lighted 3iQ’s SOL fund on April 14. The approval was also extended to other fund managers seeking to offer SOL ETFs, including Purpose, Evolve and CI.

As Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas reported at the time, the funds are permitted to stake a portion of their SOL holdings through TD Bank, Canada’s second-largest financial institution by assets. 

Source: Eric Balchunas

3iQ estimates that its SOL fund will provide yields of between 6% and 8%, according to its website. 

Related: Solana, XRP ETFs may attract billions in new investment — JPMorgan

3iQ leads Canadian crypto ETFs as US regulators drag their feet

As US regulators continue to consider various crypto-related fund offerings, Canada has been leading the curve in adoption going back to 2021. That was the year that 3iQ debuted its spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETF, which crossed $1 billion in net assets almost immediately. 

It would take nearly three more years before spot Bitcoin ETFs were approved in the United States. Like their Canadian counterparts, the US ETFs saw overwhelming success in their first year, generating more than $38 billion in net inflows.

In October 2023, 3iQ launched an ETF tied to Ether (ETH), giving investors direct access to the smart contract platform. Unlike the Ether ETFs that US regulators approved the following year, 3iQ’s fund offers staking rewards. 

As Cointelegraph recently reported, US regulators may be on the cusp of approving staking rewards after they authorized exchanges to list options contracts tied to ETH.

Source: James Seyffart

Related: SEC delays staking decision for Grayscale ETH ETFs